A very private passion, or how Greece got into the EU
spoilsofwar.substack.com
Some readers have queried my assertion in my last post that leaders put their personal political interests ahead of issues of “foreign policy” or “national interest.” I should have added that sometimes those personal interests can be very personal indeed. Alexander Hamilton, in propounding the thesis from which I take my inspiration (“Innumerable wars originate entirely in private passions; in the attachments, enmities, interests, hopes, and fears of leading individuals in the communities of which they are members”) cited as example how the Athenian leader Pericles started a war and destroyed a city as a favor to his girlfriend. (She was a brothel-owner seeking to settle scores with a business rival.)
A very private passion, or how Greece got into the EU
A very private passion, or how Greece got…
A very private passion, or how Greece got into the EU
Some readers have queried my assertion in my last post that leaders put their personal political interests ahead of issues of “foreign policy” or “national interest.” I should have added that sometimes those personal interests can be very personal indeed. Alexander Hamilton, in propounding the thesis from which I take my inspiration (“Innumerable wars originate entirely in private passions; in the attachments, enmities, interests, hopes, and fears of leading individuals in the communities of which they are members”) cited as example how the Athenian leader Pericles started a war and destroyed a city as a favor to his girlfriend. (She was a brothel-owner seeking to settle scores with a business rival.)