David Roberts@drvox1. Struck again by how cons approach foreign policy almost *entirely* based on what feels emotionally satisfactory.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:33:22ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308088413065216— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:33:22
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308088413065216
David Roberts@drvox2. Not only do they neglect empirical analysis of what has happened & what might happen, but they condemn such analysis as weakness.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:34:07ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308279400710145— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:34:07
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308279400710145
David Roberts@drvox3. They condemn the effort to understand the parties & forces at play - the effort to understand *in & of iteself* - as weakness.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:34:55ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308478244253696— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:34:55
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308478244253696
David Roberts@drvox4. They condemn Obama’s aversion to force even though O been bombing ISIS for months. Why? Because he’s not making them *feel* it.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:35:45ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308688450187264— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:35:45
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308688450187264
David Roberts@drvox5. It’s not the actual bombing they want, it’s the martial rhetoric, the flag-filled chyrons, the Bush-with-a-megaphone feeling.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:36:26ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308860534063105— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:36:26
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666308860534063105
David Roberts@drvox6. They want him to say the right words, to call enemies the right names, to beat his chest, to show that America es mas machoMon, Nov 16 2015 17:37:06ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309029967233024— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:37:06
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309029967233024
David Roberts@drvox7. Whether war - the last one, the next one - "works" is neither hear nor there. It’s working if it’s making them *feel* the right way.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:37:44ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309186339254274— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:37:44
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309186339254274
David Roberts@drvox8. It is foreign policy as carried out by an insecure, hormone-ridden teenage boy; everything’s about who burned who, who came out on top.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:39:38ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309666872266752— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:39:38
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309666872266752
David Roberts@drvox9. The fact is, there’s no clean, emotionally satisfying resolution to the problem of stateless terrorism.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:40:44ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309942555504640— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:40:44
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666309942555504640
David Roberts@drvox10. You can contain it, minimize the damage, try to draw countries toward better development & more freedom to reduce it’s attraction.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:41:17ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310081013673984— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:41:17
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310081013673984
David Roberts@drvox11. But there will never be a grand victory, no dreamy hero flying onto an aircraft carrier in a flightsuit to declare Mission Accomplished.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:42:06ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310288749101056— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:42:06
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310288749101056
David Roberts@drvox12. It’s never going to be emotionally satisfying. Grown-ups know that. It’s the world. It’s complicated. Even US power is limited.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:42:46ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310454638022657— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:42:46
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310454638022657
David Roberts@drvox13. Meanwhile, it is terrifying that 1 of these status-obsessed, chest-beating adolescents might actually take the reins of the US military.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:44:39ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310927566794752— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:44:39
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666310927566794752
David Roberts@drvox14. Hard enough dealing w/ complex, intractable international dilemmas w/out being saddled w/ the equivalent of frat boys at a pep rally.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:46:01ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666311271290007552— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:46:01
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666311271290007552
David Roberts@drvox15. Anyway, this has all been obvious for years (Bush should have made the case conclusively), but it’s never been more clearly on display.Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:46:47ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666311465914134528— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:46:47
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666311465914134528
David Roberts@drvox16. And as usual, I have a sinking feeling it isn’t going to end well. #finMon, Nov 16 2015 17:47:14ReplyRetweetFavoritehttps://twitter.com/drvox/status/666311579432914944— David Roberts (@drvox)Mon, Nov 16 2015 17:47:14
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/666311579432914944
