3 ms·

I see this as part of the waning influence of the USA as a world hegemon. The USA and its allies, as a matter of foreign strategy, have propped up secular "demo

by rm999 10y ago

I see this as part of the waning influence of the USA as a world hegemon. The USA and its allies, as a matter of foreign strategy, have propped up secular "democracies" since WWII. This has led to world-wide stability and peace (especially post-cold war, when its sphere of influence expanded into Soviet territory). But, this often involved supporting unpopular and/or autocratic leaders who would maintain a democracy as long as they could overthrow unsuitable leaders (often with covert American help). I think there have been multiple backlashes to this in recent times. The socialist revolutions of central and south america, the arab spring, the rise of Putin's influence in the ex-soviet sphere of influence, and now the rise of nationalist anti-globalization leaders like Trump. A lot of people world-wide are deciding that America's place in world affairs is no longer tenable or desirable. I'm totally mixed on this and consider myself fairly neutral. I appreciate the relative peace and stability that we've had, but I also think it's been untenable. A better world will likely come, eventually, from more distributed decision making that doesn't involve just a small % of the world's population.

dagss 10y ago
That is a very optimistic view. What mechanism would ensure distributed decision making in a world where power is very unevenly distributed?
- foota 10y ago
  Seems like the U.N. is a crippled organization by the privileges that members of the security council have.
- rm999 10y ago
  I'm thinking 20-50 years from now as the developing world develops and embraces globalization on its own. In the next couple decades we're likely going to see some bad (or at least chaotic) times :(
0xfeba 10y ago
> I appreciate the relative peace and stability that we've had But we have extreme anti-American sentiment that has been brooding for quite some time in some of these countries, which we are now seeing actualized in the form of terrorist attacks. I think we will have to live with those for a while after our meddling in other countries' affairs ceases--if it ever does.
rpedela 10y ago
"The USA and its allies, as a matter of foreign strategy, have propped up secular "democracies" since WWII." While that is certainly the rhetoric, that isn't actually true. We have propped up secular democracies in Western Europe, but in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America we often propped up dictators as long as they allowed American businesses to do business there. In some cases the CIA orchestrated a coup of democratically elected leaders such as in Iran in 1953 [1] which eventually lead to the Iranian revolution in 1979 [2]. When taking the full, real US history and foreign policy since WWII into account, it actually makes sense why some parts of the world are revolting. That does not excuse terrorism, but I do think it is important to understand the motivations so that we can solve the problem(s). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution

by rm999 10y ago

dagss 10y ago

That is a very optimistic view. What mechanism would ensure distributed decision making in a world where power is very unevenly distributed?

foota 10y ago
Seems like the U.N. is a crippled organization by the privileges that members of the security council have.
rm999 10y ago
I'm thinking 20-50 years from now as the developing world develops and embraces globalization on its own. In the next couple decades we're likely going to see some bad (or at least chaotic) times :(

0xfeba 10y ago

> I appreciate the relative peace and stability that we've had But we have extreme anti-American sentiment that has been brooding for quite some time in some of these countries, which we are now seeing actualized in the form of terrorist attacks. I think we will have to live with those for a while after our meddling in other countries' affairs ceases--if it ever does.

rpedela 10y ago

"The USA and its allies, as a matter of foreign strategy, have propped up secular "democracies" since WWII." While that is certainly the rhetoric, that isn't actually true. We have propped up secular democracies in Western Europe, but in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America we often propped up dictators as long as they allowed American businesses to do business there. In some cases the CIA orchestrated a coup of democratically elected leaders such as in Iran in 1953 [1] which eventually lead to the Iranian revolution in 1979 [2]. When taking the full, real US history and foreign policy since WWII into account, it actually makes sense why some parts of the world are revolting. That does not excuse terrorism, but I do think it is important to understand the motivations so that we can solve the problem(s). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution