Professor Parker's Decision To Invade Russia

I find Professor Parker's essay very helpful and illuminating. Napo- leon's decision to invade Russia against the almost unanimous advice of his closest counsellors presents an intriguing and important puzzle to which Parker provides a persuasive psychological explanation.
Finding much in the essay to agree with and little to criticize nor- mally poses a problem for a commentator, but Professor Parker has invited me to range freely in my comments. I will take advantage of this freedom to propose not a different causal explanation of Napoleon's decision, but instead a different characterization and understanding of
Napoleon's foreign policy in the context of the international system.
My text, or pretext, comes from one of