3 ms·

Since i was born, US seems to be the only country actively and openly stealing other countries' resources (apart from Friendly Green Men in Crimea ofc)

simonh 9y ago
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Serbian encroachment in Bosnia. Argentinian invasion of the Falklands. Chinese annexation of islands in the South China Sea. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (though I don’t know how old you are, likewise for Falklands). Russian occupation of territory from Georgia. ...I’m sure I’ve missed a few.
- jcranmer 9y ago
  First and Second Congo Wars, a large part of which is battling for control of the mines in that region. It's one of the conflicts which gave rise to the concept of blood diamonds, which is to say, it's one of the few conflicts that's actually about control of natural resources. (I'm assuming, of course, that the GP is largely talking about "wars I disagree with" when referring to "actively and openly stealing other countries' resources," because the number of recent conflicts that are openly about resource control is very small and the US is involved with none of them. The Iraq War is often claimed to be about oil grab, but that doesn't really make any sense when you dig into the history of the buildup to the war, and in any case, it certainly wasn't "openly" about it.)
- jhanschoo 9y ago
  There's also the whole Middle East and N. Africa situation, where Islamic countries are funding insurrectionists in their Islamic neighbors.
- tomcooks 9y ago
  Indeed i forgot about those, you are correct. A _tiny_ difference between those and United States of America is that USA crosses entire oceans to steal resources, where other invasions you mentioned are bordering countries; exception to that is obviously the Malvinas Island occupation by the British Empire - talking of which: > Argentinian invasion of the Falklands Do you also consider Angola to be rightful Portuguese soil?
  - gaius 9y ago
    the Malvinas Island occupation by the British Empire There was a British colony on the Falklands before Argentina even existed as a country. It was unnamed and unoccupied by anyone.
    - tomcooks 9y ago
      Then why not say they belong to the french, they were there even before the brits? As far as I can read Las Malvinas were occupied by spanish and british forces, then the brits volountarily abandoned the place[0] [0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands#cite_note-FOOTNOTEGibran199826%E2%80%9327-33 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands#cite_note-FOO...)
  - jcranmer 9y ago
    Funny you should say that, because the last time the US crossed an ocean to steal resources was, uh... never. The only US wars that are strongly arguably stealing resources would be the various banana wars (but the Gulf of Mexico isn't exactly an ocean), the Spanish-American War (ditto; note that the US never set out on the war to conquer the Philippines, the US Navy just happened to be in the area at the time), and the Indian Wars.
    - tomcooks 9y ago
      I suggest reading about how Gaddafi's came to power, who financed the Italian _anni di piombo_ or checking where the biggest US military bases have been built. I guess they just happened to be there because of the nice weather.
UnpossibleJim 9y ago
You shouldn't turn your eyes towards Isreal, Russia (as mentioned above), many of the central African nations, China's treatment of some of it's bordering states and the Korean Peninsula.
- tomcooks 9y ago
  To me Israel counts as USA invasion.
gaius 9y ago
I’m not sure that’s true in the pure economic sense. It would have been incalculably cheaper to simply go on buying Iraqi oil that they were more than happy to sell us.

simonh 9y ago

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Serbian encroachment in Bosnia. Argentinian invasion of the Falklands. Chinese annexation of islands in the South China Sea. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (though I don’t know how old you are, likewise for Falklands). Russian occupation of territory from Georgia. ...I’m sure I’ve missed a few.

jcranmer 9y ago
First and Second Congo Wars, a large part of which is battling for control of the mines in that region. It's one of the conflicts which gave rise to the concept of blood diamonds, which is to say, it's one of the few conflicts that's actually about control of natural resources. (I'm assuming, of course, that the GP is largely talking about "wars I disagree with" when referring to "actively and openly stealing other countries' resources," because the number of recent conflicts that are openly about resource control is very small and the US is involved with none of them. The Iraq War is often claimed to be about oil grab, but that doesn't really make any sense when you dig into the history of the buildup to the war, and in any case, it certainly wasn't "openly" about it.)
jhanschoo 9y ago
There's also the whole Middle East and N. Africa situation, where Islamic countries are funding insurrectionists in their Islamic neighbors.
tomcooks 9y ago
Indeed i forgot about those, you are correct. A _tiny_ difference between those and United States of America is that USA crosses entire oceans to steal resources, where other invasions you mentioned are bordering countries; exception to that is obviously the Malvinas Island occupation by the British Empire - talking of which: > Argentinian invasion of the Falklands Do you also consider Angola to be rightful Portuguese soil?
- gaius 9y ago
  the Malvinas Island occupation by the British Empire There was a British colony on the Falklands before Argentina even existed as a country. It was unnamed and unoccupied by anyone.
  - tomcooks 9y ago
    Then why not say they belong to the french, they were there even before the brits? As far as I can read Las Malvinas were occupied by spanish and british forces, then the brits volountarily abandoned the place[0] [0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands#cite_note-FOOTNOTEGibran199826%E2%80%9327-33 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands#cite_note-FOO...)
- jcranmer 9y ago
  Funny you should say that, because the last time the US crossed an ocean to steal resources was, uh... never. The only US wars that are strongly arguably stealing resources would be the various banana wars (but the Gulf of Mexico isn't exactly an ocean), the Spanish-American War (ditto; note that the US never set out on the war to conquer the Philippines, the US Navy just happened to be in the area at the time), and the Indian Wars.
  - tomcooks 9y ago
    I suggest reading about how Gaddafi's came to power, who financed the Italian _anni di piombo_ or checking where the biggest US military bases have been built. I guess they just happened to be there because of the nice weather.

UnpossibleJim 9y ago

You shouldn't turn your eyes towards Isreal, Russia (as mentioned above), many of the central African nations, China's treatment of some of it's bordering states and the Korean Peninsula.

tomcooks 9y ago
To me Israel counts as USA invasion.

gaius 9y ago

I’m not sure that’s true in the pure economic sense. It would have been incalculably cheaper to simply go on buying Iraqi oil that they were more than happy to sell us.