5 ms·
The realignment is less about globalism vs nationalism + multi-polar world and more about creating a tolerance for expansionist nationalism whereby we establish
by spamizbad 2y ago
The realignment is less about globalism vs nationalism + multi-polar world and more about creating a tolerance for expansionist nationalism whereby we establish an agreement with major powers to divide up the world for open conquest, with Russia, China and the United States all operating in their respective "sphere of influence"
I think its proponents imagine a world where Russia slowly reassembles territories it lost in the '91 and maybe China takes Taiwan with some short wars and the United States just chills out. In practice the United States will likely aggressively pursue its interests in North, Central and South America as well as the Middle East and do so in a destructive fashion. We can also see people manufacturing consent on various male-audience podcasts for a hot war along the Mexican border in the name of destroying the cartels. The idea that an 8% or even 16% budget cut the pentagon could somehow neuter our ability to project power at our doorstep is naive.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- rayiner 2y agoThat’s what a multipolar world is. It allows Russia and China to do in their back yards what America has always done in its back yard.
- spamizbad 2y agoActually what Russia is doing is already much worse. What's the US equivalent of the first and second Chechen wars? China and the US are probably the closest analogs right now.
- whatshisface 2y agoIraq and Afghanistan were both pretty rough for the people living in those countries, and like the war in Ukraine neither one could be justified by reference to the interests of the invader, much less any of its citizens.
- spamizbad 2y agoNeither Iraq nor Afghanistan are US territories.
- throwup238 2y agoI think you’re misunderstanding the analogy. The equivalent would be Guam or Puerto Rico rebelling against the United States in a protracted guerrilla conflict. The ethnic and cultural landscape in the Russian “republics” that didn’t gain independence after the fall of the Soviet union is a bit more complicated than the dynamics of US territories so I’m not sure how enlightening that analogy is though. If I were inclined to argue the point I’d bring up reservations as a counterexample.
- whatshisface 2y agoIf you're focusing on how it started rather than what it was like once it was ongoing, it may interest you to know that one of the three territories obtained after the Spanish-American war did revolt in a guerrilla war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine%E2%80%93American_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine%E2%80%93American_Wa...
- rayiner 2y ago> What's the US equivalent of the first and second Chechen wars Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, etc? We’ve killed millions of civilians in proxy wars over the last 70 years. And while we didn’t capture that territory, according to the sibling comments the justification was to maintain our status as the world’s reserve currency so I don’t see how that’s better.
- milesrout 2y ago[flagged]
- kennysoona 2y agoRight, because all of that talk of taking Greenland is just a joke.
- 3eb7988a1663 2y agoDon't forget Panama.
- llamaimperative 2y agoAnd Canada.
- milesrout 2y agoTrump has specifically said, more than once, that he says things that he does not intend to follow through on internationally to make US foreign policy more difficult to predict. He also clearly says things to establish negotiating positions for more reasonable objects. Panama is obviously the latter.
- kennysoona 2y ago> Trump has specifically said, more than once, that he says things that he does not intend to follow through on internationally to make US foreign policy more difficult to predict. That's an idiotic policy that embarrasses the country and should not be defended, but condemned for what it is - strategic hyperbole or not.
- spamizbad 2y ago[flagged]
- milesrout 2y ago
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoIs Russia still a major power on the same scale as China or the US? I think the list would probably be more like US, China, and India. Russia is further behind on population, GDP, and other measures. And Russia is quickly entering a situation where they may just be controlled by China, like North Korea. I wouldn’t be surprised if China takes territory from Russia by force or at least negotiates for it. It’s possible resolving the Ukraine-Russia war and reinviting them to the G7 will prevent that future.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoRussia is not on the same scale, not even close, and many of its overseas clients/allies have been toppled. That said, multipolar does not imply equal forces. It just means that one country doesn't make and enforce it's wishes all over the globe
- marcuskane2 2y agoGiven that Trump appears to be doing Putin's bidding, that makes them instantly a major power. Trump is meeting with Putin without any representatives from Ukraine or Europe, and claiming that Ukraine is at fault for getting invaded and should just surrender everything to Putin. Since Trump seems to be adversarial to China but very friendly if not outright subservient to Russia, it makes the China-Russia dynamic profoundly different. I suspect if China invaded Taiwan Trump would shrug, but if China threatened Russia that Trump would come to Russia's aid.