In which the question must be asked … are Switzers the main impediment to rules-based order?

The pond was so entranced by the reptile facelift that it felt in need of another visit to the herpetarium, and what better way than by confronting the pond's worst fears …

You see, the Switzer keeps turning up all over the place, and has made RN a no-go place for the pond, for fear of encountering a Switzer blathering on in his inimitable way …

Best to confront these fears …

Somehow, faced with nightmares, the pond always ended up looking under the bed, and sure enough, there was always a monster, and if no monster, then surely a Switzer ...

It's impossible to evoke the ineffable stupidity lurking behind this sort of word-counting phenomena …

It so happens that way back on 25th September 1919 Woodrow Wilson was talking of a rules-based international order, and the speech could still be found on the US Embassy's German site here, with Wilson quoting Teddy Roosevelt …

"The one effective move for obtaining peace is by an agreement among all the great powers in which each should pledge itself not only to abide by the decisions of a common tribunal but to back its decisions by force. The great civilized nations should combine by solemn agreement in a great world league for the peace of righteousness; a court should be established. A changed and amplified Hague court would meet the requirements, composed of representatives from each nation, whose representatives are sworn to act as judges in each case and not in a representative capacity." Now there is article ten. He goes on and says this: "The nations should agree on certain rights that should not be questioned, such as territorial integrity, their right to deal with their domestic affairs, and with such matters as whom they should admit to citizenship. All such guarantee each of their number in possession of these rights."

Well we know what happened to Wilson's dream of the League of Nations, but surely the point is that almost a century ago, Wilson andy others were talking of a great world league for the peace of righteousness …

And that's why the Switzer routinely sends the pond into a frenzy. Rampant stupidity and nonsensical silliness will always do it, especially when dressed up with blather about the logic being clear ...

Now the pond appreciates the Switzer's intent. It's to normalise and rationalise and downplay the Donald, and make Brexit seem a natural consequence of things, and who knows, soon enough the end of the EU should follow, and Vlad the impaler might march back into old territories and establish a new Soviet empire, and the Switzer will cluck his tongue, and patiently explain that this is how it should be, and all this Wilsonian blather about rules-based international orders was and is just a dream ...

And there's another reason the pond dislikes the Switzer … the dissembling. Not that the pond is a huge fan of Snopes, but really …

The record shows that Donald Trump’s public stand against the Iraq War did not occur until August 2004, long after the war was underway, and only after he had on multiple previous occasions expressed either support for the war or non-committal opinions about its merits. The record does not support his contention that he was against the Iraq War “from the beginning.”

And so on - Politifact did the same for the Iraq war, and also offered to track Donald Trump's evolving position on Afghanistan …

 but then the Donald is a congenital liar, and has done as much as he can to undermine the international rules currently in operation …

The United Nations isn't the best of instruments, the WTO and other international institutions have their flaws, but the notion that it's all a waste of time is the sort of nihilism that managed to produce a couple of world wars ...

It seems it suits Switzer's business model to normalise all this nihilism, and downplay the anarchy the Donald has produced on the world stage, so that international rogues and villains can go about their business and it can be all seen as just normal, irrepressible power politics ...

And there's as good a prescription for a return to the 1930s as might be found amongst forelock tuggers and old school Bismarckians, but if the United States and the Donald aren't the solution, are Xi and Vlad the impaler the answer?

Never mind, before Switzer-approved chaos is unleashed on the world, with dark, ignorant nation states clashing by night, can the pond at least pause for its dietary-recommended dose of a Rowe a day, with more essential mineral and vitamin Rowe here, offering authenticity as the way forward…