Moscow signals concern for Russians in Estonia

[amandabeech]

103. Yes, and Austria-Hungary and Serbia dragged Germany and Russia, respectively,

into WWI.

France had an alliance with Russia and Britain had an understanding with France.

Millions died.

Earlier this year I saw a weekend C-SPAN program about a new book on the events leading up to WWI. The author was the head of the History Department at Oxford. She said that often junior members of an alliance become more aggressive because the junior partner believes that the senior partner must back them up no matter what. She mentioned the Second Peloponnese War, but, obviously, her main focus was on WWI.

Currently, the US has many junior partners, some of them in Europe, but others in Asia. Obama must remain firm in the face of aggression, for instance, by Russia or China, while reigning in the most aggressive actions by junior partners, like Estonia or the Philippines and even Japan. Obama, Kerry and other members of the foreign policy team have a real test ahead, IMHO.