The Serpent's Wisdom

Boy, aren't I just making a general nuissance of myself in poor sophiaserpentia's journal today...

And an even deeper irony - at least two of the nations in favor of peace - France and Russia - are probably in favor of peace because of under the table arms deals with Saddam Hussein... "follow the money" indeed.

Really, I don't think there's any "probably" about it - although I would hasten to add that the motivations of the respective governments are likely very distinct from the motivations of the thousands taking to the streets in those countries as well as elsewhere. Indeed, I've thought about this same thing as well, and it ties into what both arbiteroftruth and seraphimsigrist have broached above, about the only relative virtue of the isolation of motives. Following the money in this case seems to lead to a recognition of, on the one hand, the enlarging of the sphere of largesse of the hegemon, and on the other, the restricting of that same sphere by competing interests. The problem would no doubt exist if the powers of the players were reversed, of course. And I really don't have a fundamental problem with any of this as long as I bear in mind that the sphere of politics is always contingent, always dependent on some deeper principle. I support France's and Russia's stances because they help limit the power of the current hegemon, which is a far larger threat to us all than the relatively petty national and corporate aspirations being represented by their opposition. Then again, I may just be done with all this lesser evil business in the next election and will cast my vote for Cthulhu.