The right calls it realism. Or realpolitik.
The real word for it is psychosis.
That whole self interest schtick only works if you can model reality accurately. If you're flailing around like an emo kid on a bad day, lying to everyone, getting into fights for the sake of it, and generally acting like a hormonal teen nightmare with a shit eating grin and a sharp suit, this is possibly not the pancakes we're looking for.
Someone who can deal with reality effectively might be a better choice.
This is as much of a FAIL™ in international relations as it is in economics.
Thanks for playing, anyway. The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
I'm sure Hitler thought he was a great patriot, who was totally dedicated to maximising Germany's glory. Unfortunately, being a psychopath, he destroyed his Germany and himself instead.
So can we please stop pretending that 'maximising self interest' actually means anything non-crazy?
The kindest thing you can say about it is that it's inherently pro-cyclical. The mood swings when reality catches up with it don't seem to be fun.
Realism means assuming that actors work to maximize self-interest. Realpolitik assumes that nation-states are the relevant actors in international relations and that power is the element that each is trying to maximize relative to others.
that's our tone! a poster child for exactly why that approach leads to guaranteed Trouble.
that whole machiavelli adulation really served the neocons well, huh?
power-over instead of power-with, that is the basest of lower common denominators of human behaviour and political skills, and while it may have been the modus operandi of so many leaders through euro-history, there's no reason at all to assume that re-pursuing this bleakly evil vision of human affairs will do aught but mire us in the muck we spent much of the last few millennia roiling around in.
which is why characters like TB should be anathema to the future EU leadership, as emblematic of the nakedly expedient, rank opportunist, selfishly short-sighted wrong way to go about things on any level, be it matters personal or of state.
as for electing a saint, that's effing hilarious in its improbability, they're thin on the political ground, and if they exist at all, they would fess up to what they did, not run to swaddle their consciences under the vatican's seamy petticoats, while claiming to be blessed by faith.
the only thing TB ever believed in was that he was immune to consequences because of the intensity of his will-to-power.
he is the epitome of all that's worst and most hypocritical in the 'perfidious' part of shakespeare's famous quote, in fact he redefines the term.
like obama, he flew to grace on wings of rhetoric, and obama will be just as denigrated if he continues to appease all that's nastiest in anglo-atlanticist politics, ie bankstas and the MIC.
the harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Exactly, and also exactly the capability that Blair does not have.
As for "knows what its like to have blood on his hands", Blair has gained about as much knowledge of that as I have from playing RTS war games. He has ordered men to their deaths, but has he ever taken the time to look honestly and unflinchingly at what he wrought? You and I might agree that Blair has blood on his hands - I very much doubt that he does. And rest assured, he firmly believes he is right.
An ability to lie is definitely a negative trait if it is used to extensively lie to oneself.
And it's a pattern. While Saint Tony has been the Extra Secret Super Special Hot Sauce Quartet Envoy to the Middle East, the Gaza situation has devolved into naked barbarism and atrocity, and Israel is - still - seriously considering an attack on Iran.
Does Europe want someone so likely to destroy the EU?
That common knowledge undermines rather than strengthens his capacities for bringing people together ... setting aside the leap in the dark regarding believing that he has changed his ways and will be trying to bring people together.
After specifying that he is an able liar, we are supposed to believe that he has reversed his modus operandi by 180 degrees on his say so?
Indeed, even if he seriously intends and is 100% committed to changing his modus operandi ... he is entirely untested in that role.
Its like picking someone for the starting XI in the Ashes because he's the star pitcher for the Olympic Baseball team.
Better pick someone who has some runs on the board for that particular contest. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
he knows hot to dissimulate and knows what its like to have blood on his hands, I suggest that those are possibly positive traits rather than negatives.
thanks for sharing, that's some belief system you've got going there, lol! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Not my belief system. But I'm not getting anywhere on this thread but knee-jerk reactions to presumed ideas rather than what is actually said,
i don't think you're convincing anyone here of your points of view, but you have a lot of knowledge and time to share it, helping to provide some interesting counter-arguments, thickening the mix, as it were, and certainly helping avoid any notion ET is a cosy corner of choral communion.
to me the fault line occurs when you say things are true, but you don't necessarily believe them, which is like trying to reverse engineer glenn beck's brain.
(he thinks it's important to believe in something even though it's wrong, hmmm, you could say these two approaches are halves of a whole.)
because everyone else in this discussion, it appears to me, (and everywhere else at this blog for that matter, is intent on sharing things because we believe them to be true.)
by the way, i do have a life, thanks.
although you will get the the occasional 4 by throwing insulting comments my way, i'm guessing that's not really why you're here, lol.
enjoy your stay, and thanks for helping to catalise the discussion through your comments here why it is we have such a strong desire not to see Tony Blair get any more rewarded for his actions than he is already.
ansi...
ciao ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
