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Have Iraq and Ukraine both gone basically according to the hegemon’s plan?
I don’t buy it. But it’s a provocative thesis, and #DavidTimoney #FromArseToElbow is always worth a read.
https://fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2023/03/who-remembers-war.html
@interfluidity I actually think any decent person should avoid being provoked by this kind of garbage analogy that basically erases any agency of Ukrainians and rests on a lot of likely false assumptions
@stephenjudkins In the context of the current, very hot war in Ukraine, that’s an understandable reaction. But much as “tankie”-ish perspectives are understandably (and correctly) infuriating at the moment, I think it is worth thinking about the games great powers have and do play, and how the justifications for individual wars can hide important patterns. 1/
@stephenjudkins Was Iraq ginned up as part of a hegemon’s strategy for ensuring supremacy by chaos in a restive region? I don’t actually think so. (I think in fact the hegemon’s strategy was a mix of unfinished business and genuine belief in a remarkably convenient end of history.) But it’s not a ridiculous question. /fin
@interfluidity yeah, I'm more inclined to see the pattern here as dumb, powerful men engaged in groupthink that led then to make dumb, destructive, decisions
@interfluidity @stephenjudkins Some smart people doing dumb things out of excessive self-confidence too. I knew a few of the players as students and they could be very manipulative to achieve their goals but were sincere about those goals.
As you see now with them & Trump.