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Let me summarize so far the US involvement in the middle east: US gets involved in Iran, then in Iraq - thing gets worse. US gets involved in Afghanistan - al q
by venomsnake 10y ago
Let me summarize so far the US involvement in the middle east:
US gets involved in Iran, then in Iraq - thing gets worse.
US gets involved in Afghanistan - al quaeda is born.
US make very limited involvement in Iraq - things get better.
US gets involved in Afganistan again - things go to hell
US invades Iraq - thing go to deeper hell
US interfere minimally with Egypt's revolution by backing the winner both times - the country is somewhat stable.
US interferes more heavily after dragging their feet in Libya and the place is in low level civil war.
US interferes in Syria and we have hell on earth there.
See a pattern - you can rely on US to make the worst choice in the majority of cases.
The only sensible strategy in the Middle East is to support the strongman as long as he keeps the place together and switch to the new one, when the old no longer is. Realpoltik 101 - just listen to Kissinger.
- wslh 10y agoBeyond your US criticism, I think the main lesson is how you can wash the media while people think they are not missing every breakthrough story.
- venomsnake 10y agoLook. The best natural position for us is to wait for natural winner to emerge and help him consolidate and work to have him as semi client. Instead US often chooses puppet that is 100% obedient but lacks the strength to rule a country - Karzai and the Iraq guy and the shah are prime examples. The question was what candidates think - Trump don't have the brain to coherently describe that position - although his stronman admiration shows he instinctively gets it. And Clinton lacks the balls - because the whole left will jump against her.