Source: Washington Post
by Jim Geraghty
“Remember the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention? Way back in 1996, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman observed, ‘No two countries that both have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war against each other.’ It was a little tongue in cheek, but the theory generally made sense: Once a country was sufficiently open to American culture to welcome the hamburger chain to its shores and was sufficiently plugged into the global economy, its interest in military aggression dropped significantly. … Alas, the Golden Arches Theory didn’t hold up for very long. … Perhaps it is time for a new theory to fit our dramatically different notion of who is an American ally and who is a potential foe. Consider that no two countries with a Trump-branded property have ever fought a war against each other — at least, not while they’ve had that Trump property.” (01/06/26)