The problem isn't the US as policeman, the problem is the US as enforcer.
Iraq war, terrible idea. Syria and Libya, debatable, decent intentions but few good options and bad outcomes.
But protector of South Korea and Japan? Fantastic idea.
South Korea is staring at an extremely unpredictable North Korea who has a giant army and nukes. Japan is rivaled with China, who is far more rational but has a massive army and its own nukes.
If the US leaves South Korea and Japan to defend themselves then South Korea and probably Japan are getting nukes to defend themselves. You just sparked a nuclear arms race in Asia.
The best role for the US is to enforce international peace, have a big enough army that no one is willing to launch a major war. Trump wants to drop the protector role but still launch little wars to bully and get his way. He's exactly the wrong kind of isolationist.
As much as I opposed the Iraq War I'm not sure what the meaning of this is supposed to be. That the leaders of country the US was about to invade didn't want the US to invade them?
I don't buy the diet explanation, there's obviously a lot of tricks with elite sports nutrition and a major challenge for these athletes is keeping an appropriate weight, but I don't see the Kenyans having some diet trick that none other has caught on to.
David Epstein's explanation seems the most credible to me. The Kenyan population that really dominates evolved at a low altitude but lives at a high altitude, so the key there isn't big lungs but a lifetime of passive training by living at a high altitude. This isn't a feature of all Kenyans but the Kalenjin tribe in particular.
Another big factor is body type, east Africans are very spindly from being so close to the equator and needing to radiate heat. Thin legs make it easy to move the legs back and forth. I do a lot of running but my legs are quite thick with a lot of muscle, lots of strength but it's a waste swinging them back and forth. They've also likely held their running advantage a little better genetics wise through persistence running.
I don't know how much the altitude stuff extends to Ethiopia or Eritria, even with elite athletics there's going to be a range of factors, but he's got the body type.
One important thing to note is that Keflezighi's performance isn't actually that impressive, he was well off the US marathon record held by Ryan Hall, who is definitively not east African. It was also a pretty weak Boston field (the top elites went to London) and the top runners who did have a chance to catch him ran a bizarrely poorly paced race. Not to shortchange his ability, but he had a PB at an event with a weaker field that happened to struggle. As world class runners go he's significant because he's American, as an Ethiopian or Kenyan he'd be fairly anonymous. Not to shortchange his accomplishment, but he's not of the same calibre as the world's best marathoners. (his longevity is slightly impressive though)
The political apathy complaint reminds me of Socrates complaining about the youth. In my opinion political apathy is a good sign, it means the country is stable and the government relatively non-objectionable, I'd say Canada is more apathetic than the US and Iraq is far less, I know where I'd rather live.
As for the "managed state", I don't think its secret, they've just built organizations that are very good at doing elections, though they still lose elections to bitter rivals. I'm again reminded of the Socrates quote, it doesn't mean we shouldn't resist the negative political aspects, but I think we should make accurate comparisons.
You're assuming a Crimean secession would be driven by the will of the Crimeans. I haven't seen any evidence that there was a significant secession or join-Russia movement in Crimea prior to the occupation, it may have been a popular idea but not one that was a popular movement.
Furthermore Putin doesn't have a reputation for fair elections in his own country, I see no reason to believe the outcome in of the referendum will reflect a free and open vote.
The problem isn't the US as policeman, the problem is the US as enforcer.
Iraq war, terrible idea. Syria and Libya, debatable, decent intentions but few good options and bad outcomes.
But protector of South Korea and Japan? Fantastic idea.
South Korea is staring at an extremely unpredictable North Korea who has a giant army and nukes. Japan is rivaled with China, who is far more rational but has a massive army and its own nukes.
If the US leaves South Korea and Japan to defend themselves then South Korea and probably Japan are getting nukes to defend themselves. You just sparked a nuclear arms race in Asia.
The best role for the US is to enforce international peace, have a big enough army that no one is willing to launch a major war. Trump wants to drop the protector role but still launch little wars to bully and get his way. He's exactly the wrong kind of isolationist.
As much as I opposed the Iraq War I'm not sure what the meaning of this is supposed to be. That the leaders of country the US was about to invade didn't want the US to invade them?
I don't buy the diet explanation, there's obviously a lot of tricks with elite sports nutrition and a major challenge for these athletes is keeping an appropriate weight, but I don't see the Kenyans having some diet trick that none other has caught on to.
David Epstein's explanation seems the most credible to me. The Kenyan population that really dominates evolved at a low altitude but lives at a high altitude, so the key there isn't big lungs but a lifetime of passive training by living at a high altitude. This isn't a feature of all Kenyans but the Kalenjin tribe in particular.
Another big factor is body type, east Africans are very spindly from being so close to the equator and needing to radiate heat. Thin legs make it easy to move the legs back and forth. I do a lot of running but my legs are quite thick with a lot of muscle, lots of strength but it's a waste swinging them back and forth. They've also likely held their running advantage a little better genetics wise through persistence running.
I don't know how much the altitude stuff extends to Ethiopia or Eritria, even with elite athletics there's going to be a range of factors, but he's got the body type.
One important thing to note is that Keflezighi's performance isn't actually that impressive, he was well off the US marathon record held by Ryan Hall, who is definitively not east African. It was also a pretty weak Boston field (the top elites went to London) and the top runners who did have a chance to catch him ran a bizarrely poorly paced race. Not to shortchange his ability, but he had a PB at an event with a weaker field that happened to struggle. As world class runners go he's significant because he's American, as an Ethiopian or Kenyan he'd be fairly anonymous. Not to shortchange his accomplishment, but he's not of the same calibre as the world's best marathoners. (his longevity is slightly impressive though)
The political apathy complaint reminds me of Socrates complaining about the youth. In my opinion political apathy is a good sign, it means the country is stable and the government relatively non-objectionable, I'd say Canada is more apathetic than the US and Iraq is far less, I know where I'd rather live.
As for the "managed state", I don't think its secret, they've just built organizations that are very good at doing elections, though they still lose elections to bitter rivals. I'm again reminded of the Socrates quote, it doesn't mean we shouldn't resist the negative political aspects, but I think we should make accurate comparisons.
You're assuming a Crimean secession would be driven by the will of the Crimeans. I haven't seen any evidence that there was a significant secession or join-Russia movement in Crimea prior to the occupation, it may have been a popular idea but not one that was a popular movement.
Furthermore Putin doesn't have a reputation for fair elections in his own country, I see no reason to believe the outcome in of the referendum will reflect a free and open vote.