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 →

Fire in the water: ‘Pacific Rim’ and tectonic geopolitics

Guillermo del Toro is a remarkable film director. From Pan’s Labyrinth to The Shape of Water del Toro has delighted viewers and critics alike with spectacle, intrigue, and (for want of a more precise word) humanity. So when he made a science fiction blockbuster about great big beasts (Kaiju, from the Japanese, ‘giant beast’) emerging … Continue reading Fire in the water: ‘Pacific Rim’ and tectonic geopolitics →

The China crisis, the motte-and-bailey fallacy, and the war between Russia and the West in Ukraine

There is a bizarre to-and-fro that goes on in debates about the war in Ukraine, in particular imitating the ‘motte-and-bailey’ medieval castle with outer and inner fortifications. These arguments go from one leg to another, refusing to endorse any particular truth and entertaining a contradiction that demonstrates the falsity of their fundamental claim: that it … Continue reading The China crisis, the motte-and-bailey fallacy, and the war between Russia and the West in Ukraine →

Churchill, the Devil, and Hitler: An analogy for our own time

‘If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil.’ — Winston Churchill, in a speech to the House of Commons. ‘Churchill allied with Stalin,’ notes the Churchill Project in a timely piece. I myself have been confronted with controversy in my call for renewing a strategic alliance with Russia … Continue reading Churchill, the Devil, and Hitler: An analogy for our own time →