Amir Taheri on Matthias Küntzel’s Germany and Iran

Writing at the Gatestone Institute website, Amir Taheri reviews Matthias Küntzel’s Germany and Iran: From the Aryan Axis to the Nuclear Threshold, available now from Telos Press Publishing:

In the past 50 years or so, the “special relationship” between Iran and Germany has been highlighted in numerous ways. The first German industrial fair held in a foreign country after the Second World War was hosted by Tehran in 1960 with Economy Minister Ludwig Erhard leading a delegation of over 100 German businessmen. After that, all German Chancellors, starting with Konrad Adenauer, made a point of visiting Iran until the fall of the Shah. Even after the mullahs seized power, Germans pursued the special relationship through high-level visits, including that of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The only time the German Federal parliament approved a law unanimously was when it enacted legislation to guarantee investments in Iran.

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Call for Papers: Special Issue on Korea

Telos seeks essays on the economic, political, cultural, literary, philosophical, and historical dimensions of Korea for a special issue. With its dramatic recovery from the devastating legacies of colonial rule and civil war, South Korea has emerged as one of the leading hubs of cutting-edge information technology and an epicenter of production in the realm of popular culture. Civil governance has taken bold steps forward over the past two decades, signaled by the advent of leaders who defy long-standing meritocratic and patriarchal conventions; meanwhile a multidimensional rethinking of the past is underway, ranging from ancient territorial boundaries to current disputes over national waters. In contrast, North Korea continues to enforce its lone doctrine of authoritarian rule, serving as a constant reminder of the precarious bind of ceasefire. Revenants of the past century’s ideological divide hang over the peninsula in the form of nuclear threat, while South Korea’s hasty march toward capitalist affluence has not benefited everyone equally. How can Critical Theory understand the South Korean path to modernization or the oppressiveness of the North Korean regime? How does Korea position itself as a nation, culture, and a system of values that inherit its past and inspire its future? How can we think South Korean economic dynamism together with/against its popular culture? Is there a (South) Korean model that can be evaluated in an international context and/or through the eyes of the Korean diaspora? This special issue invites critical analyses on these subjects from various disciplines, including but not limited to literature, sociology, anthropology, political science, philosophy, cultural studies, economics, and history. Please direct inquiries to Haerin Shin by email at haerin.shin@vanderbilt.edu. Manuscripts (7500 words) due by December 1, 2015.

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Michael Millerman on Alexander Dugin, Russia’s Ideological Mastermind

On The Agenda with Steve Paikin, Michael Millerman discusses the philosophy of Alexander Dugin and its influence on Vladimir Putin and contemporary Russian geopolitics. It’s a wide-ranging interview that covers Dugin’s theory of Eurasianism, his critique of the West and liberal democracy, the defense of Russia as a unique, non-Western civilization in its own right, the compatibility of Dugin’s anti-communism with the view that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a geopolitical catastrophe, the difference between Western multiculturalism and the kind of multicivilizational diversity that Dugin advocates, and much more. Watch the full interview below. In addition to co-translating Dugin’s The Fourth Political Theory (Arktos, 2012), Michael is also a former Telos intern. You can read more of his writing in the TELOSscope archives.

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Liberalism, Progressivism, and Crony Capitalism

Writing in the Washington Post, George Will discusses Joel Kotkin’s The New Class Conflict (recently published by Telos Press) and the reasons why today’s government serves the wealthy and powerful.

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Holiday Book Sale at Telos Press

For the month of December, save 20% on all Telos Press books purchased at our website. Now is a great time to pick up copies of some of our newest publications, including Matthias Küntzel’s Germany and Iran: From the Aryan Axis to the Nuclear Threshold and Joel Kotkin’s The New Class Conflict. In our online store you’ll also find key works by Ernst Jünger, such as On Pain and The Forest Passage, as well as Carl Schmitt’s Theory of the Partisan and The Nomos of the Earth. You can browse our full selection of books here.

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Adrian Pabst on Germany's Future, Twenty-Five Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall

On The Agenda with Steve Paikin, Telos Associate Editor Adrian Pabst and others discuss the transformation of Germany since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, which took place twenty-five years ago this month, as well as Germany’s future as a dominant political and economic force in Europe.

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