After the Rain : how the West lost the East Part 34

Economic commentator in "Nova Makedonija", "Dnevnik", "Makedonija Denes", "Izvestia", "Argumenti i Fakti", "The Middle East Times", "The New Presence", "Central Europe Review", other periodicals and in the economic programs on various channels of Macedonian Television.

Chief Lecturer in courses organised by the Agency of Transformation, by the Macedonian Stock Exchange and Ministry of Trade.

1999 to Present

Economic Advisor to the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.

Web Activities

Author of extensive web sites in:

Psychology ("Malignant Self Love") - An Open Directory Cool Site, Philosophy ("Philosophical Musings"), Economics and Geopolitics ("After the Rain").

Owner of the Narcissism Revisited Announcement and Study List (more than 830 members) and the After the Rain CEE and Balkans Announcement and Study List.

Editor of mental health disorders and Central and Eastern Europe categories in web directories (Open Directory, Suite 101, Go.com, Search Europe).

Weekly columnist in "The New Presence" and "Central Europe Review".

Publications and Awards

"Managing Investment Portfolios in States of Uncertainty", Limon Publishers, 1988;

"The Gambling Industry", Limon Publishers, 1990;

"Requesting my Loved One - Short Stories", Yedioth Aharonot, 1997;

"The Macedonian Economy at a Crossroads - On the Way to a Healthier Economy", (Dialogues with Mr. Nikola Gruevski), 1998;

"Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited", Narcissus Publications, 1999;

"The Exporters' Pocketbook", Ministry of Trade, Republic of Macedonia, 1999;

"The Suffering of Being Kafka" (electronic book of Hebrew Short Fiction);

"After the Rain - How the West Lost the East", Narcissus Publications in a.s.sociation with Central Europe Review / CEENMI, 2000.

Winner of numerous awards, among them the Israeli Education Ministry Prize (Literature) - 1997, The Rotary Club Award for Social Studies - 1976, and the Bilateral Relations Studies Award of the American Emba.s.sy in Israel - 1978.

Hundreds of professional articles in all fields of finances and the economy.

Numerous articles dealing with geopolitical and political economic issues.

Many appearances in the electronic media on subjects in philosophy and the sciences and concerning economic matters.

Write to Me:

[email protected]

My Web Sites:

Economy / Politics:

http://samvak.tripod.com/guide.html

Psychology:

http://samvak.tripod.com/index.html

Philosophy:

http://samvak.tripod.com/culture.html

Poetry:

http://samvak.tripod.com/contents.html

Return

After the Rain

How the West

Lost the East

The Book

This is a series of articles written and published in 1996-2000 in Macedonia, in Russia, in Egypt and in the Czech Republic.

How the West lost the East. The economics, the politics, the geopolitics, the conspiracies, the corruption, the old and the new, the plough and the internet - it is all here, in colourful and provocative prose.

From "The Mind of Darkness":

"'The Balkans' - I say - 'is the unconscious of the world'. People stop to digest this metaphor and then they nod enthusiastically. It is here that the repressed memories of history, its traumas and fears and images reside. It is here that the psychodynamics of humanity - the tectonic clash between Rome and Byzantium, West and East, Judeo-Christianity and Islam - is still easily discernible. We are seated at a New Year's dining table, loaded with a roasted pig and exotic salads. I, the Jew, only half foreign to this cradle of Slavonics. Four Serbs, five Macedonians. It is in the Balkans that all ethnic distinctions fail and it is here that they prevail anachronistically and atavistically. Contradiction and change the only two fixtures of this tormented region. The women of the Balkan - buried under provocative mask-like make up, retro hairstyles and too narrow dresses. The men, clad in sepia colours, old fas.h.i.+oned suits and turn of the century moustaches. In the background there is the crying game that is Balkanian music: liturgy and folk and elegy combined. The smells are heavy with muskular perfumes. It is like time travel. It is like revisiting one's childhood."

The Author

Sam Vaknin was born in Israel in 1961. A financial consultant and columnist, he lived and published in 11 countries. An author of short stories, the winner of many literary awards, an amateur philosopher - he is a controversial figure. This is his tenth book.