The Taliban in Afghanistan (the very epitome of conservative and backward reactionaries) have a very developed and intricate system of clans. Ethnically, they belong to the Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group in the country. And they can trace their origins back to ancient families and their respective groups and sub-groups. Justice is something that is settled between the elders of   …  

From being regarded as a hobby for crackpots, UFOs are now back in fashion. The US military has lifted the secrecy seal on some interesting cases, and several prominent newspapers have taken up the subject in a slightly more serious manner. These unexplained phenomena have often been linked to the military, from the so-called Foo-fighter of the 1940s to today’s   …  

In the old days, singing at work was a way of creating community and making something boring bearable. People also sang when they walked, when they worshipped their gods, and when they remembered the heroes of the past. Consider that the Illiad, the Odyssey, the Hymn to Demeter were songs. Music was something that followed us everywhere. Perhaps we sang   …  

Throughout history, we can sense a struggle between different ideals and temperaments, we see an alternation between Apollonian and Dionysian societies. Apollo represents order, fact and clarity – while Dionysus reflects pleasure, intuition and dreaminess. A good balance between the two aspects contributes to high cultures and progress, as in classical Greece, the High Middle Ages/Renaissance and the late 19th   …  

The Orient, and India in particular, has long been regarded by us Westerners as a remote and mysterious place, steeped in ancient wisdom and millennia-old traditions. Indian culture stood unbroken for over 5,000 years. They had no Christian religious conversion or disruptive Protestantism to change course significantly. Indian civilization is more like a slowly flowing river, where change happens very   …  

Slavery is considered wrong and reprehensible, but there is a historical background that may shed some light on the matter. In ancient Greece, prisoners of war or criminals were often enslaved. The penalty was labour instead of imprisonment. Prisons were unusual and were probably seen as meaningless as the general perception was that the perpetrators would do justice to society   …  

What is this modernity, which forever reshaped our society after the Great War of 1918, and guaranteed that architecture with a Corinthian order or flowering facade ornaments would never again be built, and where art, poetry and culture would no longer reflect the beautiful? From now on society would be functional and modern. Even at the first sight of this   …  

On a daily basis, we can read about the US President Donald Trump’s mental state, written by people who doesn’t know him, or never even met him. They are neither psychologists nor psychiatrists, yet they attribute various diagnoses to the president on social media and other media channels. Trump is considered to suffer from a narcissistic personality disorder, as well   …  

What if the Romans had not conquered the eastern Mediterranean, but left the Greeks alone to develop steam engines, astrolabes and all manner of architectural and mechanical novelties, in prominent cities like Alexandria, Syracuse, Athens and Ephesus? Could the industrial revolution have started as early as 100 AD? The events that happened in England around 1800 and changed the whole   …  

To those who have visited Rome, Athens or Pompeii, it seems obvious that Western culture is built on pagan Greco-Roman foundations. From the Greek colonization of the eastern Mediterranean around 700 BC to the fall of the western Roman Empire around 410 AD. Then followed the Christian era, and in the first phase, almost the entire culture was destroyed. And   …  

More and more people are seeking to escape the distorted worldview of our times. An increasing number do not feel like they belong. Above all, it is people outside the system, those who are being parasitised by the nobility and its clients, i.e. the plebeians. Ordinary people who work and pay taxes. They are not necessarily interested in politics, but   …