On economic liberation and prevention of military conflicts

During an interview (a complete transcript can be found here) conducted by Marketplace Radio, economist, professor of international politics and blogger extraordinaire Dan Drezner makes a strong argument that although economic modernization is oftentimes (correctly) considered to provide a good buffer against war for most countries, the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia illustrates the limitations of relying upon such an extreme generalization.

In other words: Drezner succeeds in taking a recent, high-profile conflict between two nations (one of which just so happened to have been one of the globe's superpowers) and using this example to illustrate to naive observers that the infamous Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, originally coined by Tom Friedman in his book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" is total bullshit and a dangerous theory in which to subscribe to.