"we cannot play innocents abroad in a world that's not innocent;
nor can we be passive when freedom is under siege"
Reagan used this doctrine to enforce his point that some conflicts are not always worth the American interest to risk the lives of our soldiers but instead it would be easy to "lead from behind". Often times, our allies are involved in conflicts that they may need a little extra help in, such as France's involvement in Mali. The American's stepped in only in the intelligence sense, we offered them technical help and support but without putting our troops on the front lines. Reagan believed that we must back all of our democratic allies and no stop supporting those fighting the battle. He used this speech to address the issue of Communist, this thought is reelected in Obama's strategy as well. Our first intervention with Obama administration was in Libya, we had our hands in the initial strikes but then took the back burner and put our efforts toward surveillance and reconnaissance
Leading from behind has been viewed by many as a negative thing, as a hegemony not giving its support in full potential. letting others take the brunt of the fight while we play "office worker". Personally, it seems like a good way to save the lives and minds of American soldiers.
Saturday, 23 February 2013
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
The 14 Rules for Predicting the Future
In this article, Steve LeVine is getting his point across that you cannot one hundred percent accurately predict a country's next move, as in the phrase that" history repeats itself". There is a bit of truth in that, but much more likely to pick out the direction a situation will go in opposed to the actual outcome. LeVine covers 14 rules to do so, and these are infallibly are mirror in countries around the world. He reviews how the size, power, and even geological placement effect how leaders may react to certain situations.
Instead of going over each individual rule, many of them can be generally grouped together. There is a general concept the countries with "brother country support" seem to just be hanging on to the edge. There may be chaos and discontent between citizens, they will never be pushed over the edge. They are just barely muddling along. Touching back upon unhappy citizens, a large reason why they grow unhappy is because they aim to enhance their conditions. They want to improve their economic situation, boost their level of liberty, and make sure that their children will have a successful and healthy future.
The amount of power, or lack there of in a nation can dictate the way a government will act in the future. When regimes like a dictatorship, although they seem so staunchly set in their ways, with a little bit of outside pressure from an existential threat, they will react accordingly in order to remain in power. It is like a child, they'll push their limits but once they feel their parents watching them, they settle down in order to avoid being reprimanded. Another rule touches upon this, the Caesar Rule; if a dictator for example needs to be removed from power, sometimes the only options are defection, or just plain out assassination.
Rulers in different regimes have different personalities that are reflective of how they run their states. People like Putin, Churchill, and Hitler all had boisterous, idiosyncratic personalities that lead them to dominate world events.
Overall, LeVine covers numerous aspects of how countries are run, and how it will effect said country's regime, citizens, and future. How they are controlled, how they control others, and the way factors such as geological location and a leader's personality can help predict how a ruler with conduct himself in the future. Now, this is not a precise set of rules for fortune telling, but a general guide line of how things may occur.
In this article, Steve LeVine is getting his point across that you cannot one hundred percent accurately predict a country's next move, as in the phrase that" history repeats itself". There is a bit of truth in that, but much more likely to pick out the direction a situation will go in opposed to the actual outcome. LeVine covers 14 rules to do so, and these are infallibly are mirror in countries around the world. He reviews how the size, power, and even geological placement effect how leaders may react to certain situations.
Instead of going over each individual rule, many of them can be generally grouped together. There is a general concept the countries with "brother country support" seem to just be hanging on to the edge. There may be chaos and discontent between citizens, they will never be pushed over the edge. They are just barely muddling along. Touching back upon unhappy citizens, a large reason why they grow unhappy is because they aim to enhance their conditions. They want to improve their economic situation, boost their level of liberty, and make sure that their children will have a successful and healthy future.
The amount of power, or lack there of in a nation can dictate the way a government will act in the future. When regimes like a dictatorship, although they seem so staunchly set in their ways, with a little bit of outside pressure from an existential threat, they will react accordingly in order to remain in power. It is like a child, they'll push their limits but once they feel their parents watching them, they settle down in order to avoid being reprimanded. Another rule touches upon this, the Caesar Rule; if a dictator for example needs to be removed from power, sometimes the only options are defection, or just plain out assassination.
Rulers in different regimes have different personalities that are reflective of how they run their states. People like Putin, Churchill, and Hitler all had boisterous, idiosyncratic personalities that lead them to dominate world events.
Overall, LeVine covers numerous aspects of how countries are run, and how it will effect said country's regime, citizens, and future. How they are controlled, how they control others, and the way factors such as geological location and a leader's personality can help predict how a ruler with conduct himself in the future. Now, this is not a precise set of rules for fortune telling, but a general guide line of how things may occur.
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