I am going to spare you of my thoughts on the debt ceiling circus in Washington and its foreign policy implications in East Asia. (I’ll leave that to Krugman and Richardson, both of whom I think are spot on). Instead, I’d simply like to direct your attention to a political cartoon I stumbled across recently that I think puts the current fiscal debate in general and its foreign policy in particular in a deeper historical perspective. The cartoon, sketched by Rollin Kirby, was published in The New York World Telegram in 1932.
I can’t help but wonder what a current rendering of this sketch might look like. Surely, The National Bank of China would be included somewhere. “Cut down on those things and we’ll do business,” seems to me like a line one would expect from a CCP mouthpiece. And Uncle Sam, should he take on the role of his European counterpart, would be bearing a much heavier and more diversified load.
Any other ideas?
(H/T to reddit)
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
