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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 25, 2023

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leaping out of the bushes to shower democratic Armenia in arms, so they can defend Nagorno-Karabakh against authoritarian Azerbaijan? War of conquest - check. Grand battle between democracy and authoritarianism - check.

This case is far more complex. For start Nagorno-Karabakh is part of internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, Armenia controlling it is result of war of conquest they won some time ago and entire region has multisided ethic-based wars and pogroms for quite long time.

And there are many additional complexities.

internationally recognized borders

This is another abstraction that is again, pretty arbitrary. International recognized borders are basically what was reached by 1945, plus whatever random border adjustments Soviet leaders decided to make in SSRs, plus some odds and ends. What are the 'internationally recognized' borders of Israel? Who knows! Annexing land (the Golan Heights for example) is absolutely fine since it's beneficial to US interests. The US certainly isn't going to complain about it in a meaningful way, like withholding some of the billions in aid they send over annually.

If China says 'oh only six or seven countries recognize Taiwan as an independent country, that means it's not internationally recognized and we can invade this rebellious province' that's not going to work. 'Internationally recognized borders' is another fig leaf.

This is another abstraction that is again, pretty arbitrary.

Yes, nevertheless quite useful.

For better or worse, it is useful demarcation for various things.