The secret speech

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1. mrcdimaJul 2014
   Some titles I've recently read or at least have placed on my reading list.

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   Philosohpy

   Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium - Seneca

   Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (must read)

   The Republic - Plato

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   History

   Five Chimneys - Olga Lengyel

   The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (must read)

   The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

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   Fiction

   (particularly dystopian) 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451

   (crime/action) Child 44, The Secret Speech, Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith

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   Economics

   Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Thomas Piketty

   Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty - Banerjee, Duflo

   Why Nations Fail - Robinson

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   Economics/Decision making/Psychology

   Undercover Economist, Freakonomics, Nudge, Thinking Fast and Slow

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   Random titles

   The Selfish Gene, Self-Reliance, The Elements of Style (about writing), Slaughterhouse-Five

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   Some links to inspire your reading (though you may want to checkout the websites first to get an idea of the topics they cover)

   http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books

   http://bookpickings.brainpickings.org/

   http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/reading/

   http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-newsletter

   I’m just a working-class guy trying to take part in the conversation that all the smart people are having. What books should I read? - http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/03/im-just-a-working-cl...

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2. cryptonectorJun 2023
   > Christopher Hitchens was right: Kissinger was a war criminal so I tend to regard this kind of verbatim report as reflecting two criminally minded geniuses shooting the breeze together.

   Perhaps, but the trade arrangements made at that meeting have essentially been policy for every Administration since. That's very interesting. What to make of that? Why have no U.S. Presidents (except, maybe, maybe in rhetoric, Trump) wanted something different? The point is that Kissinger figured out something very important, and got it done, and it's lasted half a century. Policy momentum is a fascinating thing, and how to arrange for it.

   Another question I have is why Mao's intense hostility to the Soviets. Yes, Kruschev's Secret Speech was the cause of their schism, but why did all the premiers who followed Kruschev fail to right things with the Chinese? And why did Kruschev not find a way to smooth things with Mao? "Look, that Speech is not an attack on you, it's just me shoring up support in the USSR by attacking Stalin, and that works because Stalin made himself so feared, m'kay?" And why wouldn't that work, as long as the Speech stayed Secret and even if not, as long as it stayed out of the public eye in China? Well, ok, Kruschev couldn't keep it that secret, but still, the premiers that followed him could have denounced that speech and made things ok with China. But this hostility survived Mao's death, even when Deng Xiaoping essentially (but not overtly) accepted Kruschev's position against personality cults! Why? Only now, maybe, the Russians are finally repairing that schism.

   Really, TFA is extremely interesting.

   And yes, it's clear that to some degree Mao and Kissinger were playing roles, being flattering and saying things they probably didn't really mean.

   And then there's Mao's quip about Americans not being "awakened". Who knows what he meant, but Kissinger either did or pretended. Mao might have meant something very pedestrian, or perhaps something sinister, or perhaps something very good -- it'd be good to know.

   I'm not all the way through reading this and I'm just full of questions.

   Say what you will about the protagonists, but these memos are riveting.

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