History

The Great Terror in Russia and how it influences thinking to this day: I believe that you cannot comment about a country or a society without knowing something about where it has come from. In Russia’s case, not to examine what was perpetrated on the population during the Soviet years would be to ignore the elephant in the room. When I lived there, I did many road trips around the country. Once, I was visiting the towns and cities in the Golden Ring and in a small town called

Brendan in the early days. I saw an item on TV recently about the erection of a statue in a place called Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, in Ireland, to Dr. Brendan O’Regan. Who was he, many would ask — probably one of the greatest Irish innovators of the 20th Century or indeed of any time. The erection of a statue is hugely deserved but it cannot even begin to quantify what this man achieved or do justice to his legacy. I’m not too sure as to what positions Brendan held in Shannon A

I have written many articles about Russia over the years and, more recently, in the context of the war they have waged on Ukraine. One of the recent articles was read by a lady from Ukraine who complimented me on it. I was delighted to get the positive feedback but it reminded me that before I ever lived in Russia, I had spent two and a half great years working in Ukraine, in Kyiv. This was in the late 1990’s, relatively soon after independence from the old Soviet Union. The

After two weeks on Medium, I think it’s time for some Truth and Plain Speaking: I had a job one time which involved a lot of writing; preparation of briefs; making cases for projects; updating boards of directors and similar. I had a boss at that time who encouraged me to use plain words. It wasn’t his own invention, in fact the original book ‘plain words’ had been written by Sir Ernest Gowers in 1954, apparently in an effort to encourage parts of the British Civil Service to

The Excursion I awake to glorious, blinding sunshine. My jet lag of the previous two days is now banished to memory. A quick look from my seventh floor balcony shows me that the snow has almost disappeared and Spring is finally here. I have been living in Novosibirsk for over four months now and I have seen most of the city on foot. Having recently acquired a car, it is surely time for an excursion further afield; time for me to resume my travels in this seemingly never endin

Most people are aware of the horrendous events which have been happening in Gaza over the past few months and the seemingly intractable hard line stance taken by both sides in this seemingly never ending conflict. I am not going to go through the rights and wrongs of either side here. The Genesis of this article is that despite wall-to-wall media coverage, nothing brings a story, particularly one of conflict, closer than an account of someone’s first-hand experience. Last wee

I was recently reading an article about the 1960’s and the space race between America and the then Soviet Union, latterly the Russian Federation. For those of a younger age group, the US and the USSR were the two super-powers that emerged after World War 2. They then engaged in a competition to build-up an arsenal of nuclear and other weapons which could have destroyed our world many times over. Back then, they were also engaged in another competition – the space race. Ever s

I have been fortunate to visit over eighty countries in my lifetime and I still try to visit at least two new ones each year. It was a little difficult during the covid pandemic but despite the restrictions, I managed it. People have asked me to write something about places I have visited and to give my impressions. I’ve decided to start with South Africa as I have visited quite recently and it’s fresh in my memory. In fact, I have now visited the country on two occasions. I’

Altai Mountains - Siberia I read an article by a fellow writer this morning which stated that Russia is experiencing profound demographic issues and that this is effectively the root cause of their invasion of Ukraine. There is merit in this assertion. Russia, as the leading actor (Dictator) in the Soviet Union was a powerful nation, some would say a superpower. But since the break-up of that failed entity, Russia’s population has declined significantly and continues to do so

Pavlovsk Park near St Petersburg in Autumn I have tried to explain here before how Russian society works and how the system always requires and generates a strong leader, who is generally accepted and supported by the majority of the population, regardless of how they may act. Sometimes an anecdote or a practical example is the best way to explain something so I hope the following tale may make some sense of the current situation. I have many good friends in both Russia and U

Donough O'Malley - Ireland's pioneering Minister for Education I saw an article recently which listed and compared the world's top economies. There were two listings, the world's biggest economies and the world's richest economies. In terms of the world's biggest economy, the obvious largest was the United States, followed by China and so on. Naturally, Ireland didn't feature in this listing at all as it only went down to about number 20. But in the other list, which was the

St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow - old Soviet days I guess if we examine what the foreign services departments of countries do, apart from diplomacy and trying to maintain good relations, the logical assumption would be that they try to learn as much as possible about other nations. Of course nowadays, technically, all knowledge is available at the touch of a button on the internet but I reckon foreign intelligence services have a more refined, more focused version. The first t

This is written in response to Chris Snow’s excellent article on present day Russia, which we have corresponded on. Chris — there’s no doubt that your and Peter Zeihan’s estimate of young men leaving Russia is accurate. I know quite a few of them personally. They are people I worked with and unfortunately from Russia’s viewpoint, they are among the best and the brightest. Where I do disagree is in relation to your assertion that Putin is evil or that his regime is evil. He ha

I told this story to someone a few nights ago, just in passing, and they were fascinated by it; not just the details but the background information and the conditions pertaining at the time. They suggested I write it down and publish it, so here goes: The story relates to my time in Russia and to the relatively brief period after the Soviet break-up and prior to the implementation of what I would call western style regulation. Many people refer to this period as lawless but i

Elephants in the Masai Mara, Kenya. Small nations have always suffered at the hands and feet and weapons of larger, stronger and wealthier nations. I need only mention my own country’s occupation by its larger neighbour for 800 years. But we won’t talk of Ireland in this article. Looking at the history of the world, there is nowhere that has suffered as much as Africa. In this instance, it was a case of an entire continent being bullied by a more powerful neighbouring contine