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The alternative is to try to invade half the countries in the world. Since WW2, the US has killed over 30 million people in various military actions, and everyo
by rsj_hn 4y ago
The alternative is to try to invade half the countries in the world. Since WW2, the US has killed over 30 million people in various military actions, and everyone of them was framed as some humanitarian action. Since 1991, we have invaded or attacked other countries over 120 times. Check out https://sites.tufts.edu/css/mip-research/ https://sites.tufts.edu/css/mip-research/
But really the alternative is to let whomever controls where the camera is pointed decide who the US invades next. Which means the US makes sure it controls where the camera is pointed, because that generates carte blanche for invasion.
Now I will tell you a secret that will give you the powers to predict the future: you can tell when the US is preparing to attack another country by watching an increase in human rights complaints on Western media. It's like clockwork. Compare the media coverage of about human rights in Iran vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia. Why is that? Because we've decided to overthrow one of these governments but not the other. Soon, we will start hearing about human rights abuses in Turkey, as they are defying the US by allying themselves with Russia and making peace with Syria, and so they may be next in line for regime change. You can tell if they are next in line by looking for news reports about atrocities perpetrated by Turkey. We can't just stand by!
In the same way, you can tell when the US has decided to back a government by watching the human rights complaints in media disappear. A good example is Venezuela, which we are reconciling with in order to gain access to their oil now that OPEC+ is giving us the cold shoulder. Notice how the atrocities and torment of the people of Venezuela is no longer a regular mainstream news item.
When Yugoslavia fell apart, all the various ethnic groups began attacking each other and ethnically cleansing rival groups from areas they controlled. We picked one enemy -- Serbs -- as they were aligned with Russia, and accused them of genocide even though the Croatians, Muslims in Bosnia, and other groups were all doing the same thing. We pointed the camera in one direction, got people worked up, and then bombed hospitals, bridges, trains, power stations, water treatment plants in Serbian controlled areas until they agreed to give up a portion of their land so that we could redraw their borders, shrinking their territory. Those ethnic groups in the new lands proceeded to ethnically cleanse their land of serbs.
Mission Accomplished for the humanitarian superpower, who really had no interest in humanitarianism but wanted to punish a Russian ally, and knew the domestic population and media was filled with fools who could be convinced that invading another country was OK - even moral - as long as you had enough cameras pointed at the right atrocities.
Also, one consequence of this "invade the world" policy is that the US makes so many global enemies, and is forced into so many commitments, that we become overextended and sufficiently hated that we lose our Global Cop status. Our Navy must now police the Straights of Taiwan, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, Pacific Islands, the Caribbean and Atlantic. But we have lost our ship-building industry. We have 850 military bases from Africa to Asia to Europe and the Middle East. But we can no longer mass produce ammunition and many soldiers depend on food stamps. We have an overcommitment crisis because we insist on the right to invade anyone, at any time, that we decide is violating our unwritten set of rules.
That's where this idea of humanitarian-based invasions gets you.
- phpisthebest 4y agoI will be the first one to lean heavily into the critical side on how the US has conducted foreign policy. I also agree that non-interventionism is the path the US government should take more often Your example is prime one, the US policy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a terrible one. We continue that style of foreign policy at our own peril That said I do believe there are cases where the world should intervene and often does not because it is seen as an internal conflict, or there is no natural resource in that nation to exploit. My point being that simply saying that all internal conflict is off limits, and all external conflict is within scope is far tooo simplistic, there may be some external conflict I would say the US has no business interfering with, and some that I think we should, and there are many internal conflict that I think we should and many I do not.
- FpUser 4y ago>"where the world should intervene" The world never intervenes. The US and some other countries / blocks do. Until there is assured punishment for "wrong" interference your argument is empty. The only countries that get punished happen to be weak ones. And you probably aware about what the US thinks about ICC.
- phpisthebest 4y agoCaptain of "no one should interfere with the inter workings of an nation" is now talking about having a World Government, ICC, and punishment for wrong interference Make up your mind please? Or is your view just a standard anti-US position.
- FpUser 4y ago>"Captain ..." Did I hurt your feelings sailor? I see no contradiction in my statements if you bother to actually read. I said "Until there is assured punishment". We know this is not happening. I do not see it as advocating world government. It simple means if one does not suffer the consequences of their action the one would simply degenerate into doing what they feel like. Also I am not "standard anti US". The US is my neighbor (I am in Canada), I've visited it many times and admire many things. However their governments do commit major crimes and I am absolutely not fond of this part.