Dealing with specific geopolitical circumstances can be messy. We may disagree on the facts and on which sources are reliable, making it hard to make any headway in a discussion. This may be further compounded by extreme emotions we may have about that situation. The advantage of purely theoretical inquiry is that we can stipulate the facts so as to make the analysis as simple as possible, and avoid much of the emotional baggage that stymies understanding.
Once we understand the underlying logic of something in its idealized form, we may find it much easier to understand the actual version of it. Of course, often the real-life application of theory will involve a lot of unexpected complications, so pure theory is never perfectly applicable, but it does help.
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