The Failed Logistics of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (7 months old)
08 Oct 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Ukraine
Ten Reasons Why Ukraine Hasn’t Destroyed the Crimean bridge
18 Sep 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: game theory, Ukraine
Is the war in Ukraine nearing its end?
18 Sep 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Ukraine
How Ukraine got the upper hand against Russia
18 Sep 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Ukraine
Russia’s Gas Gamble: Four Risks Putin Faces with the Nord Stream 1 Pipeline Closure
09 Sep 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, energy economics, war and peace Tags: Ukraine
How the West Can Exploit Russia’s “Dutch Disease” and End the War in Ukraine
24 Aug 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, energy economics, international economics, war and peace Tags: nuclear power, Oil prices, Ukraine
Ukrainian protestor kicked out of Stop the War Corbyn Rally
03 Mar 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, Marxist economics, war and peace Tags: Russia, Ukraine
How Senator Bilyk’s Dad found paradise in Australia @Catbilyk
11 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - Australia, war and peace Tags: Australia, economics of migration, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, World War II
An old Uni mate’s dad was rounded up by the Nazis in the Polish Ukraine in 1941 and carted off as a slave in factories in Germany. He survived the war. He ended up in a refugee camp. He met and married a Dutch lass.
He did not want to go back to the Ukraine because that part of the Ukraine was now Russian under Stalin. That part of the Ukraine was Polish before the war.
Soviet post-war expansion resulted in border changes, the creation of a Communist Bloc & the start of the Cold War. http://t.co/0Os3EPp6Th—
History Facts 247 (@historyfacts247) August 17, 2015
Australia was the first country to accept them as refugees. He raised a family in Tasmania, working in a factory to support them.
I knew one of his two sons who became economists both at the University of Tasmania and in Canberra. One of his daughter’s was elected to the Australian Senate in the 2007 general election.
After such a rough start in life, my old mate’s dad must regard Australia as paradise for him, his wife and their family.
The Putin Effect on transitional economies in the former Soviet union
14 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, Marxist economics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: development, development miracles, disasters, former Soviet Union, Poland, The Great Enrichment, transitional economies, Ukraine
Poland was in the same position as Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet empire, but it followed better policy and is now several times richer.
Trade is a powerful force for peace in the Ukraine
18 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Public Choice, war and peace Tags: free trade, Putin, Richard Cobden, Russian gas pipelines, Ukraine
Russian TV is starting to spin a Putin back-down in the Ukraine. Channel surfing, I came cross a Russian TV story alluding to Russians that the revenues from the Russian gas pipelines across the Ukraine to the EU are a major lifeline of the Russian economy.
The mere threat of repeated sabotage of these gas pipelines to Western Europe are an easy way to hurt Russia if it overplays its hand. That was the round-about topic of the TV story.
Trade was a powerful force for peace and is a defence against war, as the great Manchester liberal Richard Cobden championed in mid-19th century.
Both Russia and China have much more to lose and much less to gain from war because of their extensive trade links with their neighbours and their former Cold War rivals, including with each other. China’s extensive trade and investment links with Taiwan are the best guarantee of peace between them.
As Joseph Schumpeter observed, when free trade prevails, “no class” gains from forcible expansion: “foreign raw materials and food stuffs are as accessible to each nation as though they were in its own territory”. Patrick McDonald recently called free trade the invisible hand of peace.
Should we fight for the Ukraine?
16 Mar 2014 15 Comments
in liberalism, Murray Rothbard, Public Choice, war and peace Tags: Canon Sydney Smith, crusading, European wars, expressive politics, Ukraine
Murray Rothbard, in the context of the 1980 Afghan war, quoted Canon Sydney Smith – a great classical liberal in early 19th century England who wrote to his warmongering Prime Minister, thus:
“For God’s sake, do not drag me into another war!
I am worn down, and worn out, with crusading and defending Europe, and protecting mankind; I must think a little of myself.
I am sorry for the Spaniards – I am sorry for the Greeks – I deplore the fate of the Jews; the people of the Sandwich Islands are groaning under the most detestable tyranny; Baghdad is oppressed, I do not like the present state of the Delta; Tibet is not comfortable. Am I to fight for all these people?
The world is bursting with sin and sorrow. Am I to be champion of the Decalogue, and to be eternally raising fleets and armies to make all men good and happy?
We have just done saving Europe, and I am afraid the consequence will be, that we shall cut each other’s throats. No war, dear Lady Grey! – No eloquence; but apathy, selfishness, common sense, arithmetic!”
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments