A radio appearance on Radio Free Market:
Reading at the annual Ukrainian American writers’ event
I’m excited to have been invited to read at the annual Ukrainian American writers’ event on November 5th at The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago at 7 p.m.
Brief Lecture at Carthage College
I speak from 5:00 to 18:00 about my military background and a little about my research in Ukraine.
Michael McKay speaks from 18:30 to 35:00 about the nature of money, including advice for individuals.
There’s a Q & A after 35:00.
Veteran Voices — literary reading at Iowa City’s “The Mill”
I read at the Mill alongside four other veterans.
I read the essays “Narrative and Memory at War” and “Something Worth Fighting For.” It was a great event all around. I had planned to record myself, but forgot.
The Daily Iowan published a review of the reading:
“My cynicism also shows in this one. So… sorry, believers,” he said before he began reading his second piece.
But even Skaskiw, a graduate of the Writers’ Workshop in 2007, agreed that Monday’s event was effective.
“Wars are important events regardless of what you think about them,” he said.
Finding the Birthplace of Ludwig von Mises
by Mykola Bunyk and Roman Skaskiw
The problem of determining the house in which the famous economist and liberal thinker was born acquired urgency several months ago with an initiative by Ukraine’s small Austrolibertarian community to unveil a memorial plaque this September for the 130th anniversary of Ludwig von Mises’s birth.
The initial relevant information about the Mises family concerned Ludwig’s great-grandfather Ludwig Mayer Rachmiel Mises. According to the website of the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe in Lviv, Ludwig’s great grandfather Mayer Rachmiel owned buildings on Market Square 18 and Old Jewish Street 7 (Rynok Square 18 and Starojevreis’ka 7), two prominent addresses in the center of Lviv connected by a courtyard.
The Military Mentality
It’s quite easy for nation builders to believe they are doing good. I can attest from personal experience, handing out other people’s money feels great, especially handing it out to desperately poor populations and in exotic and far-away places.
Locals demonstrate a profound reverence you’ve probably never encountered before (and never will again). They hang on your every word. Why should a nation builder look past his personal greatness and benevolence and see in himself instead a bureaucrat respected only because his thumb rests on the flow of money?
If it’s not the goodness of the endeavor, then it’s the goodness of the institution. Soldiers can consider the military a proud institution steeped in noble tradition — I’m not sure I entirely disagree — and many stand ready to let themselves be wielded as a weapon by the representatives of their state. (Read more from mises.org)
“Fighting for Freedom” in the Middle East — the military mentality and unintended consequences
This lecture was given at the 2011 Property and Freedom Society Conference.
Powerpoint presentation: here
Essays based on this lecture:
– The Military Mentality
– Bureaucratic Management and Unintended Consequences
Very flattering review of the conference and my lecture here. I agree with Jame’s sentiment. The PFS conference is a rare visit to the outside of the asylum.
