Those are the kinds of things you do when you CAN’T get what you want through PR and sheer bullshit (or violence). And assume you don’t already feel like you have the best people.

That tends to not align very well with being a ‘superpower’. That kind of self doubt and reasonableness is what makes you stop being a superpower.

It’s similar with Empires. You don’t get to be (or sustain) being an empire by giving a shit what anyone else thinks. You get to be (or sustain) being an empire by doing whatever the fuck you want, regardless of what anyone else thinks. And if anyone tries to stop you, figuring out a way to get them out of your way/conquer them.

It’s a variant of ‘reasonable people conform to reality, unreasonable people make reality conform to them. therefore, all progress depends on unreasonable people.’

Of course, if you fuck it up, you potentially die. So none of this is for the faint of heart, or weak of arm (as it were).

Isn’t that what the EU is doing? Getting counties to join them by being nice