Once again, I mean no animosity towards any of the populace of the countries mentioned in this post; I am addressing the governments and their actions instead of the people themselves. Last post, I brought up sloth, wrath, and envy, leaving lust, greed, pride, and finally gluttony.
The definition of lust is an uncontrolled or illicit desire or appetite for pleasure. There are a lot of countries that could contend for this sin as it is very similar to gluttony or greed. I considered Russia but finally ended on Saudi Arabia. The thing is most of every country openly has a desire for increased comfort; it’s not much of a secret that foreign powers want more power. However, Saudi Arabia’s lust for comfort is unnecessary and definitely overpowers its morals, making its actions illicit. Back in 2016, when I was just eight years old, Saudi Arabia took fire from numerous countries for bombing “critical infrastructure” in Yemen, hospitals, and such, killing hundreds of children younger than me at the time. The Yemeni conflict did not need to involve the Saudis; Saudi Arabia was not under threat. It made them more comfortable as they would prevent Iran from gaining more leverage in their Middle Eastern great power competition. Another instance of this is Saudi’s cutting off oil production. Yes, the oil cuts aren’t as illicit as their actions in Yemen, but the reason they cut off oil is not exactly what they say it is. They say that their massive cuts have been to keep the oil sector in control but economic experts can see clearly that they are just trying to raise the floor price. The consequences will be clear soon as we will most likely see oil prices skyrocket. Saudi Arabia does desperate actions for non-desperate situations so they can boost their comfort just by a small margin loosely fitting the sin of lust.
Lust and greed are very similar things, however, greed refers to the need for excess material whereas lust means some sort of illicit desire. My pick for greed is clearly China. The argument can be made that every first-world country suffers from the sin of greed, but the need for power and money is key to the global balance. So then how does China differ from the rest? Well, China yearns for Taiwan in a personal way, not a foreign aid way. Then we encounter another dilemma, how does Russia’s unneeded desire for Ukraine differ? As established in the previous post, Russia fits wrath instead of greed because Putin’s invasions are based on popularity and control instead of some excess need. On the other hand, Xi Jinping’s obsession with Taiwan is nothing but extra. All we need to know for this post is that Taiwan has been independently governed since 1949 but Beijing claims Taiwan belongs to China and vows to return the province back to the PRC. It is likely that Xi will not genuinely invade Taiwan, as the last thing China needs is to be considered a global enemy. However, China’s continuous greedy urge to express that they will obtain Taiwan always finds Beijing pitted against Washington; making cooperation on unrelated subjects such as climate change even more difficult than it already is.
Pride is quite difficult to choose as it places god at the center of the definition. Pride is not inherently a bad thing, but the sin of pride is an excessive desire for one’s own self which rejects subjection to God. This is where we encounter an issue, as there is no god or gods in foreign policy. It could be argued otherwise, but in the traditional sense, foreign policy has no literal god considering how many countries’ religions differ. So then what sits in the same seat as God in the eyes of global powers? It is generally agreed that world peace should be prioritized in most foreign policies, but this simply cannot happen. There will always be countries that seek to expand their influence through military power, so there can’t just be one country that fits the image of pride. I considered, Russia, the US, China, Japan, and finally North Korea. Ultimately, I reluctantly decided on North Korea, although Russia is suitable as well. First I will explain why it is not Russia then I will spell out how North Korea is more felicitous to the sin of pride. As explained in my previous post, Putin’s invasions have always been rooted in popularity ratings instead of truly wanting more territory, or “saving” the Russian population. Yes, it is selfish, but Moscow’s past successful invasions allowed Russia to be more prosperous, maintaining the economic and emotional “peace” within their country for just a little while longer. On the other hand, North Korea engages in pure fearmongering in the international community setting nearby countries on high alert, for instance, South Korea which begged the US for THAAD missile defense systems. North Korea does this for no apparent reasons, other than to piss off the US. It doesn’t even bring economic prosperity to their domestic situation and instead worsens it considering the insane budget they have for developing nuclear arms. North Korea challenges the peace of East Asia of some excessive desire for a better image, rejecting the collective goal of world–peace.
I will be ending this mini-series of Dante’s Inferno blog posts even though I did not acknowledge the sin of gluttony. The issue with gluttony is that it is too similar to greed and lust. In the bible and Dante’s Inferno, these sins have physical counterparts, wanting more material wealth, sexual desire, and obviously gluttony consuming excess food. I can differentiate lust and greed because lust is some illicit desire whereas greed is the need for extra material wealth or power of some sort. I cannot separate greed and gluttony because they both deal with the excess of something.
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