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In the 1970s it was well known that the CIA worked to pave the way for American business interests overseas, through everything from espionage to blackmail, mur

grey-area 13y ago
In the 1970s it was well known that the CIA worked to pave the way for American business interests overseas, through everything from espionage to blackmail, murder and military interventions. I don't think this is the way countries should conduct themselves, particularly not ones which trumpet their freedom and liberty. Either the US can employ cynical realpolitik while making hypocritical statements about fighting for civilisation and freedom and live with the consequences, or it can aspire to live up to the ideals it claims to stand for. There's only so much hypocrisy you can employ as an empire before the hollow nature of your statements undermines your authority with allies and citizens alike, and exposure like this is inevitable when the lie becomes big enough. but God knows what all the domestic spying is used for I imagine for exactly the same ends, minus the military aspect, which is reserved for overseas at present (though also employed on US citizens abroad). If a politician wants to dismantle the extremely useful and effective spy apparatus, they are likely to find it turned against them first.
- Zigurd 13y ago
  That's what I found remarkable about the Wikileaks embassy cables: Just how much of "diplomacy" amounts to leaning on our supposed friends in the world to accept our screwed up intellectual property laws and to otherwise compromise their standards for some pretty low, non-strategic commercial interests. At best it seems like diplomacy amounts to MPAA "spam" influence and at worst it is the spear-point of economic espionage.
angersock 13y ago
Hell, we did that going back a hundred years for the Banana Wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars). This is sadly not news.

grey-area 13y ago

In the 1970s it was well known that the CIA worked to pave the way for American business interests overseas, through everything from espionage to blackmail, murder and military interventions. I don't think this is the way countries should conduct themselves, particularly not ones which trumpet their freedom and liberty. Either the US can employ cynical realpolitik while making hypocritical statements about fighting for civilisation and freedom and live with the consequences, or it can aspire to live up to the ideals it claims to stand for. There's only so much hypocrisy you can employ as an empire before the hollow nature of your statements undermines your authority with allies and citizens alike, and exposure like this is inevitable when the lie becomes big enough. but God knows what all the domestic spying is used for I imagine for exactly the same ends, minus the military aspect, which is reserved for overseas at present (though also employed on US citizens abroad). If a politician wants to dismantle the extremely useful and effective spy apparatus, they are likely to find it turned against them first.

Zigurd 13y ago
That's what I found remarkable about the Wikileaks embassy cables: Just how much of "diplomacy" amounts to leaning on our supposed friends in the world to accept our screwed up intellectual property laws and to otherwise compromise their standards for some pretty low, non-strategic commercial interests. At best it seems like diplomacy amounts to MPAA "spam" influence and at worst it is the spear-point of economic espionage.

angersock 13y ago

Hell, we did that going back a hundred years for the Banana Wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars). This is sadly not news.