Day 2,041: Despot, retreat, covet, handy, conduit
Despots will take comfort from a retreat from universal values. If Mr Trump asserts a sphere of American influence that embraces Canada, Greenland and Panama, they will claim it as an endorsement of their own principle that international relations have in reality always been a trial of strength—handy when Russia covets Georgia or China claims the South China Sea. If Mr Trump scorns institutions like the UN, which embody universal values, China and Russia will dominate them instead, and exploit them as conduits for their own interests.
Artwork of the day
TRUANCY
Goran_DespotovskiOriginal Title:TRUANCY - The theme, Dead Water Installation 2016Date:2016; SerbiaStyle:ContemporaryGenre:installationMedia:cloth, ceramics
Word of the day
Despot: a person, especially a ruler, who has unlimited power over other people, and often uses it unfairly and cruelly:
retreat: to go away from a place or person in order to escape from fighting or danger:
covet: to want to have something very much, especially something that belongs to someone else:
handy: able to use something skilfully:useful
conduit: a pipe or passage for water or electrical wires to go through:
Quote of the day
“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such: because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well-administred; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administred for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
― Benjamin Franklin