Click on the pic. This is an incredibly beautiful and unspoiled inlet on the island of Korčula. You have to walk down a steep embankment (not pictured) to get down to the beach. The only thing down there is a beach bar.
thank you so much for the content, probably the most informative newsletter i subscribe to. niccolo on a personal and random note i am always looking for good book recommendations and you seem very well read. what are your top ten favorite books of all time ( novels as well as nonfiction), thanks so much looking forward to your response!
Thanks Cole, I appreciate it. As for your request, that will require a standalone post that I will have to write up at some point this summer. It's always, always tough to do these because the choices tend to shuffle around quite often.
appreciate it and totally agree. whenever someone asks me this question i provide a random list based on my proclivity of the day/week that usually contains at least 3 or 4 consistent selections. i look forward to the post!
I miss Croatia. I last visited in 2017 (Dubrovnik and Split, driving from the former to the latter) and absolutely loved the place. Fine memories of lifting at Marjan Fitness in Split!
As much as I enjoy the writings on this site, I'm still not going to pay for opinions. For one thing, a teacher's retirement income is not enough for such frosting on my cake and, for another, paying for such would be like buying tickets to participate in coffee-clutch with colleagues. (The few who are willing to talk to anyone slightly to the Right of, say, Gyorgy Likacs . . .)
Niccolo, since you asked for requests, I'll make a few. I am interested in hearing more first-hand accounts of expat life, especially as the empire is in decline. The British novelist Olivia Manning was in the Balkans during the first stages of WW2 and witnessed extraordinary, mostly disturbing, changes in the attitudes of locals towards British expats. I expect that Croatia today is very comfortable for US expats, but am sure there would be interesting anecdotes/perspectives there.
Re interviews, I'd like to make a recommendation: consider asking subscribers for possible questions for interviewees. Just an idea.
I'll take these suggestions into consideration. Thanks Phillip.
The Americans that show up here are very, very nice people who show a lot of respect for the country and the people here., so locals in tourism go out of their way to give them special treatment as not only are they nice, but they are also generally good spenders. I have friends who do historical tours in Split and Dubrovnik, and Americans are among their favourite groups.
My father grew up in Marijanci, Croatia. He claimed to have never seen a mountain until he was 7 years old, on an exceptionally clear day. His memories are my Yugoslavia.
I was very, very young when we emigrated from the ex-YU. It wasn't until I was a late pre-teen that we went back for our first visit. Living in the Great Lakes region, you don't see any mountains. We landed in Frankfurt, Germany, rented a car and drove south.
Just past Munich I saw the beginning of the Alps in their full glory. We drove through Austria, from Salzburg down to Graz and then to the border with the then-YU. I fell in love with mountains then and I am still in love with them today.
I always look forward to the weekly Commentary and Review. I really wonder how you manage to find those articles. I've always wanted to visit Dalmatia since I read Eastern Approaches, but that'll have to wait for me until next spring when I finish uni. If you are taking requests though, may I suggest a thread on career/life advice. Lots of young men who have no clue what to do! Also, I always enjoy your takes on Canadian politics, so more of that if possible.
My methodology is easy: bookmark select sites, scan, scan, scan, collect, collect, collect, shortlist articles, read them, remove some from list, add others to backup lists.
Career/Life Advice is something that I steer clear of because a) there's so much of it and b) I don't think I'm the best person to give out such advice. If younger guys and girls ask me my advice on certain matters, I prefer to offer it privately if what I have to offer has value.
Makes sense, but I must admit the thought of guru Niccolo seems amusing.
Perhaps maybe you can add some links to articles that interested you but don't deserve the full Niccolo treatment at the end of each commentary, so there is more food for thought. Just a suggestion though.
Niccolo is very wise to avoid broadcasting career/life advice. The trouble, in my experience is that the best advice is simply useless (and often counterproductive) unless the advice is accompanied by practical assistance in realising the advice in the first place. Believe me, there are few things as galling as getting great advice that one simply cannot put into practice.
Real gurus work on a small scale, cautiously and with those they know well and whom they can help directly.
I wouldn't call it necessarily unique, but the most interesting thing IMO is that Canada is effectively run by a dictatorship of the Cabinet. This is due to the fact that parliamentary whips are incredibly powerful in the House of Commons. You cannot vote against your own party unless it is a 'free vote', which are rare and which don't have anything to do with legislation. If you vote against your own party, you will get kicked out of the party caucus, forced to either sit as an independent (and lose all funds allocated to Members of Parliament for things like staff), or cross the aisle and join another party.
Backbenchers (those not in Cabinet) are therefore at the mercy of their party leadership and whips.
Bagehot the great writer on British 'constitution' wrote 1890s that a Prime Minister with a united party and strong majority was an elected dictator. Canada is same system?
I’m a recent subscriber, turned on by a Ukraine piece, you know that one early in the, shall we say, warvasion. Since then been continually entertained by your work. Corsica! Whodathoughtit. I genuinely feel empowered reading your stuff. Thank you.
