The Best Way to Anger People 

From a NY TIMES article on the Russia-Iran axis:

Distant as those goals seem now, they might become more attainable if Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, could be persuaded that a never-ending war and growing tension with the West will keep Russia from what it really needs to do: rebuild a multidimensional economy.

Is there an emoji for headdesk? This attitude is precisely what makes the Russians  (and many others) so angry. People don’t want to be told “what they really need to do.” People don’t want to be lectured or condescended to. 

Stop making grandiose pronouncements on what everybody else should do and concentrate on doing something right yourself. Is there really any chance that Putin is not diversifying the economy because some self-important American hasn’t told him to? Really? Or isn’t it a bit more likely that everybody is a rational agent of their self-interest and is pursuing said interest the way they consider best?

We all know that I detest Putin but I’m seeing why he – or anybody else – would tire of this treatment.