Author: Taki

Greece is a small beautiful country in the southeastern part of Europe, a place of jasmine, bougainvillea, mimosa, cypresses, olive trees, pines, oregano, sage, and thyme; sand, rock, and the bluest and cleanest water on earth. It was the birthplace of (selective) democracy, philosophy, Attic tragedy, poetry, history, and, of course, tyranny. The most beautiful and symmetrical edifice ever constructed still stands in the sacred rock that is the Acropolis, and Greece is the country that first embraced the power of reason and persuasion and sought the embodiment of the “nous.” Ancient Athens, the capital of this small country, produced … Continue reading →

The post The Haiti of Europe appeared first on LewRockwell.

One of my many regrets is that when I was young and on the tennis circuit, I played as a man. I had a crush on Margaret Osborne duPont, an older player who won numerous Wimbledon and U.S. national doubles titles, and the very pretty Karen Hantz, a Wimbledon singles winner, not to mention the Buding sisters from Germany. Had I thought of it back then—I am talking about the late ’50s—I could have been showering with them, not to mention competing against them. Instead, I had my you-know-what kicked by Nicola Pietrangeli, Rafael Osuna, Frank Froehling, Roy Emerson, and … Continue reading →

The post The Gender Racket appeared first on LewRockwell.

In the summer of 1992 BC (before Clinton) I was cruising in Greece with William F. Buckley and his wife, Pat, on board the boat I had just inherited from my father. It was a motor yacht and Bill, a sailing enthusiast, was restless. A discussion the night before had become heated after a friend of mine had brought up the subject of neocons using Bill’s fame and gravitas to undermine true conservatism. Out of respect for Buckley, I suggested we go ask the Delphic oracle situated nearby. Everyone agreed with alacrity. After a visit to a rather disappointingly insignificant … Continue reading →

The post Bye, Bye, Olympics appeared first on LewRockwell.

Things have never been grimmer. Wall Street wolves have become billionaires while rigging the system, rats like William Kristol are showboating on television and spreading lies about The Donald, and the most dishonest couple since Bonnie and Clyde are getting themselves ready to reinhabit the White House. In times such as these, there is only one thing to do: lighten up, and then some. I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was the late ’90s—my friend John O’Sullivan was visiting me from New York, and we were sitting on my Swiss lawn admiring the Alps while sipping some … Continue reading →

The post When Harry Met Taki appeared first on LewRockwell.

Once the French had cleared out of Moscow in October 1812, special commissions were set up to investigate those who had played nice with the invaders. Only 22 people, all of them of foreign extraction, had failed to remain true to their oath of loyalty to the Tsar. They were duly sent to Siberia. To the Tsar’s and the nobility’s great relief, the serfs had not taken the opportunity the French offered them to rise up against their masters in any numbers. John Quincy Adams, writing in his diary, describes the nobility’s greatest fear being a possible uprising of the … Continue reading →

The post Europe Is Ruined Forever appeared first on LewRockwell.

The English writer E.M. Forster infamously said that if he had to betray either his country or a friend, he hoped he would betray the former. He was cheered for it by Oxford swells who had seen their elders slaughtered in the trenches during World War I, and by fellow homosexuals whose proclivities were illegal at the time. This was sometime in the ’30s. I remember being appalled upon reading it and saying to myself how typical it was of an effete English poof to denigrate his country. Well, this is 2016, and I would be doing a Forster if … Continue reading →

The post Better To Betray Your Country or Your Friend? appeared first on LewRockwell.

This is a certainty: Donald Trump would be the next chancellor if he were running for office in Germany. Mass assaults on German women by recently arrived Muslim Arabs have finally managed to change even the inherited-guilt German mind. Let’s take it from the top: Germany took in more than a million Muslims last August and September, and continues to do so following Angela Merkel’s reckless policy of open borders and generous free housing and benefits to all migrants, most of whom pose as refugees. Americans are in general unaware of the catastrophic EU migrant policies. The reason for this … Continue reading →

The post Europe Is Through appeared first on LewRockwell.

Long before the word “oligarch” became a substitute for major Russian crooks and fraudsters, and a decade before Tom Wolfe invented masters of the universe, we had Wall Street Croesuses posing as gentlemen in Scottish moors. I remember it as if it were yesterday. Clay Felker, my editor at Esquire magazine, assigned me to write about this new breed of American multimillionaires who were busy shooting down everything that flew, and lots of things that didn’t. I did as I was told and rang up my friend Peter Salm, an Austrian-American aristocrat whose property near Southampton, Long Island, was famous … Continue reading →

The post Long Island Unsound appeared first on LewRockwell.

For those who like to see their name in print, the Hiltons and Kardashians of this world, make sure that when the man in the white suit visits you, you’re the only one he’s dropping in on. In fact, even if the white-suited gent visits you within a day or two of having called upon someone more famous, your goose is cooked. Newspapers, television, radio, and the horrid Internet have become so celebrity-minded, the demise of such nonentities I mentioned above would take precedence over the death of the Pope. By now some of you may be wondering what I’m … Continue reading →

The last week in Gotham was exceptional fun. A Broadway play—compliments of the producer, my NBF Harvey Weinstein—Finding Neverland, had me clapping with one hand due to the operation and standing with the packed theatre for the ovation. Shows how much the critics know, who panned it. The audience loved it, as did I. It’s an uplifting, wonderful play about J.M. Barrie and the children. Then there was the blind black guy in Brooklyn who told me, “You’re too pale for this neighborhood.” Go figure, as they say in that part of town. I’m always sad to leave the city—especially with … Continue reading →

I am not Charlie, nor will I ever be. Wearing a Je suis Charlie badge is one sure way of getting attention, but I will leave that to others. And another thing: Obscenity has no redeeming social value, and Charlie Hebdo was and is one long obscenity. But let’s start with that famous Parisian march of mourners, one that had more criminals in its front row than a Mafia funeral. How is it possible that the gangster who calls himself the Emir of Qatar went marching and pretending to honor the dead journalists when it is he who is the … Continue reading →