History Extra Weimar Germany: everything you wanted to know. I must confess that most of what I know about Weimar Germany is from ‘Cabaret’ and Christopher Isherwood’s books. In fact, I wasn’t even sure why it was called ‘Weimar’ until I learned from this podcast that it was named after the town where where the treaty establishing the government was signed. Its early years were marked by hyperinflation, different political factions and several coup attempts, including one in which Hitler was involved. Things stabilized economically a bit with the Dawes Plan whereby US loans were offered to the republic, but it was still politically volatile with 20 different coalitions, 12 chancellors and eight elections in quick succession. Hitler could quite rightly claim that he couldn’t be any worse than some of the later chancellors. The system of proportional representation meant that radicals could be elected. The Social Democrats did try to stop the Nazis, but President Hindenberg didn’t act even though he opposed their ideas. The army hid behind the Freikcorps, a para-military group similar to the Wagner group in Russia today. The fall of Wall Street had nothing to do with the fall of the Weimar Republic- Hitler didn’t even mention Wall Street at the time. The much-vaunted culture of the Weimar Republic only really existed in Berlin, and by the time it fell, people had generally turned against the Weimar Republic.
I went to see the movie ‘Oppenheimer’ and was interested to know how much of it was factual. Quite a bit, it seems, from this episode Oppenheimer: Destroyer of Worlds. It is an interview with Kai Bird, who along with Martin Sherwin, wrote American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, on which the film was based. The book took 19 years to write. The interview finishes with Bird observing how politicians seek certainty from scientists, and often turn on them when the scientists demur- observe Trump and Fauci over COVID.
The Rest is History The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins Dominic Sandbrook (one of the two presenters of this very popular podcast) has just released a children’s book about the fall of the Aztecs, and from the introductory reading, it sounds pretty good. I’ve read and listened to a fair bit about the fall of the Aztecs, but this is well worth listening to. As he points out, when the Spanish met the Aztecs, it was the closest thing that we have to meeting aliens. The stories that the Spanish (as the conquerors) tell about it are shaped in the tradition of Alexander the Great, but perhaps they were lying or just misunderstood what they were witnessing. Cortez grew up in Spain during the reconquest of Granada. His family wanted him to be a notary but he travelled to Hispaniola, where Spanish colonization was already underway. Like many other colonists who went ‘island hopping’, he went to Cuba. Cortez was not the first to go to Mexico but when Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, found out that there was gold there (particularly prized because it was portable and divisible), he wanted a functionary who would do what he was told, so he sent Cortez. Big mistake.
London Review of Books The Infected Blood Scandal based on a LRB article by Florence Sutcliffe- Braithewaite. In the 1970s and 80s, thousands of hemophiliacs were infected with HIV and Hep C. from infected blood products. At this time, British doctors already knew that blood could transfer hepatitis, although all the government papers about imported blood products between 1970 and 1990 were (conveniently?) pulped. There was particular concern about blood coming from the United States where private companies sourced donations from prisons (large numbers of former/current drug users) or paid people for their blood. However, new innovations in treating hemophilia at home meant that doctors overlooked or downplayed these threats. After this interview, there is a segment with Tom Crewe, who wrote a 2018 article ‘Here was a plague’ about the AIDS crisis and the perceived difference between ‘innocent’ and ‘guilty’ victims.
Background Briefing (ABC) has a series on Whistleblowers at the moment, which is pertinent given the David McBride case underway recently. The Whistleblower who helped catch a paedophile politician is about an electorate officer who became aware of several complaints about the Labor politician that she worked for in the early 2000s. It took more than one complaint before she decided to act. Once she did, she lost her job and was reviled by party members even though the politician was jailed for 10 years. The Whistleblower who captured the nation — and the man who unmasked her as a fraud deals with the convoluted and deeply political case of Kathy Jackson, who was embraced by the conservative party as a whistleblower against key members of the Health Services Union, until her successor blew the whistle on her own financial misappropriation.
Expanding Eyes Still continuing on with Homer’s Iliad- I’ve now finished Book 8. Episode 49: The Complex and Enigmatic Characterization of Paris, the character of Big Ajax in Book 7 and duelling. In the previous episode, he looked at Hector and Andromache, and in this one he looks at the contrasting couple, Paris and Helen. Paris is sitting there, polishing his armour, and Helen bemoans that she had ever been born, and that Paris will always be useless. Is she blaming the Gods, or is there an element of truth in this? Book 7 is puzzling: Hector is pumped, challenging any takers- including Big and Little Ajax. But it’s another inconclusive hand-to-hand combat. But, despite all the bloodshed that his actions have caused, Paris still refuses to hand Helen back.
The Emperors of Rome. Episode CVII Sallust I’d never heard of Sallust, but apparently he was a historian who wrote about specific events, rather than the big broad-scale narrative histories that were popular. He followed the traditional political path, but he wasn’t very successful as a politician. He was seen as one of Caesar’s allies, and was made Governor of an African province, but he was charged with malpractice- which was quite common (both the malpractice, and the courtcases brought by political enemies). Caesar intervened, but Sallust’s political career was over, so decided to become a writer. He wrote about the Cataline conspiracy, which had occurred about 25 years earlier. Why? He saw it as a sign of the division in society and although some his chronology is a bit dodgy, it is generally considered to be well-written. His second book was about the Punic war which occurred in 110 BCE, before he was alive. His third work was only fragments. An interesting idea that it is an ancient source for us, but he was writing about his relatively recent past.
Democracy Sausage. This podcast is presented by ex-Age journalist Mark Kenny, now up at ANU. Responsibilities to Protect is fantastic. Ben Saul has recently been appointed as UN rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, and here he talks about the legalities of the Israel/Gaza situation. It seems strange that ‘legal war’ is hemmed in by so many distinctions. This is really, really good.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 