Joe Stanley

Answers, without the pages of defense they would realistically require!:

1) Economic warfare is still warfare, just further removed for the aggressor. If someone dies because products were inaccessible (due to availability or cost) due to sanctions enforced by our nation, that’s still on us. With that said, to *force* another sovereign nation to change behavior you’ve really only got various means of warfare.

2) “built yourself” is tough, because no person is an island. I was part of a team that built robots for competitions, which was pretty complex. Building sustainable alliances of stakeholders on policy issues, and turning them into political success is very complicated, and something I’ve only really done well once or twice (the former is hard, the latter’s difficulty varies, and both together is very hard). Realistically though, the six year relationship I’ve built with my partner has been the most complicated. It’s required a lot of give and take from her and myself, and there are less moving pieces to obfuscate responsibility.

3)  Most commercially sold flowers are grown in monocultures that displace more native populations, and I try to avoiding monoculture systems as a matter of principle. With that said, romance is 100% derived from context, and if flowers fit the bill, there are lots of places to get them that don’t conform to the above (such as casually picking one yourself while on a walk). My thoughts beyond those impacts are pretty meaningless.