"What was supposed to be a time of celebration 25 years after the collapse of communism in East-Central Europe has instead turned out to be a year of deep geopolitical crises and dark fears about the future of Europe, Eurasia, and the rest of the world," Hanson said. "The great hopes kindled by the peaceful dismantling of the Soviet empire have given way to renewed bloodshed, immense social dislocation, and a new division in Europe that will be very hard to reverse in the near term."
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(The Virginia Gazette) President Franklin D. Roosevelt often used his Fireside Chats to explain to the nation complex political issues. To make the issue easily understood, he used parables, succinct, didactic stories.
To understand why our nation is finding itself nowadays, time-and-again, in un-anticipated international crises, a parable may come in handy. As every driver knows, an obstruction in the visual field creates a blind spot. It's a persistent danger we can dismiss only at our own peril. Drivers, however, are not without resources. Mirrors and other technical devices helps identify objects around the vehicle, assisting in avoidance of a collision.
The same principle may be transposed into the realm of foreign affairs. The validity of this has not been lost on Stephen Hanson, vice provost for International Affairs at the College of William & Mary and director of the Reves Center for International Studies. […]
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