Um, pompous much?

I would like to address one reader in particular who called the America’s Worst Allies post "arrant nonsense." Pompous much? Who do you think you are, Basil Freaking Rathbone? (Go on dear readers, count the number of times you hear the word arrant around the office today.) Why is it that people treat foreign policy like ...

I would like to address one reader in particular who called the America's Worst Allies post "arrant nonsense." Pompous much? Who do you think you are, Basil Freaking Rathbone? (Go on dear readers, count the number of times you hear the word arrant around the office today.)

I would like to address one reader in particular who called the America’s Worst Allies post "arrant nonsense." Pompous much? Who do you think you are, Basil Freaking Rathbone? (Go on dear readers, count the number of times you hear the word arrant around the office today.)

Why is it that people treat foreign policy like it is semi-theological when the bullshit factor in making policy about hugely complex issues is so high and duplicity, deception and grotesquely self-serving behavior are so prevalent? Why do they practically write about it in an English accent? I literally do not know of a single respectable intellectual pursuit that is founded more on generalization, speculation, and guessing than even the most "serious" practice of foreign policy professionals. 

Is some of what I write here sometimes a little whimsical or, given that this after all a blog in which I offer quickly formulated views of 500 words sometimes more than once a day, glib? You betcha. Deal with it. 

The idea is that you might have a thought provoked or get a slightly different perspective. But don’t come in here and get all arrant nonsense-y over me or I will get all Chris Brown all over your ass. (His career, by the way, is ovah. Rihanna is a precious jewel, even if Kanye does consider her his kid sister. I mean Kanye is one of the biggest most pompous arrant assholes in the world, right?)

David Rothkopf is visiting professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His latest book is The Great Questions of Tomorrow. He has been a longtime contributor to Foreign Policy and was CEO and editor of the FP Group from 2012 to May 2017. Twitter: @djrothkopf

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