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> Probably an unpopular opinion, but defending Taiwan was always a bluff. Americans aren’t going to die en masse over some random island in the pacific. This i
by addicted 2y ago
> Probably an unpopular opinion, but defending Taiwan was always a bluff. Americans aren’t going to die en masse over some random island in the pacific.
This is such a funny comment because it’s both right and oh so wrong.
Yes, the U.S. was likely never gonna send troops to fight in Taiwan (although it has sent troops to fight in Korea, so it’s not as much of a stretch as you claim).
But the bluff worked because the U.S.’s promises held value. To the point that the U.S. didn’t explicitly say they would defend Taiwan against China, but China was avoiding confrontation with Taiwan simply to prevent the U.S. from saying they would do that.
Of course, Donald Trump damaged that significantly in his first term and has torn that to shreds in his second term.
With Trump’s nakedly transparent and quod pro quo based foreign affairs, it’s hard to remember how much soft power value the U.S. had built up over decades where it could achieve what it wanted without even saying anything, which has basically been destroyed over about a decade.
- api 2y agoBefore Trump, Bush II burned the moral goodwill America had after WWII and the Cold War. After Iraq in particular the US can no longer claim to stand for the systems of international law it helped create. Now Trump is burning alliances and soft power and threatening to burn the dollar. It seems like imploding the postwar order and the US position therein is a right wing goal.
- llamaimperative 2y agoBut the critical question: will sinking our nation, cratering our economy, and destroying our privileged position in the world also own the libs?
- api 2y agoYou joke, but I suspect there is a contingent that is fine with a much poorer backwater US if they can put women back in their place and the gays back in the closet. Poverty might even help restore these traditions. Like tankie communists they care more about the ideology than the real outcome. They are in love with a fantasy of how the world ought to look and if it doesn’t look that way it must burn. This is why I have a low opinion of all ideologues, those on the left as well. They will all kill and impoverish us if the square peg does not fit in the round hole. There are also white nationalists for whom white birth rates and ethnic cleansing are the only things that matter. Same deal there.