Aristotle and an Aardvark go to Washington

Perhaps reflecting the fact that I am more interested in politics than philosophy, I found this book a bit more interesting (and probably retained a bit more too) than the authors earlier book explaining philosophy through jokes. This book however is the same premise, but tackles politics. It is a good introduction to the topic, and one is somewhat the wiser from reading it. We all know that politicians tell lies - but what type of lies? Now one can know for sure. Recommended for lazy rainy days when there is not much to do but read something interesting.

America (The Audiobook)

America... is a very interesting listen, but nothing that you would not expect from the team of the Daily Show. It covers many topics to do with the make-up of the USA, and is quite thought provoking. For instance, why do people think they can read the minds of people from 200 years ago? Why do people treat the Patriots as if they were infallible? What do people understand by an Amendment? But it is not put together in the fashion of a lecture, instead it is very witty and quite brilliant.

I wasn't aware that this was abridged, but at under 4 hours, this is a great listen that teaches more interesting facts than most lectures - and also isn't afraid to point out inadequacies in the current system, something which is to be commended.

The Next 100 Years

The Next 100 Years is the attempt by a leading strategist to imagine the events of the next 100 years. To do so, he employs a method that most people seem intent to ignore, yet is the most realistic - that the things that seem most obvious, never happen. And when you look at history, this is very true.

So what does the future old? Greying baby boomers mean fewer jobs than available people, inflation, lower house prices once the boomers begin to die out and a change in immigration policy. On the global front, Russia will lose more influence, China will fragment, and Poland, Japan and Turkey will be regional, if not global, players.

This is a very well-reasoned and argued book, and it is refreshing to read something other than "China and India, China and India". Let's face it, in all honesty, India does not have the resources to be a global player and is over-populated. The argument against China too seems very well-thought, that the coast is getting rich whilst the country is poor, and that problems will most likely escalate. I also found that this book got less certain as time went on - what was being foretold for 2020 and 2040 seemed feasible, but the longer time goes on, the more variables can change, and I think this is reflected in this work.

It is not just refreshing opinions that this book offers, but also several passages that are worth quoting in polite company:

• The United States responded by invading the Islamic world. But its goal wasn't victory. It wasn't even clear what victory would mean. Its goal was simply to disrupt the Islamic world and set it against itself, so that an Islamic empire could not emerge.
• The United States doesn't need to win wars. It needs to simply disrupt things so the other side can't build up sufficient strength to challenge it.
• It is the delight of all societies to belittle their political leaders, and leaders surely do make mistakes. But the mistakes they make, when carefully examined, are rarely stupid. Most likely, mistakes are forced upon them by circumstance.
• Cultures live in one of three states. The first state is barbarism. Barbarians believe that the customs of their village are the laws of nature and that anyone who doesn't live the way they live is beneath contempt and requiring redemption or destruction. The third state is decadence. Decadents cynically believe that nothing is better than anything else. If they hold anyone in contempt, it is those who believe in anything. Nothing is worth fighting for.
• Civilization is the second and most rare state. Civilized people are able to balance two contradictory thoughts in their minds. They believe that there are truths and that their cultures approximate those truths. At the same time, they hold open in their mind the possibility that they are in error. The combination of belief and skepticism is inherently unstable. Cultures pass through barbarism to civilization and then to decadence, as skepticism undermines self-certainty.

Legacy of Ashes

Legacy of Ashes is quite shocking. Through movies and books, we are presented with an image of the CIA that it is amazing and knows all. The truth of it would appear to be the opposite, that it consitently makes errors and knows very little. As I listened to the Audiobook rather than read the print edition I am unable to give precise examples from the text, but off of the top of my head, several things that I found astonishing were:

• The sheer number of double agents from the USSR, Cuba, China etc who managed to work for the CIA
• The CIA lying outright to the President on a number of occasions
• Despite having far greater resources, not really having a clue about anything that the USSR was doing throughout its existence
  
• Kissinger's involvement in installing dictators like Pinochet
• Pretty much anything to do with the Middle East being incorrect
• Blowing up the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade

There are plenty more stories in the book. In fact, it seems that the CIA never really got much right and competed against other US agencies rather than work toward the greater good (perhaps they need to read Egonomics).

Despite having an exhausting amount of information to cover, Weiner breaks each of the 40+ chapters into manageable chunks, each containing a different story with enough background data to make it feel like you are getting the inside story but not too much so that you are sapped down by it all. Quite frankly, this is an excellent book and should be read by anyone with an interest in the events of the second half of the 20th Century. It helps to dispel the myth that America is a gentle, noble country that acts out of a greater good and shows that even with the most resources, you are not always guaranteed to win against rivals with lesser. It also shows the benefit of forward planning, as arguably some recent events in the world would have been prevented had the CIA taken the time to consider long-reaching implications. Let's just hope that the message has finally gotten through.

The State of Africa

The State of Africa tells the tale of African politics in the years from independence up to recent times. Rather than focus upon corrupt politicians and lampoon them for their selfish and harmful ways, Martin Meredith instead exposes the corruptions and wars and political suppression without comment; removing his own opinion makes the reader draw their own, often making the events recounted even more shocking. The only time that a kind of authorial bias shows itself is when Meredith is scathing of French involvement in arming the Hutu proponents of the Tutsi genocide, and the willingness of the international community (in part led by Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali, then UN Secretary General) to stick their heads in the sand and ignore a genocide, and then reward the guilty party with a lavish aid package.

But The State of Africa is not concerned with listing all of Africa's problems. It is a fair assessment of the years since colonialism, setting out that the biggest obstacle to the development of Africa has been the so-called Big Men, dictators with absolute power such as Amin of Uganda, Mobuto of Zaire, Taylor of Liberia and Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who tolerate no opposition and fall foul to the lure of power, destroying the infrastructure of their countries in order to benefit personally. However, the book also focuses upon the success stories post-independence, showing that it is possible to develop economically and that the favoured argument of the Big Men for their continuance in power, that a single-party state is the most beneficial for the quickest way to development, is a false truth.

The State of Africa is a clear, easily understandable book, giving an overview of the history of Africa in the last 50 years and an excellent introduction to the politics of Africa. It is a sad tale, a story of squander and corruption, of absolute power and collective repression, manipulation of the past to entrench those at the top, but it also shows that there is hope, that Africa is beginning to turn the page and that in further 50 years, it should be a totally different story from the last.