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Quickly describing things...anyway...School Yard International Relations

Hosted by:

- Jesse Fries

https://serve.podhome.fm/anyway_mini_podcast

[00:00:00] Jesse Fries:

This is the AnyWay podcast with your host, Jesse Fries.   It's been a crazy week in our house.   My daughter just turned 10, and just before that actually, a couple weeks before that, I just turned, I think, 47.   But this last weekend was my daughter's pool party for her birthday, and then yesterday was her party itself. And it's been a busy time trying to get that all sorted, cook food,   and, get all the gifts all set up. Anyway,   experts like to say that foreign policy is a complicated situation.   They are right. But it's nothing that grade school kids can't do.   After studying aspects of foreign policy history for my master's, I came to the conclusion,   and I'm sure I'm not the first or the only, that our international system is the same as an elementary slash grade school yard during recess.  

Let's take my son and his shenanigans into consideration.   And we will call him Liam for this conversation.   Last year, he and his sister were in a after school care,   and a kid, let's call him Robbie, started causing problems with my son.   I'm not sure what Robbie's problem was with my son. And, of course, my son begs innocence,   but Robbie   just couldn't get along with Liam.   From what I heard, Robbie would trip and kick my son while in line for wherever they were going.   This happens in international relationships as well.   Why are why are there conflicts over tiny little islands or over 100 feet of land on a certain side of the river?  

Who knows? And everyone is innocent, of course. Sometimes, there really isn't a good reason why one country doesn't like another.   But over time, it can escalate.   Sometimes, there are real reasons for a beef, like if something is stolen, someone is killed, or there's an invasion.   It is at this point that there are real issues that need to be handled.   When it comes to these external threats, countries and children will will create alliances to help mitigate   the threats,   like NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.   And just like those, my son has what he calls a team   of about four to six boys who help ensure peace   with only a few scuffles against Robbie's team, which has about   two to three other boys. And, apparently, I just heard that there's a girl involved in that group as well.  

Don't get me wrong. There are scuffles, like when my son was alone and was being smacked in the stomach and then the head. Thankfully, nothing too serious.   Most of the time, though, the alliance slash teams keep things quiet.   Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact were organized to ensure that the other side would not attack,   just like my son's team.   NATO, when it was formed, was a defensive treaty between the Western countries, UK, US, West Germany, France, Canada, Denmark, and others.   It now has 32 members, including former members of the Warsaw Pact,   which is rather controversial   with the Russians.  

Much like NATO, the Warsaw Treaty Organization   was formed as a mutual defense against Western imperialism.   Some of the countries involved were the Soviet Union,   Albania, Czechoslovakia,   East Germany, Poland,   and a few others totaling eight countries.   It was disbanded when with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.   While both of these treaty organizations seem to have worked during the Cold War, and that may be the case   since you can't prove a negative,   however, alliances that were designed along the same lines led to World War one.   If Germany was not bound to help the Austro Hungarian Empire   and Russia wasn't bound to help their fellow Slavs,   World War one may have never happened.  

And there is, right now, serious discussion if NATO still actually falls under the defensive   only alliance, because NATO has been encroaching on Russia,   and NATO bombed Yugoslavia in 1999   without implementing the articles of the alliance.   And that is article five, to be precise.   Beyond dealing with adversaries, there is also the issue within friend groups, like when your best friend starts liking a girl or a boy.   This can make it seem like you aren't as important or that the friendship isn't as strong as it was   and can make you feel left out.  

This can be seen right now if you look at the at Canadian and European reactions to the Trump administration's   view of the world.   Trump keeps saying that Canada should be the fifty first state,   which seems to be helping out the Liberal Party up in Canada right now. Then you have the vice president   our vice president, JD Vance, telling Europe that they are devolving into a totalitarian   state that is overrun by illegal immigrants.   Neither Canadians nor Europeans view these statements as helpful helpful   or true.   They seem to think that they can't trust us anymore, that we no longer value the same things they do.  

And that might be true.   They may have moved in a different direction than we have. The election of Trump shows that we are done with some of the progressive policies   that are favored by the Canadians and the Europeans.   And just like   when your friend starts to like a girl or a boy,   you have to negotiate a new form of relationship   with the old friend, with your best friend.   What all this illustrates is that humans are the same, no matter the age and no matter the size of the group.   Adults act like children in the school yard, and children act like adults at the highest levels of our varying civilizations.   Since they act the same,   we should give them the same weapons.  

Come on, nuclear Nerf missile.