Just got back from Croatia and the other ex-Yugo states. I couldn’t believe we went to war only 30 years ago, when I was in Istria and got asked where I was from no one cared that I was a Serb. Met some old man at the park in Pula and had a lovely chat. I loved your commentary about the media manipulation because reading Index and those Serbian tabloids, you get the feeling you’ll get beat up the second you say Serb.
I have to say though, the sea drains me. I’m happy to be back in the Canadian prairies. Maybe Dalmatia next year.
Tabloid sensationalism is just as common here as it is in Western Europe and North America. Istra is probably the part of the country most friendly to Serbs, and a lot of Serbs and half-Serbs live there already.
I'm an occasional lurker, and only read intermittently but I will say that there is a massive gap in political content covering Europe in the English language at a fairly high abstract level. I think this partly due to the fragmentation of Europe and partly language. The US is its own thing, and it's so big so there's always some happening going on. For the other Anglosphere countries you have a common lingua franca.
The other European countries are much harder to get a sense of what's happening. Your writing is a lot more eclectic than just politics, but I do appreciate that you cover the European scene a lot more compared to the usual US domination. I also happen to share your views that "le based Eastern Europe" is mostly a meme. The EU as a whole is mostly a subcolonial entity of the US empire in my book, but it's still worthwhile reading and writing about what's happening because no state of being is permanent in nature.
As for your country, it's beautiful to be sure. But in times like these, I'm very grateful for living on the Northern latitudes.
Search out local news sources and than use google translate. That's how I keep up on local German news. Also France and Germany have good English coverage for news as well
Click on the pic. This is an incredibly beautiful and unspoiled inlet on the island of Korčula. You have to walk down a steep embankment (not pictured) to get down to the beach. The only thing down there is a beach bar.
thank you so much for the content, probably the most informative newsletter i subscribe to. niccolo on a personal and random note i am always looking for good book recommendations and you seem very well read. what are your top ten favorite books of all time ( novels as well as nonfiction), thanks so much looking forward to your response!
Thanks Cole, I appreciate it. As for your request, that will require a standalone post that I will have to write up at some point this summer. It's always, always tough to do these because the choices tend to shuffle around quite often.
appreciate it and totally agree. whenever someone asks me this question i provide a random list based on my proclivity of the day/week that usually contains at least 3 or 4 consistent selections. i look forward to the post!
I miss Croatia. I last visited in 2017 (Dubrovnik and Split, driving from the former to the latter) and absolutely loved the place. Fine memories of lifting at Marjan Fitness in Split!
5 minute walk from where I am right now
As much as I enjoy the writings on this site, I'm still not going to pay for opinions. For one thing, a teacher's retirement income is not enough for such frosting on my cake and, for another, paying for such would be like buying tickets to participate in coffee-clutch with colleagues. (The few who are willing to talk to anyone slightly to the Right of, say, Gyorgy Likacs . . .)
Andras: check your email (the one you used to sign up here),. I've sent you a message.
I just subscribed and "paid for it" by cancelling another one.
May God bless you with wealth and good health, and may he smite your enemies!
Very old testament of you. If he smites them, fine, but I will try to turn the other cheek!
*****
Chicken Goulash Paprikash
Niccolo, since you asked for requests, I'll make a few. I am interested in hearing more first-hand accounts of expat life, especially as the empire is in decline. The British novelist Olivia Manning was in the Balkans during the first stages of WW2 and witnessed extraordinary, mostly disturbing, changes in the attitudes of locals towards British expats. I expect that Croatia today is very comfortable for US expats, but am sure there would be interesting anecdotes/perspectives there.
Re interviews, I'd like to make a recommendation: consider asking subscribers for possible questions for interviewees. Just an idea.
I'll take these suggestions into consideration. Thanks Phillip.
The Americans that show up here are very, very nice people who show a lot of respect for the country and the people here., so locals in tourism go out of their way to give them special treatment as not only are they nice, but they are also generally good spenders. I have friends who do historical tours in Split and Dubrovnik, and Americans are among their favourite groups.
Love Croatia. Plitvice Lakes incredible. Loved Zadar too.
Lemme know if you ever make it back here.
Will do! Would love to and will make it a point to get back someday.
How do u rate Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Niccolo? + Can you recommend any favourite recipes?
P.S. Always happy to pay for your newsletter, great content.
Spigot, I will make you clean Cornelio's shoes while an audience watches!
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony were fucking horrible.
I will fuck you in the ass until you die, retard
lol
How dare you insult the memory of Eazy E who died of AIDS to bring us Bone Thugs
In a manner similar to the sacrifice of Christ
Eazy-E was Bush Family Mafia
https://thesource.com/2020/03/18/today-in-hip-hop-history-eazy-e-visits-president-george-h-w-bush-in-the-white-house-29-years-ago/
Expect a visit from the fucking cops
My father grew up in Marijanci, Croatia. He claimed to have never seen a mountain until he was 7 years old, on an exceptionally clear day. His memories are my Yugoslavia.
