Sparta's Desperate Population Policy

 

Sparta, like all Greek states, had rigid racial laws of citizenship against half-bred and foreigners, and for many generations, it saw its citizenry (that is its army) decline. Sparta adopted customs of publicly humiliating unmarried and childless male citizens, in the theater, they had to give up their sites to youngsters, and in some festivities, they were forced to dance naked in a circle singing self-debasing songs. They celebrated annual ceremonies where marriageable girls were paraded naked, trying to inflame desire and attract suitors. Boys, from age 7,  were educated in the army, where homosexuality was de rigeur, so they were inexperienced and terrified of women. To help them actually to be able to consummate the union, it took place in private in obscurity, and the bride - with a shaved head - was dressed up in men's clothes. Childless married women were legally impregnated by an army comrade or a friend, free of the stigma of bastardy.

Nothing helped, Sparta's citizen body steadily declined to the point that there were not enough able Spartiates to govern its foreign possessions. To refill the infantry, Sparta called for Helot (slave) recruits, and thousands volunteered. When formed into battalions, the Spartans were frightened by the high military quality of the new corps, and secretly killed them all. In the end, the Spartan army numbered less than a thousand and there was no one to oppose the Boeotian invasion. 

Later, in Roman times, Sparta became a tourist attraction, with actors replaying Spartan religious rituals and war dances.  Athens left a large literary and political legacy, Sparta left nothing. 

Tension in East China Sea

 

Nancy promised to visit Taiwan and the mainland regime is furious. After Taiwan, there are those Japanese islands. 

Saw a twit in Chinese commenting about the regime's sudden turn from a very harsh antinatalist policy (one child) to a pro-natalist incentive policy. And the Chinese people take it all without protest. Leszek Kolakowski would say that both policies are correct, i.e. true Marxism is what the Party says at any given moment. 

P.S.: Nancy has erased Taiwan from her itinerary. China did frighten off America, which means that the conflict over Eastern Pacific is real. America is fighting for its lost hegemony. 

Contentment

 

Arthur Koestler writes in his autobiography that he experienced only one or two instances of happiness in his whole life, and he considers that fair in our times of sorrow. I too have had my portion of contentment, celebrating a granddaughter's birthday. Pic.: Yesterday.

Credit Suisse frittered away Bidzina's 800 million dollars

 

Bidzina Ivanishvili from Georgia is fighting Credit Suisse in Singapore. He claims  $800 million was frittered away by convicted fraudster Patrice Lescaudron, of CS. Why I am not surprised? 

The Crowe Memorandum Predicts WWIII

 

Crowe, a German-born British diplomat, wrote a memorandum of German-French-British relations seven years before WWI. He described the existing alliance system that unavoidably would lead to war. Kissinger uses this "realistic"  school of thought to call attention that the China-USA binary could operate - mechanically - to produce the same results. China would try to dominate its region and expel the Americans, while the Americans would restrict the transference of technology that one day may be used against them. Kissinger very nicely explains that it is all symbolic, there is no need that one of the parties actually does something, the mere fact that IT COULD is the same as IT DID. No one can wait for some actual move to take place, they must plan and act as if already did happen. Henry analyses the insignificant "bellicose" actions that developed into German/British hostility, and the worst seems to have been Germany's verbal support of the Boers during the South African war. Nothing at all. Today America is organizing a chain of allies in Asia, signing mutual defense treaties, and negating technology to Chinese companies, preventing future, POTENTIAL,  hostility. Bottom line: WWIII seems to be approaching.

I'll not be here nor there, not my problem.

The Future is American

 As Mearsheimer predicted, America is fighting like lion to regain its former position as global hegemon. China has been paralyzed, its GNP  this year is negative. No one knows if the COVID virus invention, developed in Wuhan with American financing and management, is an American bio-weapon (Ron Unz says so, and the decimation of the Iranian regimen attests to it). But we know that it has stopped China's peaceful rise. On the other hand, America's second rival, the European Union, has been embroiled in a hot war in Ukraine against Russia, neutralizing de-facto the powerful German export machine and ruining Ukraine and Russia. These things do not happen spontaneously, they are machinations causing America to re-emerge as the world hegemon. Moreover, China and Japan are indebted and their populations are falling. It is probable that the working-age population of China soon will be smaller than America's if we count Mexico and Canada as part of the North American market. America is sucking in workers from all over the world, its Southern border is unguarded and 3 million young people just walked in in 2022. In fact, America's future preponderance seems to have been ensured for the next generation. Apparently, Israel too is on the ascendance in its region. 

All this is happening while America is being engulfed by race conflict and growing chaos, under a senile President. But it doesn't seem to matter.   

Israel's Economic MIracle

 The latest table of The Economist says that Israel's GNP is growing at 10%. Ours is the fastest growing economy in the world. I live inside and am a part of this economy, yet feel no big prosperity. I do feel that summer fruits are 14 - 16 sheqel/kilo when used to be 5 or 6. I don't know what I'd do if Ella didn't feed me grapes. The Skoda Fabia I bought for 70,000 sheqel years ago costs today 108,000. And it is hot.