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I'm just eager for some international stability as the next person and I don't want the Cold War back (and I'd hope for a more Europe'zed world to be honest) bu

I'm just eager for some international stability as the next person and I don't want the Cold War back (and I'd hope for a more Europe'zed world to be honest) but it's incredible how much reach of Russia and China tentacles the US allows these days. As a third-world citizen I'm very much surprised the US is basically on its knees hoping the two nations don't punch too hard.

HeadsUpHigh 6y ago
I wouldn't say the US is on it's knees, it just doesn't have the share of world power it used to have.
BrianOnHN 6y ago
As an American, I agree with you. In my experience, the US is facing an existential crisis stemming from a loud segment of the population, emboldened by Trump, that believes and promotes propaganda in a way that I thought was reserved for third world dictatorships. I'm terrified of the day after the elections. If the left wins then, we risk retaliation from the gun-and-violence-glorifying right. If the right wins, then we still face violence from the same group at the inevitable mass protests. Edit: the fact that the president can promote essentially unheard of networks, with an already questionable record, as "real news" (OANN, and Breitbart before that) demonstrates the ease of which the propagandists are operating. Once again, something that I would have considered unheard of, even in a third world country.
- bsanr2 6y ago
  The people we put in place to protect us think they're gonna make it out just fine either way. It doesn't matter who wins, because the real battle the next few years will be about defining the new rules, not playing by the old ones. The right wing is an extreme minority that has obtained influence mostly by hacking the system. Anyone who stands up to them and patches the exploits will have a post-facto mandate, but that only happens if they have the guts to do it ("it" being things like passing airtight restrictions on legislative procedure; packing the bench; and dismantling the means by which representation is warped, like the electoral college or the filibuster). This is why as a liberal I have little faith in Biden, Harris, Pelosi, or Schumer.
  - BrianOnHN 6y ago
    I agree with you. I also think that this "standing up" can start right at home. For example, as my grandparents "number one grandchild," I informed them that the reason why I haven't talked to them for months, and have no intention of being a part of their future, is because they support Trump. Will this be a good or bad move on my part? I don't know. But, I do know that these right-wing extremists have no reservation using deadly force. And if ending a relationship with people that effectively raised me just might bring this to an end any sooner, then count me in.
nickpp 6y ago
After complaining for years that the USA was the world's cop, now we get to see how the world looks like without that cop. Not pretty.
- caiobegotti 6y ago
  I grew up under this rhetoric for those years you mention and I still think having a kind of Team America: World Police in real life is much worse and I don't want that back. But these are not mutually exclusive issues because super powers are supposed to balance each other out like the system of balances and checks with independent powers of a democracy. I like to think the world is on average a big democracy and no single super power should be its cop but China and Russia pretty much represent a joint state of affairs that is detrimental to every freaking human being. To see the US on its kees like I said is pretty depressing to the balances and checks expectations we all used to have.

HeadsUpHigh 6y ago

I wouldn't say the US is on it's knees, it just doesn't have the share of world power it used to have.

BrianOnHN 6y ago

As an American, I agree with you. In my experience, the US is facing an existential crisis stemming from a loud segment of the population, emboldened by Trump, that believes and promotes propaganda in a way that I thought was reserved for third world dictatorships. I'm terrified of the day after the elections. If the left wins then, we risk retaliation from the gun-and-violence-glorifying right. If the right wins, then we still face violence from the same group at the inevitable mass protests. Edit: the fact that the president can promote essentially unheard of networks, with an already questionable record, as "real news" (OANN, and Breitbart before that) demonstrates the ease of which the propagandists are operating. Once again, something that I would have considered unheard of, even in a third world country.

bsanr2 6y ago
The people we put in place to protect us think they're gonna make it out just fine either way. It doesn't matter who wins, because the real battle the next few years will be about defining the new rules, not playing by the old ones. The right wing is an extreme minority that has obtained influence mostly by hacking the system. Anyone who stands up to them and patches the exploits will have a post-facto mandate, but that only happens if they have the guts to do it ("it" being things like passing airtight restrictions on legislative procedure; packing the bench; and dismantling the means by which representation is warped, like the electoral college or the filibuster). This is why as a liberal I have little faith in Biden, Harris, Pelosi, or Schumer.
- BrianOnHN 6y ago
  I agree with you. I also think that this "standing up" can start right at home. For example, as my grandparents "number one grandchild," I informed them that the reason why I haven't talked to them for months, and have no intention of being a part of their future, is because they support Trump. Will this be a good or bad move on my part? I don't know. But, I do know that these right-wing extremists have no reservation using deadly force. And if ending a relationship with people that effectively raised me just might bring this to an end any sooner, then count me in.

nickpp 6y ago

After complaining for years that the USA was the world's cop, now we get to see how the world looks like without that cop. Not pretty.

caiobegotti 6y ago
I grew up under this rhetoric for those years you mention and I still think having a kind of Team America: World Police in real life is much worse and I don't want that back. But these are not mutually exclusive issues because super powers are supposed to balance each other out like the system of balances and checks with independent powers of a democracy. I like to think the world is on average a big democracy and no single super power should be its cop but China and Russia pretty much represent a joint state of affairs that is detrimental to every freaking human being. To see the US on its kees like I said is pretty depressing to the balances and checks expectations we all used to have.