# Has Nial Ferguson Left the Reservation?
**URL:** https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720
**Category:** The Happening World
**Tags:** economics, politics
**Created:** [26 June 2024 20:42 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720 "2024-06-26T20:42:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gavin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Gavin)
#### Post date: [26 June 2024 20:42 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/1 "2024-06-26T20:42:47Z")
I admit it – I was never much impressed with Nial Ferguson. He reminded me too much of the smooth operators who clamber up the greasy pole in large businesses, saying the (perceived) right things at the right time to the right people. His upward jumps in academia and his BBC programs all screamed “pseud”.
But maybe people can grow and change. Or maybe an individual who is exquisitely tuned to the zeitgeist can recognize early that the wind is changing direction, and maybe it is time to jump to a different greasy pole. Here he is casting doubts on the wonders of the US’s UniParty “democracy”:
[Niall Ferguson: We’re All Soviets Now | The Free Press (thefp.com)](https://www.thefp.com/p/were-all-soviets-now)
_"… There is a world of difference between the dysfunctional planned economy that Stalin built and bequeathed his heirs, which collapsed as soon as Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform it, and the dynamic market economy that we Americans take pride in. …_
_… The equivalent falsehoods in late Soviet America are that the institutions controlled by the (Democratic) Party—the federal bureaucracy, the universities, the major foundations, and most of the big corporations—are devoted to advancing hitherto marginalized racial and sexual minorities, and that the principal goals of U.S. foreign policy are to combat climate change and (as Jake Sullivan puts it) to help other countries defend themselves “without sending U.S. troops to war.”_
_In reality, policies to promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” do nothing to help poor minorities. Instead, the sole beneficiaries appear to be a horde of apparatchik DEI “officers.” In the meantime, these initiatives are clearly undermining educational standards, even at elite medical schools, and encouraging the mutilation of thousands of teenagers in the name of “gender-affirming surgery.” …_
Ferguson runs through the list of all the areas where the US (or maybe the Party?) is failing – budgets, military spending, health care, education, gerontocracy, public cynicism, distrust of authority, deaths of despair. But, true to his elite form, he fails to mention the elephant in the room – the regulatory-driven de-industrialization which has destroyed jobs and sacrificed potential tax revenues, and is the driver of many of the all-too-real problems he describes.
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### Author:  [@eggspurt](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/eggspurt)
#### Post date: [26 June 2024 21:22 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/2 "2024-06-26T21:22:11Z")
It’s interesting where these ideas come from:
[](https://archive.ph/q7Csg)
It’s also interesting how easy it is to become an admiral under Biden administration:
> During her tenure, she created Penn State Hershey Medical Center’s Division of Adolescent Medicine and the Penn State Hershey Eating Disorders Program. She was in charge of the latter when she was nominated for the position of Pennsylvania physician general in 2015.
>
> In 2015, Levine was nominated by Pennsylvania Governor-elect [Tom Wolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wolf) to serve as Pennsylvania’s physician general. In one of her most lauded actions as physician general, Levine signed an order allowing law enforcement officers to carry [naloxone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naloxone).
>
> In July 2017, Governor Wolf appointed Levine as Secretary of Health, and she was unanimously confirmed by the [Pennsylvania State Senate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_Senate).
>
> During 2020 and until January 23, 2021, Levine led the public health response on [COVID-19 in Pennsylvania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Pennsylvania) as the state secretary of health.
>
> On February 13, 2021, President [Joe Biden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden) formally [nominated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_appointments_by_Joe_Biden) Levine to serve as [Assistant Secretary for Health](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistant_Secretary_for_Health).
>
> On October 19, 2021, Levine was [commissioned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_commission_officer) as a four-star admiral in the [U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Public_Health_Service_Commissioned_Corps), becoming the first openly transgender four-star officer in any of the [United States uniformed services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States) as well as the first female four-star admiral in the Commissioned Corps.
> **[Rachel Levine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Levine)**
>
> Rachel Leland Levine (/ləˈviːn/; born October 28, 1957) is an American pediatrician who has served as the United States assistant secretary for health since March 26, 2021. She is also an admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
> Levine is a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine, and previously served as the Pennsylvania physician general from 2015 to 2017 and as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health from 2017 t...
… all you need is a bit of surgery. Snip snip. We’ve seen this [before](https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/2155959/forbidden-city/life/chapter_02.html).
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### Author:  [@Hypatia](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Hypatia)
#### Post date: [26 June 2024 23:45 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/3 "2024-06-26T23:45:08Z")
How can you call it “she”?
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [27 June 2024 00:08 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/4 "2024-06-27T00:08:39Z")
27 second video
[![](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/uploads/default/original/3X/9/a/9a039d5f65616b1198aec9ea40aaad720fac51c0.jpeg "Austin Powers vs Transgender Spy /"That ain´t no woman. Its a MAN man"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrXLWPKDIwo)
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [27 June 2024 00:10 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/5 "2024-06-27T00:10:02Z")
What happened to the eunuch after the last emperor? After 1949?
