It’s travel and frequent communication between countries. The way this would work, in order: Debt-free college. Educated citizens are less likely to fall for populism. Abolish eVisas between democracies. Implement eGates for your citizens at airport customs. It will tremendously improve everyone’s speed through airports. Extend eGate access to other countries where the risks are …
Yearly Archives: 2024
2024 checklist
Here are the major changes that need to happen in the next year: Ukraine must win the war and be accepted as a full member of NATO. For this to happen, Ukraine needs to be able to strike all Russian military targets. Accept Georgia as a full member of NATO. Israel needs to stop bombing …
We need a tourism lobby
I was doing some reading this evening and wondering why the Andean Community and MERCOSUR don’t merge. I thought about the intricacies of that relationship, which led me to look at how Brazil is now going to implement a new visa for “security reasons.” That made me think: What is the actual evidence on visas …
The Tax, service, inflation trilemma
Modern democracy is based on the following system: Low inflation Tax rates to cover services Services provided for no additional at point of use You can have all three of these, and people love having low inflation and services provided for no additional charge. Highways without tolls, city parks without a fee to enter, everyone …
Quick answers to structural problems
This article by Strong Towns is a good one, read this before reading my commentary on it. I mostly agree with this article. I do not believe there is a free quick fix to ending the insane housing inflation we are experiencing in this country. We have had restrictive zoning which has reduced the quantity …
Results of compromise
The center-right party in Austria has spent the last couple of years doing everything it possibly can to get votes from the far right. They have denied Schengen membership to Romania and Bulgaria and have not been supporting Ukraine with military weapons. They’ve played right into Putin’s hands. Yesterday, the far right still won the …
Ukraine game theory, 2024 edition
I first wrote a game theory tree for Ukraine in January 2022, when I drew out a plan for why Russia would back down if the West responded with a military threat and there wouldn’t be a war. The foreign policy team (Blinken & Sullivan) at the White House clearly does not understand game theory; …
Lublin and the formation of a distinct Ukrainian identity
For over two years, Russia has been invading Ukraine, claiming that Ukraine is historically Russian territory. This makes as much sense as claiming Northern Italy is historically German. While this is technically correct, there have been 1000 years between then and now which have sent these two regions on different paths. Recorded history starts around …
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Foreign policy positions
Based on CFR, this is how I would answer: China We need to strengthen our ties with every country in Asia to ensure that any invasion by the People’s Republic of China of its neighbors will be a suicide mission. To ensure peace on the continent, bring back SEATO and invite India, Nepal, and Bhutan …
Election systems vs government systems
For years, the left has commonly claimed that the reason the United States does not have universal health care is that it has a presidential system rather than a parliamentary system. This is also claimed to be the reason third parties have not formed a government in the United States since 1861. The first reason …