I was very, very young when we emigrated from the ex-YU. It wasn't until I was a late pre-teen that we went back for our first visit. Living in the Great Lakes region, you don't see any mountains. We landed in Frankfurt, Germany, rented a car and drove south.
Just past Munich I saw the beginning of the Alps in their full glory. We drove through Austria, from Salzburg down to Graz and then to the border with the then-YU. I fell in love with mountains then and I am still in love with them today.
Nice
I always look forward to the weekly Commentary and Review. I really wonder how you manage to find those articles. I've always wanted to visit Dalmatia since I read Eastern Approaches, but that'll have to wait for me until next spring when I finish uni. If you are taking requests though, may I suggest a thread on career/life advice. Lots of young men who have no clue what to do! Also, I always enjoy your takes on Canadian politics, so more of that if possible.
Love your writing long time. Keep it up!!
Thanks for the feedback!
My methodology is easy: bookmark select sites, scan, scan, scan, collect, collect, collect, shortlist articles, read them, remove some from list, add others to backup lists.
Career/Life Advice is something that I steer clear of because a) there's so much of it and b) I don't think I'm the best person to give out such advice. If younger guys and girls ask me my advice on certain matters, I prefer to offer it privately if what I have to offer has value.
Makes sense, but I must admit the thought of guru Niccolo seems amusing.
Perhaps maybe you can add some links to articles that interested you but don't deserve the full Niccolo treatment at the end of each commentary, so there is more food for thought. Just a suggestion though.
Niccolo is very wise to avoid broadcasting career/life advice. The trouble, in my experience is that the best advice is simply useless (and often counterproductive) unless the advice is accompanied by practical assistance in realising the advice in the first place. Believe me, there are few things as galling as getting great advice that one simply cannot put into practice.
Real gurus work on a small scale, cautiously and with those they know well and whom they can help directly.
What is the most unique thing about Canadian politics?
I wouldn't call it necessarily unique, but the most interesting thing IMO is that Canada is effectively run by a dictatorship of the Cabinet. This is due to the fact that parliamentary whips are incredibly powerful in the House of Commons. You cannot vote against your own party unless it is a 'free vote', which are rare and which don't have anything to do with legislation. If you vote against your own party, you will get kicked out of the party caucus, forced to either sit as an independent (and lose all funds allocated to Members of Parliament for things like staff), or cross the aisle and join another party.
Backbenchers (those not in Cabinet) are therefore at the mercy of their party leadership and whips.
Bagehot the great writer on British 'constitution' wrote 1890s that a Prime Minister with a united party and strong majority was an elected dictator. Canada is same system?
UK Parliamentary rules are more relaxed on party line voting than the Canadian House of Commons is...but yes, same system for the most part.
The influence of rightist Ukrainian diaspora even leftist Freeland sounds like an interesting topic for you?
I’m a recent subscriber, turned on by a Ukraine piece, you know that one early in the, shall we say, warvasion. Since then been continually entertained by your work. Corsica! Whodathoughtit. I genuinely feel empowered reading your stuff. Thank you.
Just got back from Croatia and the other ex-Yugo states. I couldn’t believe we went to war only 30 years ago, when I was in Istria and got asked where I was from no one cared that I was a Serb. Met some old man at the park in Pula and had a lovely chat. I loved your commentary about the media manipulation because reading Index and those Serbian tabloids, you get the feeling you’ll get beat up the second you say Serb.
I have to say though, the sea drains me. I’m happy to be back in the Canadian prairies. Maybe Dalmatia next year.
Tabloid sensationalism is just as common here as it is in Western Europe and North America. Istra is probably the part of the country most friendly to Serbs, and a lot of Serbs and half-Serbs live there already.
Gangsta rap lobby...who wouldve known they were that far back then
I have an entire article to write on how Gangsta Rap was a tool to beat down Black Nationalism in Hip Hop.
Sounds very interesting. I can see that this makes sense.
Also stands in line with the apparent collusion of the music industry and privare prisons (for instance https://www.npr.org/transcripts/921111245).
Def. super interesting - Looking forward to that article.
I'm an occasional lurker, and only read intermittently but I will say that there is a massive gap in political content covering Europe in the English language at a fairly high abstract level. I think this partly due to the fragmentation of Europe and partly language. The US is its own thing, and it's so big so there's always some happening going on. For the other Anglosphere countries you have a common lingua franca.
The other European countries are much harder to get a sense of what's happening. Your writing is a lot more eclectic than just politics, but I do appreciate that you cover the European scene a lot more compared to the usual US domination. I also happen to share your views that "le based Eastern Europe" is mostly a meme. The EU as a whole is mostly a subcolonial entity of the US empire in my book, but it's still worthwhile reading and writing about what's happening because no state of being is permanent in nature.
As for your country, it's beautiful to be sure. But in times like these, I'm very grateful for living on the Northern latitudes.
Search out local news sources and than use google translate. That's how I keep up on local German news. Also France and Germany have good English coverage for news as well
I never thought of doing that and I'm brilliant. Thanks!