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 →

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 →

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 →

Get a grip, Russia is not going to nuke Ukraine — but the media’s rhetoric implies the West might

It is said that whoever first diagnoses a situation as dangerous is wise, and whoever first accuses someone as responsible is foolish. Of course, what if these are the same person? For Thomas Hobbes, there are two kinds of people — natural persons like you are me, and artificial persons like states and corporations. Among … Continue reading Get a grip, Russia is not going to nuke Ukraine — but the media’s rhetoric implies the West might →

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. →

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 →

The cathedral of capital: Why the West is fruitlessly prolonging the war in Ukraine while stoking war in the South China Sea

Why? Why must so many die and so little be achieved? It makes so little sense to me, but I am beginning to grasp the reasons for the disgraceful behaviour of western countries, elites, academics, and countless supporters of the Ukraine’s bloody imitation of resistance movements in ages gone by. I think it has to … Continue reading The cathedral of capital: Why the West is fruitlessly prolonging the war in Ukraine while stoking war in the South China Sea →

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 →

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 →