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America has never been concerned about anything other than America. They literally couldn't care less that they have threaten to take over Canada... Potentially

America has never been concerned about anything other than America. They literally couldn't care less that they have threaten to take over Canada... Potentially Greenland and Panama militarily.

actionfromafar 11mo ago
That's just blatantly false. American power derives not only from raw power, but from alliances. It will be apparent, that it's really hard to get things done when your former allies start slowrolling all your requests. Unless you mean it like, "countries have no friends", but that's not a very interesting observation.
- jack_tripper 11mo ago
  Now THAT is blatantly false. American power today stems from its power, military and fiscally (which is also backed militarily). Most countries in the world today are allied to the US out of economic, trade and defense necessity and co-dependence, because all other alternatives are worse for them due to the immense asimetric power disparity. This might shock you but most countries in the world don't like the US government and its policies, especially after their illegal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, but have no way to push back without negative repercussions to their economy, so they have to play along as allies whether they like it or not for their own good. Feel free to down vote all you want, but I'm not revealing anything new or controversial here but it's the truth as all countries, kingdoms and empires throughout history have had alliances with others they didn't like, out of sheer necessity. Same how we in the liberal west have also been trading and having economic ties with the CCP, post-Crimean invasion Russia, Erdogan's Turkey and middle eastern countries that assassinate our journalists, as capitalism post-USSR collapse has prioritized monetary enrichment over fighting for upholding a western ideology.
  - actionfromafar 11mo ago
    Turns out, that the US has succeeded in making other alternatives better, by making itself less attractive. Canada is making deals with China. That's an incredible own goal by the US.
    - mrsmrtss 11mo ago
      Also, Europe does not trust the US anymore. It's rather embarrassing and sad that what has become of this once great country.
    - jack_tripper 11mo ago
      Define "better". Currently no county, even China can't replace the US as a trading partner in terms of how much the US consumer base buys from us(the European export base I mean) and the kind of technology the US provides back in return. Until China's consumer purchasing power comes close, we're stuck with the US as our main pay piggy. Plus, I don't think replacing the US with China, a dictatorship that's running slave labor camps, has no human rights or freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, etc, as the main world superpower, is the best idea. So, how people can promote cozying up to the CCP as some sort of win just to stick it to Trump, is beyond me. It's as narrow minded as the people who were promoting Russian gas dependency as some sort of political victory, until it bit them in the ass and is now costing us through the nose. Why don't people learn from history that cutting your nose to spite your face is not a wise long term strategy? As bad as Trump is he's only got 3 more years in power until next elections while the CCP is a forever evil pretending to be your friend playing the Embrace Extend Extinguish long game.
      - jcattle 11mo ago
        > As bad as Trump is he's only got 3 more years in power until next elections And even in the "best case" scenario where trump does not win that next election, what are you left with then? A new reality where potentially the office of the president has widely increased powers. Depending on what the supreme court says on wednesday the president will now be able to raise tarrifs at will, send the army into domestic cities at will, have the army kill foreign civil citizens we are not at war with at will and a massively expanded ICE agency which will be really hard to downsize for later administrations.
        jack_tripper 11mo ago
        What are you on about? Trump isn't part of the next elections. And everything you just said after that, China is 100x worse at those things. So this isn't the "US bad, China better partner" gotcha you were hoping to be.
- chronci3830 11mo ago
  > American power derives not only from raw power, but from alliances. Alliances form out of fear. Fear of being crushed by the US military. The largest Air Force in the world? US Air Force. Second largest Air Force? US navy.
  - VBprogrammer 11mo ago
    And yet you couldn't even capture and hold a shitty backwater like Afghanistan. The last US military action widely regarded as a success was the first Gulf war but, I didn't know about you, but I like my successful military actions to come without a part II.
    - jonway 11mo ago
      Point taken here, but do come off it. Afghanistan is extremely difficult to control and has been for thousands of years.
      - mdhb 11mo ago
        They had no navy, no army and no airforce to defend it. I think the criticism is entirely valid.
        jonway 11mo ago
        It is if you look at a map and conclude the terrain is flat. It is a nightmare for any military. This is a funny chortle, I geddit, but if we're to take this at face value: Alexander the Great's army was garbage. He managed barely by marrying a local noblewoman after a long and frustrating campaign. He had the benefit of not being on the opposite side of the planet. America had to fly over Iran to get there. Super easy. The British were garbage. The first Anglo-Afghan war went .... poorly. They had the same experience as the US forces. The second Anglo-Afghan war went great! They defeated the Afghan army! A few months later they lost Kabul, their forces collapsed immediately, being slaughtered again by Afghanis. They reinvaded, failed, and retreated. They would have totally won if they had an air force. The Soviet military was garbage. They struggled for a decade to prop up their own government there. (Sound familiar yet?) There was a third Anglo-Afghan war. This time the British won handily. Just kidding, they failed yet again, like everyone else. This is like me telling you: "If you're so smart, why aren't you a billionaire?" Well, that isn't how it works, is it?