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [27 June 2024 03:40 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/6 "2024-06-27T03:40:52Z")
How do we reverse the trend of de-industrialization?
Eliminating regulatory barriers? Is it about changing or repealing regulations or handcuffing regulatory agencies?
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### Author:  [@Gavin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Gavin)
#### Post date: [27 June 2024 13:11 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/7 "2024-06-27T13:11:48Z")
> [@Citizen\_bitcoin](#):
>
> How do we reverse the trend of de-industrialization?
Unfortunately, it is the “fact” of decades of de-industrialization.
Basically, we would need to remove the current ability of unelected people in regulatory agencies to compel behavior by anyone or any business. Human actions should be constrained only by the explicit language of laws properly passed by a 60% majority of democratically-elected individuals.
After the Coming Collapse, of course!
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### Author:  [@drlorentz](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/drlorentz)
#### Post date: [27 June 2024 13:26 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/8 "2024-06-27T13:26:07Z")
> [@Gavin](#):
>
> Or maybe an individual who is exquisitely tuned to the zeitgeist can recognize early that the wind is changing direction, and maybe it is time to jump to a different greasy pole.
I prefer to think of it as rats fleeing a sinking ship. This rat is hardly “early” in recognizing that the ship is sinking.
There’s no evidence in the quoted passage that Mr Ferguson has any doubts about the fundamental soundness of _Our Democracy_. If only we could return to the founding principles and restore the constitutional order, everything would be tickety-boo. Just vote harder and the ship will right itself.
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### Author:  [@jdougan](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/jdougan)
#### Post date: [28 June 2024 01:53 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/9 "2024-06-28T01:53:00Z")
According to the tealeaves, SCOTUS appears to be moving in the direction of invalidating the _Chevron_ doctrine [1], which should help. eg. the recent opinions in the bump stock case.
The real trouble is getting Congress to pass laws that aren’t facially stupid.
[1] [Chevron deference (doctrine) - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Chevron_deference_(doctrine))
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [28 June 2024 02:16 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/10 "2024-06-28T02:16:13Z")
That needs to be overturned yesterday. More important than Roe or Bakke.
Chevron Doctrine was established in 1984. Perfect timing
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [28 June 2024 02:28 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/11 "2024-06-28T02:28:01Z")
Ferguson teases Jake Sullivan
That’s a positive
I started following Niall after Brexit. I was impressed by his analysis of political and geopolitical events.
He has said that the academy cannot be reformed and we have to start over. Very true. Burn it down and build from ground zero. He is affiliated with university of Austin project
I am not a fan of Bari Weiss
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [28 June 2024 03:01 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/12 "2024-06-28T03:01:32Z")
> [@Generative Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, and Image Synthesis](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/generative-artificial-intelligence-large-language-models-and-image-synthesis/2383/759):
>
> Niall Ferguson argues that the United States is increasingly resembling the late Soviet Union in several concerning ways[1]: Gerontocratic leadership, with aging presidents like Biden (81) and Trump (78) reminiscent of late Soviet leaders. Public cynicism and lack of confidence in major institutions, with polls showing very low trust in government, media, and other organizations. A dysfunctional healthcare system that is expensive but delivers poor outcomes. Rising “deaths of despair…
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [28 June 2024 09:17 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/13 "2024-06-28T09:17:06Z")
>
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### Author:  [@drlorentz](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/drlorentz)
#### Post date: [28 June 2024 13:16 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/14 "2024-06-28T13:16:58Z")
> [@Gavin](#):
>
> Or maybe an individual who is exquisitely tuned to the zeitgeist can recognize early that the wind is changing direction, and maybe it is time to jump to a different greasy pole.
And speaking of rats fleeing a sinking ship, here’s the latest:
>
However much you hate journalists, it isn’t enough. Mr Ferguson is only slightly earlier than CNN.
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### Author:  [@eggspurt](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/eggspurt)
#### Post date: [2 July 2024 23:07 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/16 "2024-07-02T23:07:12Z")
> **Presidential Debate Stirs Memories of Leonid Brezhnev**
>
> The Soviet leader was only 75 when he died, but his infirmities led to the Soviet Union’s collapse.
>
> Thursday’s presidential debate reminded me of an old Soviet joke. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev presides over the opening of the Olympic Games in Moscow. “O-O-O-O-O,” Brezhnev says. An aide pulls him by his elbow: “Comrade Brezhnev, these are the Olympic rings. The text of the speech is down below.”
>
> It was an exaggeration, but consider his last summit with an American president. In June 1979, Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter were to sign the arms-control accord SALT II, in Vienna. But the Soviet leader was no longer capable of engaging in substantive discussion. He struggled through his prepared remarks “haltingly and laboriously,” an American observer noted. Whenever Mr. Carter raised a subject, Brezhnev’s interpreter handed his boss a set of cards, which Brezhnev read.
