Blowback

{{politics}}'''Blowback''' is when a nation's foreign policy leads to attacks against it in the future. More specifically, it's when the foreign policy, originally formulated from a dominant and/or optionally engaging position<ref>[[Serbia]] getting a declaration of war from Austria-[[Hungary]]...</ref> of ''[[International relations#Realism|realpolitik]]''<ref>Humanitarian aid given to a [[dictator]] who [[Iran-Contra|sells it to buy weapons]]...</ref> for or against another sovereign entity and/or its allies, leads to an attack from the same. Some consider it self-evident that things one does today could create problems in the future.

==Examples==
===Europe between the world wars===
After [[World War I]], the victorious allies were determined to, in the words of {{wpl|Eric Campbell Geddes||,}} "''squeeze [[Germany]] till the pips squeak''." Allied governments and people who had suffered during the Great War both supported this. [[Keynes#Political life|John Maynard Keynes]] was very critical of the terms. The German and [[Austria]]n governments were [[Treaty of Versailles|made to pay reparations]], infuriating their citizenry. Blame levied upon the reparations, as well as other stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles, for a ragged economy and chronic [[inflation|hyperinflation]], were major factors in the rise of [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] and the development of [[Nazi Germany]].

===Soviet-Afghanistan War and Al-Qaeda===
{{cquote|By the end of 1993, in Afghanistan itself there were no roads, no schools, just a destroyed country — and the United States was washing its hands of any responsibility. It was in this vacuum that the [[Taliban]] and [[Osama bin Laden]] would emerge as the dominant players. It is ironic that a man who had almost nothing to do with the victory over the Red Army, Osama bin Laden, would come to personify the power of the [[jihad]].|||George Crile III, ''Charlie Wilson's War''<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/12/secretary-gates-and-the-zen-master/ Secretary Gates and the Zen Master], ABC News</ref>}}
In the 1980s, the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[United States]] were engaged in a [[Soviet-Afghanistan War|proxy war in Afghanistan]]. The [[CIA]] had helped the rebel ''Mujahideen'' with $3.2-20 billion from the United States through the CIA operation "Cyclone." While many of them were anti-[[Islamist]], there were a [[Osama Bin Laden|few that weren't]] who pocketed the rest. These payments quite naturally caused Osama bin Laden's movement to grow considerably.

After the war, he organized what he had into [[Al Qaeda]]. The organization was involved in many [[terrorist]] operations. However, the group truly came to prominence on September 11, 2001, in a series of attacks known as [[9/11]].

==See also==
*[[Streisand effect]]
*[[Henry Kissinger]]
*[[Axis of Evil]]

==External links==
*[http://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/blowbacks-a-bitch-mh17-and-the-east-ukraine-campaigns-long-term-costs-for-russia/ Blowback's a bitch], Mark Galeotti

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:International relations]]
[[Category:Political terms]]
[[Category:War]]

Categories: Government incompetence, International relations, Political terms, War