#realpolitik

#realpolitik

David Keen emphasizes that wars can serve as tools for political control and economic gain, often benefiting those in power while complicating the path to peace.

China's strategic narrative, rooted in Sun Tzu's principles, emphasizes the importance of discourse power alongside military and territorial strength, marking a shift in statecraft.

In her latest book, Indignity, Ypi blends archival material with a fictionalized account of her grandmother's childhood in Thessaloniki and her arrival in Albania, exploring themes of memory and dignity.

Four days into this situation in the skies over Tehran, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, 'We're not at war right now.' This was, rather, a 'very specific, clear mission-an operation.' Operation does seem to be the preferred word in government talking points, even as it encompasses assassinating an ayatollah, torpedoing an Iranian naval ship, blowing up fuel depots and a desalination plant, and losing the lives of (so far) eight American service members along the way.

Mamdani's office later confirmed the mayor pitched a proposal to secure $21bn in federal grants to make good on a central promise to create more citywide affordable housing. This would include the construction of a deck over the busy rail yard in Sunnyside, Queens to build 12,000 housing units. The president appeared enthusiastic, according to the mayor's chief spokesperson.

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, inspired a wave of enthusiastic nodding among the cosmopolitan crowd gathered in Davos last month when he took to the podium and proclaimed that the world order underwritten by the United States, which prevailed in the west throughout the postwar era, was over. The organizing principle that emerged from the ashes of the second world war, that interdependence would promote world peace by knitting nations' interests together in a drive for common security and prosperity, no longer works.

American diplomats are supposed to represent the nation, advocate for the interests and policies of the U.S. government, and stay on generally good terms with the country to which they're assigned. Even when they are sent to places that have an adversarial relationship with the United States, they are expected to maintain decorum while conveying messages these regimes may not want to hear.

The very same European leaders and anointed members of the Blob expressing outrage about Greenland were largely silent or supportive as Trump bombed Iran and Nigeria, abducted Maduro, and continued to aid and abet Israel's genocide in Gaza.

I am using the word pragmatism in a specific sense. I am not speaking about being pragmatic as a political tactic; deciding what issues should be given priority and what battles to choose, or a willingness to compromise, or a recognition that there are limits to what can be accomplished at any time. I am writing now about pragmatism in a meaning closer to its philosophical origin in the writings of William James-that truth is not found in abstract principles or beliefs,

Any lingering doubts about the true motives behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq were dispelled when looters were ransacking Baghdad, carrying off millennia-old artifacts from the Iraqi capital's archaeological museum, while U.S. troops fortified the Ministry of Oilthe only government building left untouched and from which not a single document emerged. The disastrous and illegal invasion, spearheaded by the United States with military support from the United Kingdom

the only constraint to his power as president of the US is my own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me, Trump said, adding: I'm not looking to hurt people. He went on to concede I do in regards to whether his administration needed to adhere to international law, but said: It depends on what your definition of international law is.

The principle of intellectual charity is fundamental to constructive political conversations. This principle states that, in any discussion, we should accept the best version of an opponent's ideas, not a distorted version or a "straw man." Exaggeration and distortion of opposing opinions (always present, to some degree, in political debates) have become the standard form of political argument in contemporary America.

Three of the four things that gave Trump a foothold, in my opinion, were failures in this century (the fourth is the legacy of slavery and the organized political violence that replaced it). The other three, though, are the War on Terror, the financial crisis, and social media. (COVID was the final catalyst, I think; having moved during the height of COVID, I can't express how much worse the US dealt with it than much of the EU.)

At the beginning of The Sting, veteran con-man Henry Gondorff explains the way of the big con to ambitious rookie Johnny Hooker, who wants to play for a vicious mobbed up New York banker. It's not like playing winos in the street. You can't outrun [the guy]. . . . You gotta keep his con even after you take his money.

"The United States is itself unwinding its own global order," says Bremmer, also president and founder of GZERO Media. "The world's most powerful country is in the throes of a political revolution. In our lifetimes, we have never witnessed an American president so committed to and so capable of changing the political system and, accordingly, the United States' role in the world." Other risks: The report says Europe's center is faltering ... water is being weaponized as a resource for countries and businesses ... and U.S. attacks on clean energy endanger the nation's AI lead, giving China a potential advantage in post-carbon energy production.

He said Trump's actions upended the Western concept of the "rule-based global order" that Russia has long criticized, even after Moscow sent troops into neighboring Ukraine nearly four years ago. "Now it's not the Collective West writing the rules but just one its representative," Lavrov said sardonically. "It's a major upheaval for Europe, and we are watching it. The Euro-Atlantic concept of ensuring security and cooperation has discredited itself."

There are more signs that the United States is disengaging from the global order established after World War II. President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to pull out of more than 60 agencies, half of them part of the United Nations. Trump argues that being a member of these organisations is contrary to his country's interests. The secretary of state went as far as saying they're useless or wasteful.

Western governments, the U.S. under Donald Trump leading the pack, are caught in the grip of an anti-immigration fervor, enforcing cruel and degrading laws that violate human rights and undermine public safety. This entire approach toward immigrants is not only immoral but also rests on false economic claims, argues Daniel Mendiola, assistant professor of history and migration studies at Vassar College, in the interview that follows.