17 Points: How to make the world safe for all people

First published in early autumn 2022. In the view that all people depend on peace for their survival and wellbeing, and in the knowledge that peace is at grave risk of breakdown, there are several points that may be well understood by those wise enough to choose peace over war. To that end, the seventeen … Continue reading 17 Points: How to make the world safe for all people →

The realist school: An emerging paradigm

First published on 14 June 2022. Sometimes, intellectual thought undergoes a rupture that cannot be stopped. It does not matter how much you resist the conceptual tsunami, or how far you run. It will tear down what you know, and force any remaining ideas to cluster around the victorious Noah’s ark of the God-given intellectual … Continue reading The realist school: An emerging paradigm →

What is distinctive about international politics? The question raised by the Bennett Institute’s report on public opinion on China, Russia, and America

A World Divided: Russia, China and the West. So goes the title of the Bennet Institute’s latest report on international politics, after a notable report on the decline of public trust in democracy in domestic political institutions (Global Satisfaction with Democracy, 2020). I would like to compare and contrast these reports and their shared implications … Continue reading What is distinctive about international politics? The question raised by the Bennett Institute’s report on public opinion on China, Russia, and America →

For heaven’s sake, stop China now — before it is too late

A rising power confronts a ruling power. The question of who rules becomes hard to answer. To resolve this ambiguity, there is war. Millions suffer and die. For what, exactly? Islands claimed by China in the South China Sea. Dangerous, this path is. Careful and courageous, we must be. We must avoid this miserable fate. … Continue reading For heaven’s sake, stop China now — before it is too late →

Russia’s invasion is tragic but necessary — and the bloodshed is on the West’s hands. America must negotiate a peace in Ukraine now.

In the Cuban Missile Crisis, America and Russia nearly went to war over Soviet nukes being placed in Cuba. Is it so surprising that Russia is fighting a proxy war to prevent the further expansion of NATO, and the consequent potential placement of nuclear weapons in Ukraine? No, it is not. It is a fight … Continue reading Russia’s invasion is tragic but necessary — and the bloodshed is on the West’s hands. America must negotiate a peace in Ukraine now. →

Why Liz Truss’s policies will not promote long-term growth — and the other parties have no good alternatives

Political debates these days are deeply frustrating to me, as they seem to completely miss the point. On the one hand, the so-called ‘left wing’ launches tirades against economic growth, calling out GDP figures by drawing attention to the socio-ecological background against which technological development rests. At least, that is how I imagine the left … Continue reading Why Liz Truss’s policies will not promote long-term growth — and the other parties have no good alternatives →

Marx vs. Luther: Will China and the West clash?

Penned for INK student magazine (print edition) in 2018 during my tenure as politics editor. Imagine yourself in Wittenberg, Saxony, 1517. Western Europe is uniformly Catholic and, reminiscent of the once-mighty Roman Empire, the “Holy Roman Empire” presides over what is now modern Germany. One day, you notice a young theology professor nailing a lengthy … Continue reading Marx vs. Luther: Will China and the West clash? →

Fear: Why everyone downplays the China crisis

It puzzles me that almost every conversation I have with people about China involves people downplaying a number of aspects of the threat this growing great power poses to world peace: 1. China’s power, 2. The possibility or probability of war between America and China, 3. The potential danger of that war, 4. The ability … Continue reading Fear: Why everyone downplays the China crisis →

Will China Replace America? Observations from 2017

The following text was given at a talk in 2017, initially published on my legacy blog, Principia Politica, before the commencement of Trump’s trade war with China which continues to this day under the Biden administration. In 1823, US President James Monroe asserted that North and South America ‘are henceforth not to be considered as … Continue reading Will China Replace America? Observations from 2017 →

Freedom or slavery: An integrated theory of the Ukraine war

I recently saw a Tweet thread by Taras Bilous, a ‘Ukrainian Socialist’ who wants to ‘Resist the Russian Invasion’. He opens the Tweet with ‘I don’t like [Slavoj] Žižek’, the Hegelian philosopher and left-leaning political commentator, and proceeds to offer reasons for why Ukraine’s economy is not too bad, and why its politics aren’t so … Continue reading Freedom or slavery: An integrated theory of the Ukraine war →