To play devils advocate - the “gentlemans agreement” you speak of isn’t perfect. The US was caught spying on Germany. I’m pretty sure the US & UK are only such tight allies because of shared intelligence gathering.
Also the US has shown twice (WWI & II) that allies are expendable until America is threatened directly.
the “gentlemans agreement” you speak of isn’t perfect
That’s what I’m trying to illustrate. The post that I’m replying to suggests that a multipolar world is fine, “we” should stay out of the other poles’ spheres of influence, and that there’s a hard distinction between economic, philosophical, and military jockeying. I don’t think that’s the case. The gentleman’s agreement that I’m referring to would be between poles.
You bring up a great example how “we” fuck our allies even when we have a gentleman’s agreement with them. Which is a great point.
Fuckery is going to happen: we need to keep our friends close, and we need to build our international agreements in a way that keeps us safe. Assuming other governments will adhere to rules-based order with siloed areas of competition is unlikely to succeed.
To play devils advocate - the “gentlemans agreement” you speak of isn’t perfect. The US was caught spying on Germany. I’m pretty sure the US & UK are only such tight allies because of shared intelligence gathering.
Also the US has shown twice (WWI & II) that allies are expendable until America is threatened directly.
That’s what I’m trying to illustrate. The post that I’m replying to suggests that a multipolar world is fine, “we” should stay out of the other poles’ spheres of influence, and that there’s a hard distinction between economic, philosophical, and military jockeying. I don’t think that’s the case. The gentleman’s agreement that I’m referring to would be between poles.
You bring up a great example how “we” fuck our allies even when we have a gentleman’s agreement with them. Which is a great point.
Fuckery is going to happen: we need to keep our friends close, and we need to build our international agreements in a way that keeps us safe. Assuming other governments will adhere to rules-based order with siloed areas of competition is unlikely to succeed.