Back to the Future: World Politics Edition

[cryptocoiner]

Back to the Future: World Politics Edition

Russia is a throwback to the 19th century. The Islamic State wants to turn the clock back by 1,000 years. And Japan is stuck in the post-WWII order. How much of today's geopolitics are actually from bygone eras?

In 2014, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Russia’s seizure of Crimea by saying, “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext.” Never mind that Kerry’s comment applied with equal force to the invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush’s administration. The comment captured the familiar idea that the world has supposedly moved beyond the “cynical calculus of pure power politics,” as Bill Clinton once put it. The problem, at least in Kerry’s view, is that leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin haven’t gotten the memo about proper 21st-century behavior — either Putin hasn’t bothered to read it or doesn’t agree with its message.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/08/back-to-the-future-world-politics-edition-russia-isis-europe-china/

[jaysabi]

I suppose in Kerry's mind, he would differentiate the invasion of Iraq and the invasion of Crimea as being that we were acting "altruistically" by invading Iraq to benefit the people and without intent to claim Iraq, whereas Russia seized Crimea for itself. While the circumstances allow for differentiation, I'm not sure how much that matters since any differentiation is negated by the hypocrisy of our invasion being based on a completely trumped-up pretext. But as long as we have big bad Russia to point a finger at, all's good in America. The old cycle begins anew.

[Spendulus]

Back to the Future: World Politics Edition

Russia is a throwback to the 19th century. The Islamic State wants to turn the clock back by 1,000 years. And Japan is stuck in the post-WWII order. How much of today's geopolitics are actually from bygone eras?

In 2014, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Russia’s seizure of Crimea by saying, “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext.” .....

So you accept Kerry's comment?  Interesting.

I view him as near a complete idiot, and his statement here as yet another confirmation of that.