4 January 2015 - naked power 2

Did you know that we’re all doomed? Here’s another reason. Democratic politics are floppy as a rag, but military adventures have to be explained to the voters and so are wiped with shiny oil. In Russia and China the politics gleam with a bright edge, so those two can do land grabs the right way, in full Waffle House mode: “Nothing to see here, just the natural course of events—oh, this has always been mine.” That’s right, we are all doomed by conservation of ambiguity.