One of the great things about Twitter is that sometimes you have random conversations you never thought possible. One such this evening happened in between wrangling my seven-week-old boy, discussing Russia and China with Noah Smith of the Noahpinion economics blog, who had a thought that those two resembled the Axis powers of Germany and Japan in World War II. I enjoyed the back-and-forth immensely, and thank Noah for his engagement with the hoi polloi.
if international trade was going to stop a world war then we would have had no WW1.
ReplyDeleteNoah got you there.
The world is far more interconnected than it was in 1914. I can see Putin getting desperate enough to want to start a war, but he doesn't have the ordnance to back it up any more. China doesn't need to start a war, they are already going to dominate the century via peaceful means.
ReplyDeleteI was going to raise the question of what happens if Putin cuts off gas to Europe this winter, but I see that (if Europe plans it right) it may not be that big a deal:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/qgx4hud
M0nty
ReplyDeleteglobalsiation was going great guns up until WW1. you might not realise just how big it was back then. of course the rise of the dreadnought had a huge effect thern.
They didn't have nukes back in 1914. It's a far different game nowadays. Noah can't answer the question of why China would start a war.
ReplyDeleteA few additions to the bottom of the Storify stream, Noah had another go this morning.
ReplyDeletewow Nick and Noah . I am envious. Two brainaics
ReplyDelete