The Importance of the National Interest: A Partial Refutation

Allow me to begin this article by stating that I have the utmost respect for James (@GravitysRa1nbow) on Twitter for his thoughts on liberalism, foreign affairs, and defense policy. I have in fact been using his reading list since the beginning of 2023, and am currently going through Samuel Huntington’s The Soldier and the State. It is an rather odd book, with certain historical inaccuracies as a product of being written in the 1950s. But it contains insights which are still relevant to the modern day and most of the books James has recommended have been very interesting and useful.

But on his Substack, James penned an essay a few weeks ago arguing against the idea that Americans should argue in favor of helping the Ukrainians win their war primarily in terms of the national interest. James argues that such an argument is the equivalent of a day trader and “is beneath who we are as Americans.” Furthermore, such arguments fail to inspire Americans to help the Ukrainians and causes mistrust among our allies, who fear that we will cut bait from them if they are useless.

It is true that helping the Ukrainians defend themselves against Russian tyranny and aggression is just, and moral arguments have their place in the political sphere. It is also true that Americans will be more willing to support a just crusade than mere squabbling among imperialists. While I have not finished Huntington’s book, he observes that the American populace seems to lurch from a crusading mood to a sort of pacifism, and then back again.

But there is a difference between what is politically viable, and what is true. These things are not contradictory nor at odds with one another. But while selling the American public on the moral grounds may be the most politically viable option, America is involved in the Ukraine for its own benefit. It is important not to forget that nor think that it is something to be sheepishly and shamefully admitted to.

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The American Geopolitical Case for Ukraine, Part I: The Benefits for the United States

The Russo-Ukrainian War has dropped off the front pages of the newspapers, and the Ukrainian flags which were ever-present in my Northern Virginian neighborhood are no longer quite as present.

This is change is expected due to the passage of time, and to the fact that there has not been that much major change on the front over the past few weeks to months in part due to winter. Russia continues to commit atrocities against civilians. The West could provide tanks to Ukraine soon. This would represent a further increase in Western support.

But right when the West looks to be ramping up support, the United States may face real political trouble in supporting Ukraine. The Washington Post reported that for the first time, a poll showed that more Republicans oppose rather than support further Ukrainian funding. And we have a slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

In conservative circles, there are two broad arguments which are used to justify this change. There is the alt-right approach which not only opposes supporting Ukraine, but supports Russia or tries to argue that both sides are equally bad. Russia is the great savior of traditional values and Christianity (when it is not hailed as the great savior of Communists by lunatic leftists), and we should let Russia win.

These people are not worth discussing. But there is another, more generally isolationist argument. These people agree that Russia is worse than the Ukrainians. But that does not mean that the US has to be the one to support Ukraine. Why can Europe not do it? Why does America, facing so much difficulty, have to use its monies to support a country so far away? Yes, the Russians are committing atrocities in Ukraine, but why is that our problem?

This argument has more merit to it. It is true that there are other instances of chaos and murder occuring across the globe that the US has little interest in. Close by Haiti, which has devolved into anarchic gang violence, is an example. But Ukraine is special. Even if one chooses to ignore the Russian atrocities or not give a nickel about human rights or democracy, there are real geopolitical reasons to support Ukraine to the hilt.

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Rambling Thoughts: Uncle Tom and the Nature of Hypocrisy

I am presently reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin over the holiday break. I have not finished it yet, though aim to do so tomorrow. But I wanted to talk about the character who so has interested me the most.

No, not Tom himself. Nor the infamous Simon Legree (who only appears at about the three-fourths point in the story) nor the pious Eva St. Clare. It is rather Eva’s father, Augustine St. Clare, and the many contradictions around his character. If there is a single word which can pervades St. Clare’s entire nature, it is “hypocrite.” And yet, St. Clare serves as a sort of example about how sometimes, being a hypocrite is not the damning sin which it has become all too often in modern society.

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Rambling Thoughts: Zelensky, and the Changing Conservative View of Government


Volodymyr Zelensky delievered a speech yesterday to the United States Congress. This has aroused support from the general American populace. By contrast, anti-Ukrainian extremists, particularly on the right, seethe. Cathy Young with The Bulwark delivered an excellent summary of how these extremists seethed in anger, from criticizing his suit to calling him an autocrat to more obscene attacks created by Donald Trump Jr.

Why does the alt-right hate Zelensky and Ukraine so much? They do have ideological reasons. There is a general hatred of the liberalism and globalism that Zelensky purportedly fights for. There is also a hatred of the American-led global order in favor of the United States abandoning the rest of the world. But Young argues that:

“Partly, it’s simply partisanship: If the libs are for it, we’re against it, and the more offensively the better.”

This is the main reason. Conspiracy theories about Zelensky blackmailing the US government were not popping up before the Russo-Ukrainian war began. But once the United States interfered, a wild-eyed array of conspiracy theories and rants popped in to explain things. The United States is helping Ukraine for nefarious reasons, whether it is because Ukraine has secret biological weapon labs or the secret 2020 ballots that conceal Trump’s victory.

