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Definitely not a winning strategy to assume things about people you don't know and condescend to them based on your (incorrect) assumptions. I have literally be
by fastball 6y ago
Definitely not a winning strategy to assume things about people you don't know and condescend to them based on your (incorrect) assumptions. I have literally been to all of those countries (probably more than you have), and have lived in Europe for 10 years. I've also lived in Asia.
When I say China is pushing the envelope, I'm talking about their actions in Hong Kong, the South China Sea, Taiwan, and more.
When I say Russia is pushing the envelope, I'm talking about Georgia, Ukraine, Syria, etc.
You're making a bunch of points that I don't disagree with (average people don't want war / war is not economically productive), followed by a single point which undermines the rest of your thesis ("small group of people in power"). It doesn't matter what Average Joe Russia does/wants if the people that actually have power in Russia are doing something else. Ditto for China. Nobody is claiming that all Chinese people are rabid expansionists, just that the people who matter are.
Both China and Russia have clearly demonstrated that they want to expand their real power / strengthen it in places where they already have soft power. If the US wasn't around to stick navies in contested waters, wag its finger, flex its muscles, and impose sanctions, most people think the world would not be as peaceful as it is. As you've pointed out, this still isn't as peaceful as it could be, and that's something to be worked on. But that doesn't change the fact that it could also be much, much worse.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- looping__lui 6y agohttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU Best peace ever. Situation would be worse. Much worse. Has been much much worse before. What makes you believe that we, the West, are the “good” guys? Haven’t we killed more innocent civilians than “the evil East” in recent decades?
- fastball 6y agoWWI and WWII were a couple decades apart. Then American developed the bomb and started playing world police and we haven’t had one since. Nobody said “evil East” except you. I didn’t say America are the good guys. Just that I think America’s actions have prevented WWIII or anything close.
- looping__lui 6y agoUS spent 6.4 TRILLION in the Middle East on wars. None of that was ever “to avoid WWIII”. It cost every working American 42,000 USD. These wars cost the lives of almost 1 mio people and 21 mio were displaced. [0] Do you honestly believe this was for the good of the world and necessary to prevent WWIII? I am not even suggesting something like “why don’t you spend all that budget on a better health care system, free education and racial equality” because I know that would just push blood pressure. But I know that you won’t worry so much about these insane spendings - because your children and grand-children will have to pay back all the debt these irresponsible arguments accumulated. So smart your generation has been! WWII was a consequence of WWI. Germans are pretty chill these days and complain about increasing military budgets. So who should ever want to start WWIII??? And just for the sake of completing an argument: you do know, that Europe is now taking financial responsibility and giving shelter to those people in the Middle East whose livelihoods were destroyed, right? The refugee crisis is not “a natural occurrence”. Europe learned its lesson and prefers spending money on helping others rather than showcasing military strength and gadgets. [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/20/us-spent-6point4-trillion-on-middle-east-wars-since-2001-study.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/20/us-spent-6point4-trillion-on...
- fastball 6y agoWhere exactly did I say I support endless wars in the Middle East? You're attacking a strawman here.
- looping__lui 6y agoSo what portion of the US Defense budget then is doing good for Nato, world-peace and avoiding WWIII? We rules out the spendings in the Middle East then? If you do not support the most obvious and on-going wars - how can you trust your government that they do the right thing? I’m at a loss here. I keep hearing you say that others push the envelope and the US constantly prevents WWIII... But then again - they are the only ones constantly at war and nobody knows why.