I really enjoyed this article and I think he's largely right. Pride (thar) is the most overlooked variable in geo-politics. But he leaves out an important detail. The US provides much of the defenses for Europe and almost all of them for Japan. After Bosnia it is hard to conceive of Europe going to war alone. These places may be free of thar but perhaps it is only b/c a thar-ish country (The US) provided them with breathing room.
The US is not a "thar-ish" country. It is probably the farthest from "thar-ish" of all the major countries in the world if you judge by the importance placed on individualism over groups and disregard of what other people think.
Agreed but the article said otherwise. It said japan and northern Europe achieved the highest marks for non-thar-ness. The US was criticized for minor thar. I merely asked whether a little thar was such a bad thing. Esp when two common traits of non thar countries are an inability to defend one's borders and two of the biggest US military bases outside the US.
