 Greetings, Laddingtons! I'm checking in with a recommendation. I actually thought about making this video in September or October, but due to recent developments in Afghanistan, I thought to make it now instead, and I'm sure this will be of interest to many of you. Now, first and foremost, a message to any liberal, to any admirer, to any enjoyer of the current Western regime, the American Empire, or whatever we shall call it, the neoliberal empire. You might wonder why did the Taliban have so much success in retaking Afghanistan? Why did many, most perhaps of the Afghan people, why did they reject Western liberal democracy? Yes, I hate to break it to you. I don't really, but anyway. The Western culture, the Western modern culture that is, is supremely unattractive. If you truly believe that a people will want to have a rainbow flag and McDonald's as the ultimate sign of culture, you are wrong. It's simply not the case. Compare it to when the British were colonizing India, at least they brought something worthwhile with them. Railroads and infrastructure. When the French occupied and colonized certain countries, they brought with them some nice architecture and some art, etc. But in this case, again, McDonald's and rainbow flags not particularly appealing to any decent individual, to be perfectly honest. So, imagine my shock. It doesn't come as a surprise in the least that people would reject it. So there you have it, my brief analysis of the situation. So anyway, speaking of Afghanistan, I wanted to issue a Central Asian History Month. I thought it would be a fun thing. So in my latest Wild Hunt Challenge video, I encouraged you to read a book. And I will actually encourage you to read two books for Central Asian History Month. Of course, we can place that particular month in September. And it's simply to read two books. You can read one historical fiction book and one non-fiction book. And I have two recommendations. First and foremost, as I've talked about before on numerous occasions, The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk. Now, this takes place during the 1800s and it's about the struggle between the British and the Russians. The Russians under the Tsar. Now, if you have begun the Wild Hunt Challenge, you will probably already have read my short book review of this. But to recap, the British, of course, they wanted to protect their priced jewel India. And Russia, of course, they wanted to expand into Central Asia as well. Now, important to read this, to understand the current situation in Afghanistan, is that the rivalry between Tsarist Russia and Great Britain in the 1800s, they were the successors of them, the Americans, they took the place of the British and the Soviets took the place of the Tsarist Russians. And also, if you look on certain films from the 80s, you will see the Taliban as being the good guys. They were actually funded also by the Western powers to fight the Soviets. And yeah, of course, now they are the bad guys since they are against the Western regimes. Anyway, a recommended book. It's quite thick, but it's worthwhile anyway, especially if you're interested in the time period. Now, I also have a historical fiction recommendation, Empire of the Mughal. It's set in the early 1500s and it follows Babur Khan, the founder of the Mughal Empire. So this is also quite good to get a feel of the Central Asian dynasties. So I remember, I read this many years ago, I will probably reread it before I read the second and third books. Something I remember was that they talked about who the most glorious ancestor was. Was it Gingis Khan or was it Timur Link? So they claimed to be descendants of those the people might make let's plays in Age of Empires 2. There are campaigns for both Gingis Khan and Timur Link. Anyway, that's a side note. I can definitely recommend it. And then you might say, isn't it better to only read non-fiction? But keep in mind that most historical fiction authors, they go to great lengths to do the research, to portray the events and the setting in a good way. So this fine man, Alex Rutherford, he traveled to Central Asia to study the time period. So you will get a lot of historical insights by reading it as well. So for me, if I participate in this Central Asian history month myself, I will first and foremost read this book. The Silk Roads, to gain additional inspiration for Legi Gloria clothing. Rocking this fine organic cotton polo now, looking absolutely juicy, if I may be so bold. So I will read this, gain some additional inspiration. And then I will read, I will first re-read this and then read the second book. So those are my two books in this fine challenge, as it were. So anyway, I just thought to check in. I encourage you to read up on some Central Asian history. It's deeply interesting and it can be good to know what is going on in Afghanistan at the moment. So now we'll hit the gym. Thank you for watching and check out all links in the description box below. X, XO, boom!