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by bell-cot 1347 days ago
Outside of the moralized "Santa Claus" worldview that is fed to children, and simplistic propaganda/click-bait/news for the masses, international relations are always complex, highly compartmentalized, and subject to tight "current rules of engagement" control in each little area.

That helps keep things calm, predictable, & controlled. And provides thousands of tiny "carrots & sticks" levers for leaders to fiddle with, while having to think about maximizing their nation's advantage in each of many little areas. Vs. the obvious dangers of a relationship state space where "at peace" and "total war" only had a few intermediate states between them.
1 comments
xg15 1347 days ago
In principle yes, but the current situation is still exceptional. There used to be a variety of areas of cooperation, e.g. in science projects, between russia and the EU states. This was kept up even after the annexation of Crimea on the same basis as you describe. However, after the invasion started, much of it has been shut down.
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bell-cot 1347 days ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo-Soyuz#Historical_backgr...

The Apollo-Soyuz mission was conceived, approved by top-level leadership in both the U.S. and U.S.S.R., and mostly planned while the U.S. military (not just local proxy forces) was still heavily and directly engaged in the Vietnam War.

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