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; …
Author Archives: stidmatt
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 …
Continue reading “Lublin and the formation of a distinct Ukrainian identity”
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 …
Effective policy
The problem with technology visas is first of all countries don’t need this to record entries and exits. It’s the principle of the thing. If tourists were regularly traveling visa free to the US and committing terrorist attacks I would support ESTA. The problem is that has never been a thing. None of the 9/11 …
The proper way to respond to terrorism
Today is the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States in Alexandria, Virginia, and New York City. I will keep it simple: we did not respond to the attacks appropriately. The main thing we did right was remove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan following their attack on our country. But what …
Putin controls Germany
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-put-temporary-controls-all-land-borders-source-says-2024-09-09/ Germany is tightening border controls in response to the Alternativ fur Deutschland “winning” state-level elections in Germany. At least, this is the narrative. Alternativ fur Deutschland won only 30% of the vote in Sachsen and 32% of the vote in Thuringen. They won fewer votes than CDU in Sachsen but got the most votes …
Quick fixes
We live in a world where we can get information on so many different topics at the click of a button through search engines. Wikipedia is the largest collaborative project in the history of humanity. Scholarly articles are available to anyone with an internet connection. You can have food delivered to your house without picking …
Two countries, one island
It starts with Spanish and French colonialism. Haiti The Duvalier dynasty which ruined the country. He had a poor relationship with the US. The US was sending millions of dollars of aid to Haiti (in 1950s dollars) at the time, Duvalier stole it, so we stopped sending aid which was just making life worse for …
Why Presidents get over or under rated
Overall, I think Biden will be remembered as being on par with Jimmy Carter. He’s had a good domestic policy, and if that were all we were ranking on, he would easily be in the top 10, but his foreign policy has been a continuation of Trump’s failed policies. I generally agree with most of …