Category: Countries

A2A by Pegah Esmaili, who is Iranian. And not Persian. So I’m not going to say “Persian”. Iranian #1: I am an avid follower of Pegah Esmaili, and her combat boots. And of course I am going to say nice things about Iranians, and Azeri Iranians in particular, because when Pegah starts wiping out all […]

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674368378 As I said about another question to Snežana Đorić (Снежана Ђорић): thanks for the A2A, Hinrich, as if I don’t have enough of a bullseye on my back already. It’s an interesting question, and it’s also one that’s not going to get many dispassionate answers. I’ll expand on the answers given by Gustavo Pedroso […]

Stephen E. Ambrose wrote three volumes of biography on Nixon. At the start of his undertaking, he loathed Nixon, like most academics that had lived through Watergate. His wife, as it happened, was a Nixon supporter. By the end of the three volumes, they had swapped: Ambrose had developed a grudging respect for Nixon, his […]

I assume there’s a prize at the end of this? No? Well, I wouldn’t win it anyway. Australia Greece Cyprus USA Austria Canada Netherlands Belgium France New Zealand Turkey Armenia Italy UK Germany Grade: B-. Could do better. Answered 2016-08-24 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/How-many-countries-have-you-been-to/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]

Once upon a time, there was a president called Dick. No, that really was his name. Why are you laughing? Dick was very clever, and worked very hard. But he was also very angry. He was very angry, because he was sad that people didn’t think he was cool. Like the other president, Jack. People […]

Kissinger undermined Rogers at every opportunity because he was profoundly insecure. Kissinger would yell at anyone available (quite often Haldeman) for hours about slights, real and imaginary. The story of Kissinger’s time as National Security Adviser was a story of constant tussling with Rogers, and making sure Rogers was kept in the dark. Nixon initially […]

I can’t recall an instance where Kissinger did, though there were plenty of instances where he undermined Nixon or disobeyed instructions. I am reading Dallek’s Nixon and Kissinger right now though, and will update if I find an instance. Haldeman came closer by routinely failing to pass on Nixon’s enraged instructions to fire everybody. In […]

OP, asked because I saw these in my Facebook feed: Before: Under PASOK. After: Under SYRIZA. Come back! Or at least give me a call! Add me! I’ve been blocked! [Erdoğan citing a Greek pop song about Lara Novakov’s favourite holiday destination] I’m seeking asylum in Chalkidiki.Because “there’s no place like Chalkidiki.” Answered 2016-07-16 [Originally […]

Well, I guess it was just us then. Spent three or four days over our honeymoon in Istanbul, pretty much Sultanahmet, with a couple of excursions to Üsküdar. Sultanahmet, certainly, is Grand Tourist Central. I was astonished how few English speakers we found. Which proved particularly devastating when we got a taxi to Üsküdar, and […]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montenegrin_independence_referendum,_2006 A referendum that is of epochal consequence for a polity needs to be decisive, in order to settle the issue, instead of converting the referendum to a neverendum. Which is why referendums to change constitutions (for those countries that have them) don’t have a 50% threshold; and why federal polities require enhanced majorities of […]