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At the time, the phrase I remember most was “A coalition of the willing,” in reference to countries who found either agreement or benefit in going along with th

At the time, the phrase I remember most was “A coalition of the willing,” in reference to countries who found either agreement or benefit in going along with the US plan: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_willing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_willing And even at the time popular opinion was that Afghanistan was a mess but at least related to the attacks of 9/11, but Iraq was seen as a continuation of Bush Sr’s war, it was seen as political. If in hindsight it didn’t look like it was reported on that way, that was as much a failing of certain newspapers—internationally, I can say there were many opinions. A contextual system would have picked up on different contexts from different regions perhaps. Perhaps it could go two or three layers deep, so you can evaluate both surface opinions, interests of the writer, of the publisher and of the speaker or subject of the piece. Of course, it is much harder to place statements in context in real-time when information is often missing or partially withheld, but even a system that had a lag in context, or could follow up to provide more context in future might be a useful system. It would help correct misconceptions: shocking lies often spread faster than less shocking truths…

redis_mlc 6y ago
> place statements in context I've studied those wars in some detail, and had decades to read followup news on them. It would be fair to say the US public was misled about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But looking at those wars in context, I don't think there were alternatives besides doing early, successful attacks on the leaders involved (Hussein, OBL, etc.), which didn't happen. Hussein wanted to be the new Suleiman, and conquer the entire Middle East, and OBL likewise. The biggest regret is that American distraction there allowed the CCP to quietly build into a very dangerous superpower. While the USSR was mostly inward-focused during the Cold War, the CCP is challenging the US on the global stage. According to Dr. VDH, 75% of the time when there is a new rising power, there is war. My estimate is this will happen in the next 24 months.
unity1001 5y ago
Indeed. Despite all the 'evidence' (lying) in UN, and 'opinion shaping' by Angloamerican corporate media, US wasnt able to get a UN resolution to invade Iraq. So it just went ahead and did it ILLEGALLY, through a 'coalition of the willing'. ie its satellites. ... Any system that uses 'authoritative' sources would not only be gamed, but also the establishments would never let any opposing source have any authority to challenge the narrative of its own. A good example of this is how US is using the existence of conspiracy theories in social media as a means to pressure social media to remove not only conspiracy theories, but also any source which opposes US foreign policy. ~60 year independent anti-war outlets who function with reader donations, the outlets which opposed and exposed Vietnam war, other war crimes etc are labeled as 'conspiracy sites', 'Foreign propaganda' and lumped in with sites which propagate flat earth theories to get them pushed down in algorithms. Courtesy of John McCain, then acting leader of the US military-industry complex, who started that witch hunt.

redis_mlc 6y ago

> place statements in context I've studied those wars in some detail, and had decades to read followup news on them. It would be fair to say the US public was misled about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But looking at those wars in context, I don't think there were alternatives besides doing early, successful attacks on the leaders involved (Hussein, OBL, etc.), which didn't happen. Hussein wanted to be the new Suleiman, and conquer the entire Middle East, and OBL likewise. The biggest regret is that American distraction there allowed the CCP to quietly build into a very dangerous superpower. While the USSR was mostly inward-focused during the Cold War, the CCP is challenging the US on the global stage. According to Dr. VDH, 75% of the time when there is a new rising power, there is war. My estimate is this will happen in the next 24 months.

unity1001 5y ago

Indeed. Despite all the 'evidence' (lying) in UN, and 'opinion shaping' by Angloamerican corporate media, US wasnt able to get a UN resolution to invade Iraq. So it just went ahead and did it ILLEGALLY, through a 'coalition of the willing'. ie its satellites. ... Any system that uses 'authoritative' sources would not only be gamed, but also the establishments would never let any opposing source have any authority to challenge the narrative of its own. A good example of this is how US is using the existence of conspiracy theories in social media as a means to pressure social media to remove not only conspiracy theories, but also any source which opposes US foreign policy. ~60 year independent anti-war outlets who function with reader donations, the outlets which opposed and exposed Vietnam war, other war crimes etc are labeled as 'conspiracy sites', 'Foreign propaganda' and lumped in with sites which propagate flat earth theories to get them pushed down in algorithms. Courtesy of John McCain, then acting leader of the US military-industry complex, who started that witch hunt.