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by and large America is responsible for the security and peace of the global A task it took on itself mostly unasked for and unappreciated by the rest of

by ido 10y ago

by and large America is responsible for the security and peace of the global A task it took on itself mostly unasked for and unappreciated by the rest of that globe.

vkou 10y ago
America is largely responsible for the security and peace of American overseas interests.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  And the big mess that is the Middle East.
  - leonroy 10y ago
    As a Brit I have to chime in to say we deserve at least some of the 'credit'...
    - allendoerfer 10y ago
      As a German I have to thank luckily timed elections [0] and a chancellor Schröder, who I imagine could not believe his luck to get served both an upcoming war and an historic flooding [1] while campaigning. He thanked good, put on gumboots and a rainjacket, and won even though Germany was called the sick man of Europe [2] under his chancellorship. 3 years later his party lost so much support that he semi-lawfully dissolved the parliament, campaigned, made a huge comeback and had the balls to tell Merkel on live television on the evening of her victory, that his party will never collate with her and she will not become chancellor - legendary show [3]. Well, 11 years later Merkel is still chancellor, his party back-paddled many of his policies and is nearly dead (<20%). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_2002#Issues_and_campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_2002#... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_European_floods#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_European_floods#Germany [2]: http://www.economist.com/node/209559 http://www.economist.com/node/209559 [3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYs4CjWMkIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYs4CjWMkIM
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
coddingtonbear 10y ago
Unappreciated might be somewhat of a stretch; European countries were certainly able to avoid spending a significant fraction of their budget on post-war defense against the Soviet Union because the United States largely took that on.
- ido 10y ago
  The Cold War was more than 25 years (a generation) ago.
jsprogrammer 10y ago
The northern hemisphere was blowing up and both the Axis and Allies begged the US to intervene.
- ido 10y ago
  And in the last 25 years we've had Iraq (twice!) and Afghanistan, in addition to smaller incidents all accruing to more than a million casualties[1]. Past glories do not allow for an infinite amount of goodwill. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror#Casualties https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror#Casualties
- navait 10y ago
  1939 was a long time ago, everyone who made important decisions then is now dead. The world was completely different back then in technology, culture and economy. No country that has been around greater than 20 years has held a consistent foreign policy. While what you said is true, it is completley irrelevant to a discussion of modern US foreign policy - we aren't the isolationists we used to be.
  - jsprogrammer 10y ago
    Where we are today is a direct consequence of what happened in the past. The US did not have military posts in Europe or Asia prior to WW2, yet they have been there since. Further, that is when the US actually secured (that's what we are talking about, right?) peace on two continents (after being asked).

by ido 10y ago

by and large America is responsible for the security and peace of the global A task it took on itself mostly unasked for and unappreciated by the rest of that globe.

vkou 10y ago

America is largely responsible for the security and peace of American overseas interests.

TeMPOraL 10y ago
And the big mess that is the Middle East.
- leonroy 10y ago
  As a Brit I have to chime in to say we deserve at least some of the 'credit'...
  - allendoerfer 10y ago
    As a German I have to thank luckily timed elections [0] and a chancellor Schröder, who I imagine could not believe his luck to get served both an upcoming war and an historic flooding [1] while campaigning. He thanked good, put on gumboots and a rainjacket, and won even though Germany was called the sick man of Europe [2] under his chancellorship. 3 years later his party lost so much support that he semi-lawfully dissolved the parliament, campaigned, made a huge comeback and had the balls to tell Merkel on live television on the evening of her victory, that his party will never collate with her and she will not become chancellor - legendary show [3]. Well, 11 years later Merkel is still chancellor, his party back-paddled many of his policies and is nearly dead (<20%). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_2002#Issues_and_campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_2002#... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_European_floods#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_European_floods#Germany [2]: http://www.economist.com/node/209559 http://www.economist.com/node/209559 [3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYs4CjWMkIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYs4CjWMkIM
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

coddingtonbear 10y ago

Unappreciated might be somewhat of a stretch; European countries were certainly able to avoid spending a significant fraction of their budget on post-war defense against the Soviet Union because the United States largely took that on.

ido 10y ago
The Cold War was more than 25 years (a generation) ago.

jsprogrammer 10y ago

The northern hemisphere was blowing up and both the Axis and Allies begged the US to intervene.

ido 10y ago
And in the last 25 years we've had Iraq (twice!) and Afghanistan, in addition to smaller incidents all accruing to more than a million casualties[1]. Past glories do not allow for an infinite amount of goodwill. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror#Casualties https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror#Casualties
navait 10y ago
1939 was a long time ago, everyone who made important decisions then is now dead. The world was completely different back then in technology, culture and economy. No country that has been around greater than 20 years has held a consistent foreign policy. While what you said is true, it is completley irrelevant to a discussion of modern US foreign policy - we aren't the isolationists we used to be.
- jsprogrammer 10y ago
  Where we are today is a direct consequence of what happened in the past. The US did not have military posts in Europe or Asia prior to WW2, yet they have been there since. Further, that is when the US actually secured (that's what we are talking about, right?) peace on two continents (after being asked).