Editor’s note: In the last Offbeat Oregon column, we explored the unlikely origins and career of Yosuke Matsuoka, the foreign minister of Imperial Japan who was responsible for Japan’s military
like. we walked away from the league of nations. we pulled everybody out of europe. we just came home. we erected big trade barriers, we came home and isolated ourselves. that was the right word, from the world. how did that work out? well, you can drop a plum line from that set of decisions to the great depression with a d, not a recession. great depression, the rise of sa fascism in the second world war. we learned that lesson. we did the right thing coming out of the second world war. it would be a geopolitical disaster of epic proportion for us to step back from the world at this moment when autocrats like vladimir putin are seeking to run the table. danger ahead. we need to stay in the game. yes, we do. admiral james stavridis, thank you very much for being on this morning. now, in the city of malang,