Remember the Stresa Front

Especially remember how it was destroyed and the consequences of its destruction.

I blogged about that years ago in the early days of this blog. It seems especially relevant now.

One track minds: Not every crisis is a Munich, sometimes it is the destruction of the Stresa Front

The Wilsonians picked the wrong fight and Hitler was off and running. Sometimes you can act with the best intentions and make the situation worse.

I know Right Twitter is all excited because the events in the Crimea make Romney and Palin look better on geopolitics.

Except, better does not mean right.

To pick Russia as the #1 geopolitical threat still seems a little outdated.

Where, exactly, does Russia threaten vital American interests? Note, vital interests are different from hegemonic designs crafted by neocon pseudostrategists ( e.g. Georgia) or the bizarre actions of the current administration (helping al Qaeda in Syria).

If Russia is and has been an implacable enemy, please explain this:

The U.S. needs Moscow's cooperation as it withdraws the more than 33,000 troops left in Afghanistan because one of its main withdrawal routes runs through Russia.

The Pentagon began developing a supply route from Afghanistan through Central Asia and Russia because of frequent disruptions on the main routes through Pakistan, including a seven-month closure in 2011-12 stemming from the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops in a NATO air raid. A three-month blockade by a provincial government in Pakistan's northwest in protest over the U.S. drone strike policy only ended Thursday after a court ordered it stopped.

Russia has allowed NATO to develop a transit hub at a base in Ulyanovsk to move cargo by air, road and train from Afghanistan through the country to its northern ports. At least a third of the cargo coming out of Afghanistan is expected to move by that route -- if Moscow doesn't shut it down