The Great Illusion

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=217687&f=28



Tom Friedman Scratch that the normally sane Paul Krugman drinks the alarmist cool-aid this morning and warns that the fall of Georgia may lead to the collapse of the global economy and a world war or two.



The ostensible cause of this global calamity is that the case of Georgia marks the end of pax americana and the rise of an expansionist Russia. Of course that analysis requires us to forget that for the vast majority of the post ww2 period during which globalization was accelerating there was no pax americana and the US was locked in a struggle with (damn liberal facts) Russia.



At least neo conservative alarmists have a credible analogy in the Cold War (which though I don't think will happen at least has the historical precedent).



Most worrying is that like 2003 we once again have Friedman writing ridiculous essays that legitimise people trying to start another war for someone elses kids to fight. Maybe instead we should think about learning the lesson that during those two global periods the common thread was not American hegemony or a lack of spheres of influence, but calculated steps by the various great powers to accept other spheres of influence and avoid doing things that might lead to direct shooting conflicts between each other. Or, to put it in simpler terms, the exact opposite of everything John McCain says.