The Locarno restoration

Here's an interesting article on the current state of the world, comparing it to the interim years between World Wars 1 and 2:

Locarno, a picturesque Swiss town on the shores of Lake Maggiore, was the site of a series of treaties signed in 1925 between France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Belgium. They ostensibly guaranteed the post-World War I borders on Germany's western frontier with France and Belgium, but agreed that Germany's eastern frontiers could be subject to revision. They also paved the way for Germany's membership in the League of Nations. (...)

Above all, Locarno failed because it combined wishful thinking with political weakness in a way that was bound to be tested and exploited by the fascist powers. If the 1930s were, per W.H. Auden's line, a "low, dishonest decade," it was mainly because the 1920s were so high-mindedly self-deceived.

We are in a similar state today.

Bret Stephens Says We Can't Allow Barack Obama's Optimism to Lull Us into a Weakened Foreign Policy - WSJ.com