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The blindspot most people have here towards atrocities committed by Western governments is really striking. The United States regularly invades other countries
by DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
The blindspot most people have here towards atrocities committed by Western governments is really striking. The United States regularly invades other countries (causing hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq, destroying Libya), armed Sunni extremists in Syria, backs the Saudi dictatorship and the Israeli occupation, is economically strangling Iran and Venezuela, ran a global abduction and torture operation, still runs a global assassination program, and spies on the communications of billions of people around the world. Yet suddenly, everyone is up in arms about China as the threat to the world that must be stopped. This sudden paranoia just happens to coincide with American foreign policy interests - preventing the rise of a challenge to American hegemony.
A couple months ago it was Russia. Now it's China. In a year from now, it will be the next country it's convenient to US foreign policy to hate.
- gigatexal 7y agoI'm not at all thinking that the US is exempt from atrocities of foreign policy from regime change to unfounded wars. The one distinction that exists is that elected officials are the ones that carry these things out in the US such that in some way all Americans carry the burden of those actions, in China, not so much. Xi has taken steps to be leader for his lifetime; China is carrying out mass camps where Uighurs are being systematically targeted for their religion among other things. Being an American, I know I can be blind to my government's policies and how they affect other nations, I mean, we use the fact that the US dollar is the world reserve currency such that it can use the power of the US Treasury to wield the banking system to shut down nation banks. Great power, much responsibility and all that.