The Doomed Voyage of Pepsi’s Soviet Navy
13th October 2024
Most of what happens among countries concerns something far simpler and more direct: business. International business executives and their attendant lawyers, accountants, and fixers handle the complexities of cross-border trade and investment, but such complex deals still chase a simple goal: making money.
There’s no mystique in that ambition, which may explain why it’s written about far less often than the deals of politicians and diplomats. Yet it is the Donald Kendalls, not the Henry Kissingers, who steer much of international relations. The constant pressure business executives exert as they dig for profit can wear away at even the supposedly rock-solid foundations of national policy. If the quest for profit proves compatible with official objectives, so much the better; if not, then executives will try to manufacture opportunities to pursue their narrow interests.
These pressures manifest in unexpected ways.