> The last time the us went down this road was in the late 30’s when we seized japan’s assets, shut down sale of oil and metal supplies, threatening to destroy Japan’s economy. <
I never thought of it that way. It doesn’t excuse Pearl Harbor (and I know you weren’t trying to do that). Nevertheless, it is an interesting - and perhaps instructive - analogy.
As a side note, I once took a political science course where the instructor (an anti-communist, by the way) asked us to examine the Cold War from the Soviet point of view. It was quite the eye-opener.
It’s kinda like playing poker. You shouldn’t try to figure out what your opponent’s best move is. You should try to figure out what your opponent THINKS his best move is.
And since we can’t see russia’s propaganda, we are prevented from gaining insight into the image they think they should project, and any slips they might make, because like the US pilots in Vietnam who slipped gestures into the propaganda released by the North Vietnamese, People who disagree with what they are being told to say can get the message out.