Tom White

Those interested in diplomacy will read this book with pleasure and profit. And indulge its idiosyncrasies. Cooper’s analytical skill lies in reconstructing complex chains of events; his synthetic talent, in making sense of it all. The latter was pronounced in his earlier work, Breaking. Here he adds analysis. His is an intellectual apparatus... See more

It would be naïve to assume that any liberal democracy (or any society) can long survive with all of its conceptual foundations gutted. Either it will collapse into civil conflict, or those foundations will be replaced brick by brick by the New Faith, until it is transformed into an unrecognizable edifice that is neither liberal nor democratic.... See more

Technology is changing one of the most powerful forces in shaping society: ambition. What the most ambitious people choose to do with their lives has a profound impact on society, the economy and culture. It’s changing, fast.First, that digital technology is the most recent in a series of ‘technologies of ambition’ that have enabled ambitious... See more

I would sum up that history in a Hegelian framework: Adenauer supplied the thesis – anchoring his country in the West; Brandt added the antithesis – stabilizing relations to the East; and Kohl achieved the synthesis – a fusion of the two Germanys in a reconciled Europe. Brandt gets Cooper’s special acclaim. Although he doesn’t mention Angela... See more

To know me is to understand that I have been, am now, and will continue to be knee-deep (read as: submerged) in both web3 and crypto. For better or worse—depending upon who you ask—this is not new; I have been beating the web3/cryptocurrency drum for a number of years now. The disintermediation of trust, from partial third parties to objective... See more

Analysis and synthesis, Goethe liked to say, should be alternated as naturally as breathing in and breathing out. Such breathing is natural; such thinking uncommon.

The world is being forcibly reconfigured by at least three concurrent revolutions: a geopolitical revolution driven by the rise of China; an ideological revolution consuming the Western world; and a technological revolution exacerbating both of the former.Geopolitically, a decent understanding of what is happening, if not of its full extent, has... See more