> 1. France could be considered to some extent socialist. I join you in pointing out that there is not a rigidly adhered to performative standard of government

> 1. France could be considered to some extent socialist. I join you in pointing out that there is not a rigidly adhered to performative standard of government classification. By that I mean for example, that while the USA is generally considered as the quintessential modern, successful democracy, it is not that, but a representative republic with deomcratic elections. So sure, France hasn't been purely "communist" or "socialist", but the reality of the world is that there is much more going on than could be captured by a check box. >3. It is difficult to identify those traits, but I always remember something someone important to me taught me since I was young: first fix it, complain later. Well, we have Iran as just one example of those kind of outcomes. That course is only tolerable from one end of the bayonet. If you stab enough people if might fix every problem we have, but there will be nobody to complain later. I guess it really is as you say: intervention just causes more intervention...