flâneur

We're not ready for the Big One - by Noah Smith

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“Down here it was still the England I had known in my childhood: the railway cuttings smothered in wild flowers…the red buses, the blue policemen—all sleeping the deep, deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs.” — George Orwell, 1938 It feels like something that was long sealed away has broken loose. In 2022 we saw a nuclear-armed great power invade and try to conquer a neighboring country. Now Iran is threatening to go to war with Israel, and the U.S. is sending carrier strike groups to the region to deter it. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan may be getting ready to invade Armenia, Serbia might invade Kosovo, and other wars and atrocities are breaking out in various corners of the world. In a post last week, I hypothesized that the waning of American deterrence is a big reason the world seems to be slipping into a more warlike, anarchic state. I am not an expert in foreign policy, but Paul Poast and Hal Brands b

“Down here it was still the England I had known in my childhood: the railway cuttings smothered in wild flowers…the red buses, the blue policemen—all sleeping the deep, deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs.” — George Orwell, 1938 It feels like something that was long sealed away has broken loose. In 2022 we saw a nuclear-armed great power invade and try to conquer a neighboring country. Now Iran is threatening to go to war with Israel, and the U.S. is sending carrier strike groups to the region to deter…

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