Great articles. This raises so many more questions. Why is it that Authoritarian govts (Russia/China) better at geopolitics than democratic govts? - Is it because it helps to have a time horizon greater than 4 years in an increasingly low growth, uncertain world with large imbalances? - Is this why Authoritarianism is on the rise across the world? - Are western democracies, tired of fickless responses going to turn to authoritarian leaders as a show of power?
Thank you! I would actually challenge your initial premise. I don't think the Russian or Chinese governments are better at geopolitics, nor do I think that they necessarily have longer time horizons. You are talking about two regimes that are widely disliked across most of the world, especially by their neighbors, and that have few allies other than each other. Russia seems poised to start a war of choice where, at best, it will gain some territory that will need to be permanently occupied, all while turning Russia into even more of a pariah state.
Great articles. This raises so many more questions. Why is it that Authoritarian govts (Russia/China) better at geopolitics than democratic govts? - Is it because it helps to have a time horizon greater than 4 years in an increasingly low growth, uncertain world with large imbalances? - Is this why Authoritarianism is on the rise across the world? - Are western democracies, tired of fickless responses going to turn to authoritarian leaders as a show of power?
Thank you! I would actually challenge your initial premise. I don't think the Russian or Chinese governments are better at geopolitics, nor do I think that they necessarily have longer time horizons. You are talking about two regimes that are widely disliked across most of the world, especially by their neighbors, and that have few allies other than each other. Russia seems poised to start a war of choice where, at best, it will gain some territory that will need to be permanently occupied, all while turning Russia into even more of a pariah state.
Fair points - I guess the key question then is why Putin, as laid out in your article, has been able to play this out much better than Europe has?
The Writing seemed to be on the wall for Europe since the Crimea annexation. What prevented the leaders of Europe from weaning off the Russian energy?