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You have a very poor grasp of history if you mistake the lessons learned out of two brutal world wars, not to mention the senseless history of violence that pre
by orbifold 12y ago
You have a very poor grasp of history if you mistake the lessons learned out of two brutal world wars, not to mention the senseless history of violence that preceded it,
with some kind of cowardice. Your viewpoint can probably be traced back to some notion of Anglo-Saxon supremacy, that by now has lost its racial undertones and lives on as the idea of American exceptionalism: That somehow the US is a gift to the world and not a country like any other.
The US is just such a young country that it simply either hasn't learned the lesson, or that any kind of political dissent is dissipated or ineffective. Personally I take humility over pride any time of the day.
- happyscrappy 12y agoIt is easy to bash the US and is par for the course on HN but Europeans don't have to believe in Pax Americana to benefit from it. Do you think Poland would be able to relax if their defense was solely by Europeans?
- eli_gottlieb 12y agoI'm as against American imperialism and militarism as anyone, but the EU simply has severe problems when taken as a self-defending military power. Namely: most EU countries are not up-to-date on their budget, equipment, and soldier contributions to the CSDP and NATO. This means that most of keeping Europe militarily stable - despite bordering Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa - falls to the American forces. Meanwhile, Americans are kept in poverty to fund the military force that lets Europe and Japan be generous to their citizens. How just can that be?