The Devil’s Dictionary of International Relations and Foreign Affairs, Part II

P art II:

 

COUP D'ETAT, n: In civil-military relations, the replacement of an abhorrent government with a well-armed abhorrent government.

STRATEGIC, adj. Used to declare the importance of an object or place whereas its uselessness was previously self-evident.

POST-COLD WAR, n: The point in time that marks the beginning of recorded history.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, n: In international relations, an anonymous group of nations linked only by the assumption that they wholeheartedly agree with the person using the term. The United States is not a member.

———. In rhetoric, a device used by undergraduates, politicians, journalists and other intellectuals as a substitute for actual inquiry or to avoid prattling off a list of irrelevant nations that would otherwise come across as considerably less forbidding.

STRATEGY, n. A new plan that will fail for reasons obvious at a later point in time. 

FOREIGN AID, n. A bribe that masquerades as charity.

REFUGEE CRISIS, n: The unwelcome intrusion of poor peoples into their neighbor’s territory.