@tim_cohen hardening of identity around negative experiences is not uncommon nor necessarily insidious. They can be a wellspring of strength and purpose for nations. But when everything gets filtered through pain-fear, the chosen trauma results in a tyranny of the past upon the imagination
@tim_cohen agreed Tim, wrote as much in your former DM 10 yrs ago: “The ever-present risk in all societies affected by traumatic national experiences is that they become over-learned. The renowned psychiatrist and political scholar, Vamik Volkan, labelled the term “chosen trauma”
@_hudsonc Sad Cameron but SA still doesnt get it. Beyond the G20 bear hugs and backslapping, SA is not a hill key players are prepared to die on. Flagged the reality of US anti-SA intl pressure continuing four months ago to no avail https://t.co/AaMAzqwfCd
@sherwiebp Early December https://t.co/AaMAzqwfCd of course this kind of stuff was going to happen... the problem is DIRCO still doesnt get that SA is not a hill anyone is prepared to die on
@GTalevi i first met N 25 yrs ago- always worth listening to, dead wrong here tho, he was more interested in being the lone contrarian. It’s a loss. On Greenland, it’s clear from insiders in trump 1.0 how deep his G obsessions run. He miscalc europe/nato unity, not for first time
@KhulaniQoma goood point Khulani - there’s clever diplomacy and bending the knee… most countries are doing some combination thereof, a pragmatic adjustment to current reality. Also as senior K told me - K doesn’t DO ideology. Something to think about
@ncontsi@SongezoZibi I dont play too close attention to it, but it would be a very high burden of proof ... and the evidence insofar as I know suggests there is a lot of spin but nothing approaching 'treasonous' in the context of citizenship of da democracy
@ncontsi@SongezoZibi v good point on social cohesion - part of why canada was able to sustain some of the counterpunches after Trudeau poked the bear (canadian travel to US still way down, US booze still ‘boycotted’ etc
Lost in the geopolitical signaling on the G20 is that it's an informal inter-governmental forum. No treaty foundation, no charter, no legal personality under international law. Its mission creep comes at the expense of the UN. It is relevant only if it delivers real solutions to the financial crises affecting so much of the developing world