Liquidity Trap

I beat Mass Effect 2. Review forthcoming (fingers crossed).

HIS 403: We moved out of the immediate post-war years and into the '50s and '60s. Specific focus on the economic explosion that was supposed to appear and fade quickly but ended up sticking for years, in the West at least. We're going to discuss the importation of foreign workers to fill labor shortages next week, which has much to do with current Europe and its identity crisis problem. The powers also start to lose much of their imperial territory, with decolonization rapidly starting. Looked at the new youth culture and its universal impact not just in Europe but in many parts of the world, coming mostly from the dreaded scourge of America. Relating to that, the "Americanization" of Europe was discussed. On the Eastern side, we focused on how things changed in the Eastern block after Stalin's death. Particular focus on the 1953 uprising in East Germany, the 1956 one in Hungary, and the Prague of Spring of 1968. These were all stopped by direct Soviet intervention. Khrushchev may have wanted to GTFA from Stalin, but he could still get clamp down with the best of them. And in '68 under Brezhnev...well Czechoslovakia probably got off easy, since 'ol Leonid was Uncle Joe Jr. Oh yeah, and Walter Ulbricht, leader of the SED and basically the authoritarian ruler of East Germany, got Nikki's permission to build a big wall in 1961.

And in other HIS 403 news, I've started seriously working on my research paper, focusing broadly on Chechnya. I'm still working out my thesis statement, but I've been lucky to find some good books and especially an excellent journal article that looks at the Chechen Wars from a military/operational standpoint. I want to talk about counterinsurgency some in the paper, so this was a great find. Reading the information and seeing the horrors committed by both sides, you have to feel for the civilians caught in the middle. Just some tidbits: Kidnapping makes up the largest portion of Chechen GDP. The corruption in the Russian military is so high that the number one source of arms and supplies to the Chechen guerrillas is the Russian military. The author of one of the books I'm using, Anna Politkovskaya, was assassinated two years after its publication, as were several of her comrades that worked for or contributed to the activist newspaper she was associated with. Everyone alleged to be connected to the killing was acquitted. And last but not least, the Chechens infamously held an entire theater in Moscow hostage over the occupation in 2002. The Russian government's response? They gassed the building, killing all the terrorists and 130 of their own civilians...

In MMA land, we found out that James Toney will not get to KO Kimbo for his first fight, at least probably not soon. Slice is still set to fight Matt Mitrione, while Toney does not yet have an opponent. Not much of significance from Sengoku 12. Akihiro Gono picked up a decision win over a weak opponent. Maximo Blanco delivered a brutal head-kick knockout. And Jorge Santiago won his rematch against Mamed Khalidov. While not MMA, Manny Pacquiao returns to the boxing ring today against Joshua Clottey. It's not the Mayweather super-fight, but Pac-Man has already achieved legendary status and is must-watch.