Thread by @BaldingsWorld

I never cease to be amazed at how bad the foreign policy takes from Acela Corridor Galaxy Brains™️ are and I think I've narrowed it down to two specific issues. First, they have limited technical knowledge about the issues they are actually pontificating on. 1/n

I read an article just recently by a noted outlet on a topic that should have focused on technical hurdles to realizing a solution but turned out to be nothing more than basically a Risk board game analysis of forming alliances and moving troops into Kamchatka. 2/n

The fundamental problem is that the analysts are pontificating about something they have no idea about technically. Rather than discuss the technical hurdles it was board game analysis of alliances and resources from conquered lands. In the areas I focus on, there is a severe 4/n

Problem with people writing about things they don't really understand so they gloss over this deficiency with buzz word board game geopolitical word salad. This is a huge problem when describing global problems. IR grads are not technical specialists in anything 5/n

Second, partisanship is a hell of a drug. Throughout the Trump administration and right now the foreign policy drug of choice is "alliances". People chanted this like mindless drones not because they knew anything about the alliances but because Trump was angering them 6/n

What is the reality of those "alliances"? South Korea is forming economic partnerships with Pyongyang. Germany is selling subs to Turkey, wants change through trade with China, and won't buyNerf Guns to defend itself but wants to free ride. The list of very real technical 7/n

Problems that are not going to be solved by being nicer, asking nicer, or having a President with a better haircut is long, not going away, and unlikely to be solved. There are valid concerns and questions about Trump administration approach but the uninformed analysis 8/n

That so permeates conventional wisdom of the Acela Galaxy Brain set is not doing justice to the problems. This isn't just White House problem, there are deep problems and until people understand the actual problem, undstand the value and interest, this is not going away.