Matt Welch Says Sovereignty Is Such a Lonely Word

On September 10, 1990, U.S.
President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev issued
a simple and remarkable joint statement. “We are united in the
belief that Iraq’s aggression must not be tolerated,” the former
Cold War opponents declared after a seven-hour meeting in Helsinki
to discuss Saddam Hussein’s annexation of Kuwait. “No peaceful
international order is possible if larger states can devour their
smaller neighbors.” Observers understood immediately the historical
significance of two previously antagonistic superpowers agreeing on
the principle that countries cannot swallow one another. What was
less obvious at the time is that the moment would look like science
fiction from the perspective of the future as well. Matt Welch
writes that Bush Sr. and every administration since has tattered
the principle of not tolerating larger states devouring their
smaller neighbors by conducting numerous
sovereignty-busting, leaving Americans war-weary as Russia
ignites its own expansionist military activities. 

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