But there is one argument coming from these people which I find to be revealing. This new argument says a great deal about the new kind of conservative and how it differs from more traditional Reaganite conservatives. That argument declares that the United States should not be funding Ukraine, but rather should be spending its money to help the American people. See the below image:

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Rambling Thoughts: A Philosophical Case for Capital Punishment

I generally do not care to write much about social, and really domestic issues. While I used to be greatly invested in domestic (that is, American) politics, I have recently decided to take a step back from it. It is easier to remain objective writing about the politics and affairs of foreign countries as opposed to your own, in part because there is so much less one knows.

Furthermore, it is not like capital punishment is a major political issue one way or the other. General political trends indicate that capital punishment is declining. The Death Penalty Information Center states that just five states conducted a total of 16 executions in 2022 so far, with Texas and Oklahoma each executing five. This is down from 43 in 2012. Furthermore, politicians in general, whether Republican or Democrat, barely talk about executions. Trump rambled something about executing drug dealers when he announced his candidacy, but even the most rabid Trump supporter acknowledges that Trump says much he doesn’t mean. They attribute it as part of his brilliancy.

So why write about such a non-issue? Because a lot of the arguments in this discussion, and especially from the pro-capital punishment side, are nonsensical. There are reasonable concerns with the death penalty, and I can sympathize with the idea of limiting capital punishment. But the idea of abolishing it completely? It is self-deceptive and hypocritical for reasons that will be explained.

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Rambling Thoughts: Looking back on Yao Ming 20 years later
Draft day photo of a great legend

This summer, 20 years ago, Yao Ming was drafted with the first pick by the Houston Rockets.

This summer, 13 years ago, the Houston Rockets announced that Yao would miss the entire 2009-10 season with another foot injury, and that was basically the end of his career.

As a Houston Rockets fan who grew up watching Yao, it is interesting looking back on his legacy both on and off the court. No one hates Yao, in the same way that a NBA fan might hate LeBron or Kobe or Luka or (especially) Harden. Go on any highlight video or Twitter thread about Yao, and you will quickly find the same sort of comments: that Yao transcended basketball, or that he could have been an all-time great if not for injuries, or how skilled he was.

It is that first point which I think should be looked at. Because as much as Yao transcended basketball, in a way he failed to live up to the promise off the court that he presented in the way that he failed to live up to the promise he presented on the court.

This is not Yao’s fault, any more than his injuries were his fault. But Yao Ming sort of presented a promise of a better world between the US and China, which today in 2022 and with the Taiwan strait becoming an ever-bigger problem looks ludicrous today.

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CSIS Event: Getting China Wrong

CSIS held an event on Thursday discussing Getting China Wrong, a new book written by Professor Aaron L. Friedberg with Princeton University that was published last Wednesday. Here are some of the things which Friedberg argued in his 45-minute talk:

Friedberg has been talking for decades about the US-China relation, and host Jude Blanchett praises him for his insight. His new book talks about a new way of thinking about US-China relations, and what the US has gotten right/wrong. What is China’s position in June 2022? What challenges and opportunities is it facing?

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On the Great Replacement: Americans and Identity

In the aftermath of the Buffalo shooting, there has been a great deal more talk about the Great Replacement, the idea that liberals/Jews are outright seeking to destroy white Americans by subsuming them under the Hispanic hordes or something.

Leftists have used the Buffalo shooter’s actions to show that we have a white nationalist problem, while right-wingers like Andrew Sullivan have pointed out that the left has openly exulted about the declining white population going back decades at this point. But I would argue that this talk of shifting demographics is in fact incidental to the real problem.

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CSIS Event: The Spear and the Shield

https://www.csis.org/events/spear-and-shield-japans-defense-strategy-trajectory

What is Japan’s security policy, especially in the wake of threats and concerns from Russia, North Korea and China? The CSIS held an event discussing the policy, and these are my personal notes of the meeting:

Introductions, as always. Members of CSIS, as well as a member of the Japanese lower and upper house respectively. First member is Itsunori Onodera, member of the lower house, Minister of Defense under Abe. Part of group which submitted NS documents to the Japanese diet. Second member is Masahisa Sato, elected in 2007 and a commander of the JSDF deployment to Iraq. Minister of Foreign Affairs under Abe.

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Rambling Thoughts: The Habsburgs, the United States, and Identity

If you waste too much time among various political and historical parts of social media like I do, you have almost certainly encountered the Byzantineboo. This is a kind of person who seems to take an incredible interest in the Byzantine Empire. They will often loudly, annoyingly insist that you not call it the Byzantine Empire instead of the Roman Empire, and will talk about what a great, wonderful state it was. Perhaps most concerningly of all, I notice that sometimes like to pretend that Istanbul is still Constantinople, and there are not a few of these people who act like the West should launch some crusade to re-Christianize the city.

Byzantineboos, in my estimation, were more popular a few years ago, but there seems to have been a bit of a backlash like there was with their linguistic predecessor, Wehraboos. But as of late, I do think that this phenomenon has been transferred to the Austrian/Habsburg Empires. And I find this phenomenon much more interesting because I am concerned about what the US might learn from the Habsburg Empire.

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