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history

Why the West rules – for now

■ “HISTORY, n. An account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.” This is the definition given by Ambrose Bierce in The Devil’s Dictionary. It is a…

Berlin Wall questions

Aspenia Online: Can you think of historical precedents, or parallels, in which a country builds a barrier (and maintains it for three decades) in order mostly to keep its own people in, rather than some external threat out? The North Korean…

Il Muro Invisibile che resiste

I festeggiamenti per i 25 anni del crollo del Muro di Berlino, il 9 novembre 2014, si erano ancora svolti con un certo entusiasmo. Certo, la frattura tra Est e Ovest della Germania era già un problema di cui discutere, ma permaneva…

Berlin, thirty years on

“This will come into effect, as far as I know, immediately, right away,” stuttered a confused German Democratic Republic (GDR) spokesman, on November 9th, 1989, at a press conference after reading out in perfect technical jargon the new…