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That's mostly because we keep going into situations with political goals, and military means (when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail). I

That's mostly because we keep going into situations with political goals, and military means (when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail). If a small country declared war on us, we could easily bomb them back into the iron age. Though in 20 years, the young adults there would probably provoke us into another dumb situation like the above.

Beijinger 3y ago
"with political goals, and military means" True "If a small country declared war on us, we could easily bomb them back into the iron age." Putin probably thought the same about Ukraine. Military objectives were achieved in Afghanistan, but not in Korea and Vietnam. And based on Clausewitz: "War is politics by other means" And our politics changed....
- nostrademons 3y ago
  Military objectives were achieved in Korea and Vietnam in the sense that we killed lots of people. What we learned (and really, already knew from WW2, where we very intentionally did not invade the Japanese home islands) is that killing lots of people on an enemy's home soil just turns a lot more people against you.
- fodkodrasz 3y ago
  > "If a small country declared war on us, we could easily bomb them back into the iron age." > Putin probably thought the same about Ukraine. I doubt, as Ukraine is far from being a small country. It is the second largest European country (counting Russia as an European country, as is common in geography). (he most likely had other miscalculations leading to the current situation)
- riversflow 3y ago
  > Military objectives were achieved in Afghanistan, but not in Korea Hard disagree on Korea. South Korea is a hell of an ally, very inconvenient for the PRC.
  - DoughnutHole 3y ago
    Just because the US got a useful ally in the long run doesn’t mean that the military objective was met. That wasn’t the objective of the war. The objective of the US once they pushed back the initial invasion in the Korean War was to destroy the DPRK, force communism out of Korea, and unify the country. They failed. The war became a stalemate once China got directly involved. If Vietnam becomes a stalwart ally of the US over the next 20 years that won’t mean the Vietnam War was a success just because the US ended up eventually having a useful interest in the region.
    - l33t7332273 3y ago
      > That wasn’t the objective of the war The objective of the war was to prevent the spread of communism. That goal was achieved.

Beijinger 3y ago

"with political goals, and military means" True "If a small country declared war on us, we could easily bomb them back into the iron age." Putin probably thought the same about Ukraine. Military objectives were achieved in Afghanistan, but not in Korea and Vietnam. And based on Clausewitz: "War is politics by other means" And our politics changed....

nostrademons 3y ago
Military objectives were achieved in Korea and Vietnam in the sense that we killed lots of people. What we learned (and really, already knew from WW2, where we very intentionally did not invade the Japanese home islands) is that killing lots of people on an enemy's home soil just turns a lot more people against you.
fodkodrasz 3y ago
> "If a small country declared war on us, we could easily bomb them back into the iron age." > Putin probably thought the same about Ukraine. I doubt, as Ukraine is far from being a small country. It is the second largest European country (counting Russia as an European country, as is common in geography). (he most likely had other miscalculations leading to the current situation)
riversflow 3y ago
> Military objectives were achieved in Afghanistan, but not in Korea Hard disagree on Korea. South Korea is a hell of an ally, very inconvenient for the PRC.
- DoughnutHole 3y ago
  Just because the US got a useful ally in the long run doesn’t mean that the military objective was met. That wasn’t the objective of the war. The objective of the US once they pushed back the initial invasion in the Korean War was to destroy the DPRK, force communism out of Korea, and unify the country. They failed. The war became a stalemate once China got directly involved. If Vietnam becomes a stalwart ally of the US over the next 20 years that won’t mean the Vietnam War was a success just because the US ended up eventually having a useful interest in the region.
  - l33t7332273 3y ago
    > That wasn’t the objective of the war The objective of the war was to prevent the spread of communism. That goal was achieved.