Viewing profile — Mainan_Tagonist

On the topic of economic development, David Landes is worth reading, both the Unbound Prometheus and The Wealth and Poverty of Nations provide a solid understanding of the reasons …

no, that's not what i'm doing, just the opposite. OP argued that investment is lead by short term thinking, yet i point out example of long term thinking and risk taking by investo…

Indeed, if these are loss making operations, who puts the capital for those rockets to get off the ground? and why are they putting their capital in this when instead they could ha…

That's exactly my point, those are run by private equity, investors willing to take the risks and wait the big payday out.

The point I'm trying to make is that there are also investors that are long on an investment and willing take losses for a long time before the big pay off materialises, or not. Bu…

The stock market works that way, it's true. But what about SpaceX, Blue Origin... there are also counter examples that show it is possible for investors to wait out the big profits…

which of the two is John Keay?

Why unfortunately? Tolstoy and Dostoevky are generally recognized as great authors. Being Russian does not make them retrospectively Putinist, does it?

This is a pretty good read https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174501.India This is a bit lighter and not specifically about India, enlightening nonetheless: https://www.goodreads.…

Depends who you ask... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_Genghis_K... Kublai Khan also makes for decent entertainment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_(20…

"You really need something special for the foreign terrorists to be willing to travel half a world just to blow themselves up on your doorstep" Yes, and what could be that somethin…

Indeed, empires do not have to exist, and the world could constitute of individual nations ruling themselves independently in democracy peace and happiness. By historical standard,…

The more i think about math these days, the more i see it as a muscle one must constantly train to achieve its potential. Give it too long a rest and you have to go back at full bl…

no, it's nothing specific to "The West" or the decisions it has taken. The typical "They hate us because our bad policies" does not explain why every empire (western or not) has ha…

or put simply, just rebelling against any attempt at modernising muslim societies. Anwar Sadat comes to mind.

Yeah... what about those? How many retaliatory terror attacks on americans performed by citizen of those countries? What point are you trying to make? US bad? Anything more thought…

yet you fail to account for the fact that said people wouldn't wouldn't be in power did terrorism not have occurred in the first place. How many bad leaders in the west resulting d…

And freedom fighters are supposed to actually care about "freedom" while terrorists generally do not. I fail to see what great advancements in freedom for anyone involved have come…

Are you talking about income or actual wealth? Your income may remain constant while your wealth rises significantly (say... because your investments are doing well, because you in…

"- Err, we have no money. - Sigh. ok. Go and attack our rivals over there." Strictly speaking, this is not what happened, and a gross oversimplification. The Byzantines were not ex…

it's because it's not real communism.

Yes, Frankopan's Silk Roads was a disappointment to say the least, I was really expecting an enlightening history of the middle east, starting from the early interrelations between…

Tim Severin is referenced in the list, so i would suggest as an addition Tracking Marco Polo by the very same author, a fun read indeed. From Goodreads: Tim Severin took up the cha…

"That’s one government though. I can’t think of any other western government funding Israel in a similar way." My point, exactly!

western governments funding Israel? What western governments exactly? Isn't Israel capable of funding itself through its own economy?