> Brezhnev was only 75 when he died in 1982, but he was barely in charge in the last six or seven years of his long reign. His diary shows that he was preoccupied with his weight, playing dominoes and bathing in the sea.
>
> Once Brezhnev’s health began to deteriorate, Soviet bureaucratic interests took over. Détente withered. Soviet overextension worsened. When the U.S.S.R. invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the decision was imposed on the ailing Brezhnev by the KGB and military who had him sign off on the misadventure.
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/presidential-debate-stirs-memories-of-leonid-brezhnev-aging-collapse-soviet-union-8f2b7516](https://www.wsj.com/articles/presidential-debate-stirs-memories-of-leonid-brezhnev-aging-collapse-soviet-union-8f2b7516)
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [2 July 2024 23:45 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/17 "2024-07-02T23:45:58Z")
Andropov and Chernenko lasted 3 years. Politburo selected someone much younger in 1985: Gorbachev
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### Author:  [@gms](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/gms)
#### Post date: [4 July 2024 02:28 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/18 "2024-07-04T02:28:23Z")
Freddie Sayers (UnHerd) interviews Niall Ferguson on his recent article. It’s interesting in parts but too long and all over the place for this listener. Trying to decide if the conflict in Ukraine is more like the Korean War or the Vietnam War and arguing China-Taiwan is the Cuban missile crisis in reverse makes my head spin.
On top of that, Sir Niall’s polyester tie is mesmerizing, poor Freddie has to squint 😉
> **[Are we the Soviets now?](https://unherd.com/watch-listen/are-we-the-soviets-now/)**
>
> With public calls to remove the sitting US President, a UK election set to unseat its government and the rightward swing in Europe, it’s all change on the Western front. Best-selling historian Sir Niall Ferguson joins UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers for a...
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [4 July 2024 03:35 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/19 "2024-07-04T03:35:37Z")
American defensive perimeter in East Asia includes Japan and South Korea.
This is what Dean Acheson did _not_ say. His glaring omission was a green light from the POV of North Korea and USSR
Based on LLM search results, the immediate reactions to Dean Acheson’s January 12, 1950 speech were mixed and significant:
1. In South Korea, there was a reaction of “shock and panic” to Acheson’s exclusion of South Korea from the American defensive perimeter[1][3].
2. North Korea appears to have taken notice of the speech. A former North Korean journalist claimed he personally delivered news of the speech to Kim Il Sung, who was reportedly “greatly excited” by it[3].
3. In the Soviet Union, the speech was quickly sent to Stalin for careful study. Within two weeks, on January 30, 1950, Stalin gave general approval for Kim Il-sung to launch an attack on South Korea, which some historians link to Acheson’s speech[4].
4. In the United States, the speech became controversial, with critics arguing it had encouraged communist aggression by seemingly excluding South Korea and Taiwan from U.S. protection[4].
5. Acheson and his supporters denied that the speech was intended to give a “green light” to communist forces, with Acheson later arguing in his memoirs that the speech was meant as a “red light” warning against aggression[4].
6. Some historians and analysts viewed the speech as an “unwise and unskilled diplomatic maneuver” that broadcast U.S. strategy openly to potential adversaries[3].
The varied interpretations and reactions to the speech highlight its complex impact on international relations in the early Cold War period.
Sources
[1] View of Dean Acheson’s Press Club Speech Reexamined [https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/366/578](https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/366/578)
[2] Acheson speech 1950 [Acheson speech 1950](https://web.viu.ca/davies/H102/Acheson.speech1950.htm)
[3] Dean Acheson’s Press Club Speech Reexamined - Érudit [https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/jcs/2002-v22-n1-jcs\_22\_1/jcs22\_1art04.pdf](https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/jcs/2002-v22-n1-jcs_22_1/jcs22_1art04.pdf)
[4] Green, Yellow, Or Red—What Color Was Dean Acheson’s Speech? [Green, Yellow, Or Red—What Color Was Dean Acheson’s Speech? | Hoover Institution Green, Yellow, Or Red—What Color Was Dean Acheson’s Speech?](https://www.hoover.org/research/green-yellow-or-red-what-color-was-dean-achesons-speech)
[5] View of Dean Acheson's Press Club Speech Reexamined [https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/JCS/article/view/366/579](https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/JCS/article/view/366/579)
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### Author:  [@Gavin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Gavin)
#### Post date: [4 July 2024 13:07 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/20 "2024-07-04T13:07:40Z")
Fascinating mention in one of the comments on that interview. The things one has never heard or seen in our media:
“_the [UK] Home Office staff are taking the current [UK] government to court to prevent changes against their wishes, and have the political support of the [UK] judges who will rule on this._”
Britannia rules the waves, and the Bureaucracy rules Britannia?
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [12 July 2024 13:16 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/has-nial-ferguson-left-the-reservation/4720/21 "2024-07-12T13:16:12Z")
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qBwRA3fJKc)
Spoiler alert: Jonah Goldberg loses
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