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And hegemony is a dangerous thing that must be watched closely. It is entirely reasonable to apply expectations to all countries that they not operate in ways
by bobwaycott 13y ago
And hegemony is a dangerous thing that must be watched closely.
It is entirely reasonable to apply expectations to all countries that they not operate in ways that encroach upon the sovereignty and privacy of other nations, especially their allies or even less friendly nations with whom a declared state of war does not exist.
The hegemon ought answer to a much stricter standard than the "pleasant little countries" who do not wield such power.
Hegemony does not implicitly grant universal assent to be a total asshole.
- XorNot 13y agoYou realize the first thing you do if you're going to attack someone is tell them one thing and then do another, right? And that a country's leaders are replaceable components - the country doesn't have a personality, it has a government of thousands of individuals, all who subtly bias its aggregate behaviour in different ways, and whom the replacement of various members can fundamentally alter the country's goals, agenda and long-term interests against other countries? How then, do you intend to maintain your own security if you've decided to simply take the word of one country's government - again, a shifting gestalt of thousands of individuals and millions of citizens goals - as naively true, when there is absolutely no reason or even motivation for that country not to simply lie to you - likely in many cases without even realizing it, as the messengers don't have the situational-awareness to understand the context of the message.