A Travel Through Time

I spoke at an event just outside Stockholm around 3 months ago on the return of monarchy in the future. The speech started off in the 19^th century and ended up some time in the future.

Here's a photo a friend was kind enough to take.



I spoke with a Habsburg tie, and the lecturn was covered with a Habsburg flag, which was one of several effects actively used in the speech.

"Monarchy is better than a Republic"

There's an interesting thread at RonPaulForums.com.

Monarchy and Propaganda

A non-monarchist presents some thoughts on forms of government.

War, Democracy, and Intervention

The Lew Rockwell Show features John V. Denson on Wilson's War.

Lew Rockwell also talks about the neocons.

Ekaterinburg

John Crossland reviews Helen Rappaport's Ekaterinburg.


H/T: Royal World

King of Fashion

Andrew Cusack has a nice post on the newly crowned King of Tonga.

Franz Josef 178

In memory of HLIRM Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary.





James J. Sheehan: The Last of All His Kind

More Solzhenitsyn

Some more:

• John Laughland: The Brussels Journal, LewRockwell.com
• Eric Margolis
• Michael Cook (Thanks to “Mild Colonial Boy, Esq.”)
• Jeffrey Hart

Franz Josef in Marienbad

Eight dozen and eight years ago today, Emperor and King Franz Josef came on an official visit to His Britannic Majesty in Marienbad in the Kingdom of Bohemia.

The Vulgar Hitchens and "Progress"

“F.E. Smith” of The Monarchist debunks Christopher Hitchens and the Whig Theory of History.

Ain't My America

Jeffrey A. Tucker reviews Bill Kaufman's Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism.

Colonel House

Over at LRC, Dr. Robert Higgs gives an overview of the chief architect of the Wilsonian World Order, Colonel House.

Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbia

Le Fleur de Lys too posts on a battle between the Danube Monarchy and the Kingdom of Serbia.

Tongan Dying Lion?

On the occasion of the 216^th anniversary of the fall of the ancient French monarchy, Mrs. M.E. Russel of Tea at Trianon remembers the fall and the massacre of the Swiss Guards.

The Fiji Times reports on the emasculation of the Tongan monarchy.

Solzhenitsyn

Charley Reese pays tribute to Solzhenitsyn.

In Infamy...

On the occasion of the anniversary of the dreadful act on Nagasaki, Dr. Robert Higgs remembers. So does Prof. Joshua Snyder.

Bombed at the orders of the supposedly most benevolent or least malevolent form of government there is.

Twice!!!

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, RIP

Some tributes:

• Andrew Cusack
• Theodore Harvey
• David Flint
• The Australian
• The New York Times
• Asia News (via The Western Confucian)
• Tom Piatak (via Taki's Magazine)
• Edward E. Ericson Jr. & Alexis Klimoff
• Yuri N. Maltsev

Hoppe on Monarchy and Democracy

The Lew Rockwell Show features Prof. Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe and his book Democracy: The God That Failed.

The late Dr. Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn is also mentioned.

Patrick Moore and a Quote

American Monarchist has a post on Sir Patrick Moore, with notes on Rhodesia and the Principality of Liechtenstein, as well as a wonderful quote.

Warner on Italy

Gerald Warner defends the old Italian order.


H/T: American Monarchist

Democracy in the Middle Kingdom?

It is the eve of the commencement of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Over at the Guardian, Daniel A. Bell questions the quest for western-style democracy in the Middle Kingdom.


H/T: The Western Confucian

Democracy and Philosophy

Write Idea gives us some thoughts on government and philosophy.

Three Score and Three Years Ago

Hiroshima.

The Western Confucian has this and this.

Over at Taki's Magazine, J.P. Zmirak has this.

Alas, a blog has this.

In all the claims of every other form of regime than democracy being worse, it is a regime of modern democracy that has dropped the nuclear bomb – and so twice.

Less Illusions, Please!

Let Them Eat Cake prefers a world of less illusions.

Please take note of Catherine Delors's notes on the notorious quote when thinking about the blog's title.

Invasion of Belgium

Le Fleur de Lys too has a post on the German invasion of Belgium 94 years ago today. There's also a post on the invasion of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 5 days earlier. And there's one on the costs of the war.