America has never been concerned about anything other than America. They literally couldn't care less that they have threaten to take over Canada... Potentially Greenland and Panama militarily.

actionfromafar 11mo ago

That's just blatantly false. American power derives not only from raw power, but from alliances. It will be apparent, that it's really hard to get things done when your former allies start slowrolling all your requests. Unless you mean it like, "countries have no friends", but that's not a very interesting observation.

jack_tripper 11mo ago
Now THAT is blatantly false. American power today stems from its power, military and fiscally (which is also backed militarily). Most countries in the world today are allied to the US out of economic, trade and defense necessity and co-dependence, because all other alternatives are worse for them due to the immense asimetric power disparity. This might shock you but most countries in the world don't like the US government and its policies, especially after their illegal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, but have no way to push back without negative repercussions to their economy, so they have to play along as allies whether they like it or not for their own good. Feel free to down vote all you want, but I'm not revealing anything new or controversial here but it's the truth as all countries, kingdoms and empires throughout history have had alliances with others they didn't like, out of sheer necessity. Same how we in the liberal west have also been trading and having economic ties with the CCP, post-Crimean invasion Russia, Erdogan's Turkey and middle eastern countries that assassinate our journalists, as capitalism post-USSR collapse has prioritized monetary enrichment over fighting for upholding a western ideology.
- actionfromafar 11mo ago
  Turns out, that the US has succeeded in making other alternatives better, by making itself less attractive. Canada is making deals with China. That's an incredible own goal by the US.
  - mrsmrtss 11mo ago
    Also, Europe does not trust the US anymore. It's rather embarrassing and sad that what has become of this once great country.
  - jack_tripper 11mo ago
    Define "better". Currently no county, even China can't replace the US as a trading partner in terms of how much the US consumer base buys from us(the European export base I mean) and the kind of technology the US provides back in return. Until China's consumer purchasing power comes close, we're stuck with the US as our main pay piggy. Plus, I don't think replacing the US with China, a dictatorship that's running slave labor camps, has no human rights or freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, etc, as the main world superpower, is the best idea. So, how people can promote cozying up to the CCP as some sort of win just to stick it to Trump, is beyond me. It's as narrow minded as the people who were promoting Russian gas dependency as some sort of political victory, until it bit them in the ass and is now costing us through the nose. Why don't people learn from history that cutting your nose to spite your face is not a wise long term strategy? As bad as Trump is he's only got 3 more years in power until next elections while the CCP is a forever evil pretending to be your friend playing the Embrace Extend Extinguish long game.
    - jcattle 11mo ago
      > As bad as Trump is he's only got 3 more years in power until next elections And even in the "best case" scenario where trump does not win that next election, what are you left with then? A new reality where potentially the office of the president has widely increased powers. Depending on what the supreme court says on wednesday the president will now be able to raise tarrifs at will, send the army into domestic cities at will, have the army kill foreign civil citizens we are not at war with at will and a massively expanded ICE agency which will be really hard to downsize for later administrations.
      - jack_tripper 11mo ago
        What are you on about? Trump isn't part of the next elections. And everything you just said after that, China is 100x worse at those things. So this isn't the "US bad, China better partner" gotcha you were hoping to be.
chronci3830 11mo ago
> American power derives not only from raw power, but from alliances. Alliances form out of fear. Fear of being crushed by the US military. The largest Air Force in the world? US Air Force. Second largest Air Force? US navy.
- VBprogrammer 11mo ago
  And yet you couldn't even capture and hold a shitty backwater like Afghanistan. The last US military action widely regarded as a success was the first Gulf war but, I didn't know about you, but I like my successful military actions to come without a part II.
  - jonway 11mo ago
    Point taken here, but do come off it. Afghanistan is extremely difficult to control and has been for thousands of years.
    - mdhb 11mo ago
      They had no navy, no army and no airforce to defend it. I think the criticism is entirely valid.
      - jonway 11mo ago
        It is if you look at a map and conclude the terrain is flat. It is a nightmare for any military. This is a funny chortle, I geddit, but if we're to take this at face value: Alexander the Great's army was garbage. He managed barely by marrying a local noblewoman after a long and frustrating campaign. He had the benefit of not being on the opposite side of the planet. America had to fly over Iran to get there. Super easy. The British were garbage. The first Anglo-Afghan war went .... poorly. They had the same experience as the US forces. The second Anglo-Afghan war went great! They defeated the Afghan army! A few months later they lost Kabul, their forces collapsed immediately, being slaughtered again by Afghanis. They reinvaded, failed, and retreated. They would have totally won if they had an air force. The Soviet military was garbage. They struggled for a decade to prop up their own government there. (Sound familiar yet?) There was a third Anglo-Afghan war. This time the British won handily. Just kidding, they failed yet again, like everyone else. This is like me telling you: "If you're so smart, why aren't you a billionaire?" Well, that isn't how it works, is it?