The Committee on Moral Books, Jehan Georges Vibert (1840-1902) By Realist Review writers and staff It’s been a long summer, made longer still by the synchronous cataclysms of pandemic, economic collapse, social unrest and the ongoing international scourge of scary-looking murder hornets. What to do? Lay on the couch and read, of course! Our writers … Continue reading Realist Review’s Pandemic Reading List
An anti-Lukashenko rally at the Belarusian embassy in Moscow, August 11, 2020. Picture by David Saveliev By Zack Blumberg, contributor Over the course of the past week, protests have engulfed the small nation of Belarus. Frustrated citizens coalesced around the campaign of upstart presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and have come out in force to voice … Continue reading In Belarus, Europe’s last dictator faces a reckoning
By Ethan Kessler Last week, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia has built a facility for extracting uranium yellowcake from uranium ore, a key first step in producing nuclear fissile material. Riyadh’s diplomatic statements notwithstanding, it has been obvious for some time that the Gulf kingdom was eyeing a nuclear option. After all, the Saudis’ … Continue reading Saudi Nukes and the Limits of Nonproliferation
Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images By Solomon Bennett Endless war is a term typically used to describe the ongoing era of military engagement in at least seven countries in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, and Libya. At home, the idea of an endless war echoes in … Continue reading Endless War at Home
Christina Mary Mysterious seeds with possible origins in China arrived in the United States within the past few weeks in all 50 states. The USDA has advised individuals to not plant the seeds as they have been identified as possibly invasive. However, so far the seeds were identified as herbs or harmless flowers. The origins … Continue reading “Mystery Seeds” and the Invasive Species Trade
Destroyed Grain Silo at Beirut Port. By Alison O'Neil Video footage of a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, shocked the international community Tuesday. According to the New York Times, the blast - attributed to a large deposit of ammonium nitrate and set off by a warehouse fire – injured 5,000 and killed, so far, 135, … Continue reading U.S. Aid and Restraint Amidst Lebanon’s Crisis
By Alison O'Neil and Andrew Jarocki Sun Tzu and an “Enlightened” American Strategy in Hong Kong Protestors swarm the streets in dramatic demonstrations, while armor-clad law enforcement douse the “terrorists” in teargas. Sound familiar? Last summer, Hong Kong erupted in protests when local legislators proposed a new extradition bill. Since the 1997 handover, China had … Continue reading “Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy”
By Ethan Kessler Nuclear weapons are not something most Americans feel the need to discuss. Maybe this is to blame for the ease with which the current administration is quietly implementing a nuclear weapons plan that is both astronomically wasteful and dangerous. It fails to better the country’s security while making the risk of nuclear … Continue reading The administration wants to modernize the nuclear arsenal. It’s a bad idea.
Image: The Conversion of Saint Augustine, Fra Angelico (c. 1395 – 1455) By Scott Strgacich The celebrated American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr called him “the first great ‘realist’ in Western history.” He spent much of his early life as a Manichean living in carnal sin with a concubine. He was a first-rate philosophical mind, schooled in … Continue reading “The End of These Miseries”: Augustine of Hippo on Realism and Societal Collapse
By Ethan Kessler Today, as the world continues to suffer from continued anthropogenic degradation, as mankind enters its fifth month of the coronavirus pandemic, and as America’s cities burn and rend at the seams on a scale not seen in generations, questions of international relations theory may seem too abstract to ponder. Nevertheless some have … Continue reading Realism and Conservatism: The Elephant(s) in the Room