Franz Josef 178 this Month

In the 160^th year since the ascension of Archduke Franz Josef to the Imperial throne of Austria, HLIRM Emperor-King Franz Josef's 178^th birthday (August 18) will be celebrated.

While the Austria Imperial Festival in Innsbruck seems sadly to be gone, the spirit of Imperial celebrations is going strong.

If we are to believe this page, the Mitteleuropa Festival
in Giassico, Cormons in Italy has moved to July.

There is the Emperor's Fest in Bad Ischl August 15 through 18.

Three W's

Over at Taki's Magazine, Dr. Paul Edward Gottfried compares three W's – Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Persona Non Grata of this weblog, and the current POTUS.

Churchill on the Great War

Over at The Monarchist today.

Destruction Was Loose

Six years short of a century ago, the lights went out, the federal government of those United States of America proclaimed neutrality, whilst the United Kingdom declared war.

Those United States were to remain “neutral” for two years, eight months, and two days.

It was the greatest disaster.

Nepali Chaos

Nepali Perspectives brings reflections on the chaos in the Kingdom of Nepal.

Demagoguery Works

At LRC, Charley Reese says that demagoguery works.

Buchanan on the Civil War of the West

This day 94 years ago was the eve of the British Empire's rendezvous with destiny.

A radio interview with Pat Buchanan in five parts.











MP3 of the entire interview here.

All 5 parts in one player and comments here.


H/T: The Western Confucian

Hotel in Salzburg

The real von Trapp family home, visited recently by Maria von Trapp, is expected to open for guests this upcoming October. So the Daily Telegraph reports.

Maria von Trapp is a daughter of the late Georg von Trapp, who was an Austrian aristocrat and an officer of the Imperial-Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy, and who heroically refused to serve the Nazi regime.

Tonga Needs King

In the wake of the coronation of His Majesty King George Tupou V of Tonga, Hamish MacDonald of the Sydney Morning Herald, while being a little bit too modernist on democracy, believes Tonga still needs a king.

Tongan Coronation

The BBC reports on the Tongan coronation. So does the Scotsman.

Russian Emperor vs. German Emperor

Six years short of a century ago today, after a series of telegrams, the German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.

Tongan Coronation and Emasculation

Today is coronation day for King George Tupou V of Tonga.

As CNN reports, the King has given up some powers. I have no strong objections to monarchs giving up powers in general. In keeping with Edmund Burke's dictum that constitutions are grown, not made, and in respecting that one size does not fit all, having a mixed government is a wise thing.

What I do object to is a process of outright emasculation of a monarch. If partial reduction of powers is just a step on the way to total emasculation, I do object to it. In today's world the problem is that popular majorities and democratically elected politicos have too much power – not that kings have too much power. I say the burden of proof lies with those who want emasculation of the King, and they have yet to convince me.

Moreover, I object to the following statement by the CNN:

New Tongan king, George Tupou V, to give up most of near-absolute powers

Near-absolute powers? Most of? Mostly-pregnant? Near-pregnant?

Doesn't someone either possess absolute power or not? Can something be somewhat absolute?

It is interesting that when a democratically elected parliament has the sole, unchecked power to make and amend legislation that is absolutely binding for everyone in the country, the mainstream media never refers to that as “absolute power,” whereas once a monarch can block such legislation it is almost always referred to with the term absolute.

Confoederatio Helvetica

On this day 717 years ago, the Swiss Confederation was founded.

From Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn's The Intelligent American's Guide to Europe:

As a matter of fact, the critique of democracy has perhaps nowhere been better developed than precisely in the Helvetic Republic.

The Swiss Guards employed by Louis XVI resisted the mob storming the Tuileries until the last man was overpowered, fiendishly tortured, and killed. The monument to these brave soldiers, the "Dying Lion" by Thorvaldsen in Lucerne, testifies to their valor.

The Swiss have an aristocracy but not a nobility, if we except the few ennobled families – some with foreign titles, others with very ancient Swiss ones carrying the von.

It harbored extreme leftist revolutionaries like Herzen, Bakunin, and Lenin, but also accepted royalty in exile and gave the Western world its greatest dynasty – the Habsburgs.