hmm. . there were German citizens saying similar things in the 1930's. . and I know trump folks get angry about the reference, but it is simply a historical fact..trump has not been allowed to be the nazi he truly is because of congress and the courts. . which he is strong arming an eroding through his komrad, McConnel. If we don't stop this this country is in serious danger. We have assassinated an Iranian general to distract from his illegal activity, turned a blind eye to an assassination in Saudi Arabia over oil and money. . not to mention we arm them to murder their neighbors. . the planet is on fire, and he leaves the Paris agreement. .and do not forget, he believes he will be president for life. .
Trump will win again
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Deleted member 16771
I don't think they do, it's pretty well-known. You even used that phase 'when the US sneezes the world catches a cold' - that phrase wouldn't exist if people actually did underestimate the impact of the US on global stability.
I think that's ridiculous. The 'Pax Americana' is real, just as the 'Pax Britannica' was real - dominant powers tend to do that, and unipolar systems tend to be more peaceful than multipolar ones. In that you're correct. However, the 'peace' we see between major powers is overwhelmingly a result of the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Without nuclear weapons, there would've been conventional wars between great powers on multiple occasions - the Soviet Union would've pressed its advantage in conventional arms pretty early on. Even now, it would probably do well in a confrontation in the Baltic.
You mention democracy - this is Francis Fukuyama's point, that democracies don't fight each other. Well, there's probably something to that but we do have limited data from non-nuclear ages. However, to insist that the US 'spreads democracy' is laughable in the extreme. The US had been an agent of authoritarianism, preferring to topple democratically elected governments in favour of strong man dictators friendly to it. The US's record has not been good in this regard, and even the 'democracies' that it has attempted to install have been very fragile, except those created in the aftermath of the Second World War.
I don't know why you think these things are a uniquely American legacy. The US inherited this cultural legacy from the British and the French, and American 'democracy' is profoundly oligarchic as it is.
The US is falling, and there'll reach a point when China and Russia will feel safe enough to start their own wars without American interference. Russia has been testing the waters for a while now, and is almost at the point of acting with impunity. Both of these powers have security council vetoes, so the UN won't mean a damn thing, and in that case NATO is absolutely key (which is why Trump's original policy of 'fuck NATO, America first', which he's completely u-turned on, was so disastrous for the West).
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Deleted member 16771
He's not a Nazi, he's your democratically elected president. Hyperbole like this doesn't help anything.
I don't know...my sister was married for 6 years 20 years ago and she is still messed up from it
Actually it does...it lets people know what they are up against if they chose to not agree with the lists opinion(s).
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Very well, what is your solution then?
I personally feel a more stable USA with an outward looking president would fix a lot of problems but if you have an alternative I'm willing to hear it.
True, but I can't change the way the US people vote. All I can do is plan for the future when there is a different President.
Don;t get me wrong, British and French Democracy is very important.
But without the US the Nazis and/or Soviet Union win WW2 and personally I wouldn't want to live in that world. They saved Democracy when it was on the ropes last time.
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Deleted member 16771
Yeah. With Russia all you have to really do is keep NATO strong and aggressive and keep Turkey on-side.
With China... I'm not sure what foreign policy can do there, except encourage internal reform. There will be a 'Pax Sinica', there's nothing much we can do to stop that, but we can try to influence the form it will take.
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Deleted member 16771
Sure... took 'em a good while, though. American isolationism (which we had for a time with Trump) is fucking scary.
It's like they can just one day up and decide to be done with this whole system they've built with them as the keystone for every international institution and financial system that exists.
Quite, but the problem is its harder to keep them in check without the US. Germany has a lot of deals with Russia such as the gas pipelines. If France had a Le Pen elected you get more and more Pro_russian governments in Western Europe and at that point perhaps Russia considers taking another small bite out of Ukraine...
Without the US China retakes Taiwan overnnight. And as for Pax Sinicia as you call it, the US, Australia and Japan are going to fight it, hard. But they need the US to do the heavy lifiting.
China isn't going democratic any time soon, infact its more likely to fracture into a hundred civil wars and warlords before that (see Chinese history and the fact the Communist party controls everything). I fear its more likely Western Countries become more like China, Repressive Authoritarian regimes, rather than the West making China more Democractic...
Agreed, which is why a more global stage US is VITAL to balancing out China and Russia. People my notlike it but the US is important to the idea of Democracy around the globe.
Europe is important too, but they are more divided,more fragile specially with the immigrant crisis. US has the advantage of being on a diferent continent and not affected by the same problems.
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Deleted member 16771
I don't think we disagree on much, but my point was simply a historical one: peace between the major powers is more a function of the existence of nuclear weapons than it is a function of the existence of the United States, as you claimed. Now, the United States is its nuclear arsenal, so on those grounds I suppose you could argue again for your original point, but otherwise we have to say that 'the peace' is a nuclear one rather than an American one.
To an extent I agree, but a Cold War between a Fascist and Communist Powers with Nukes is very different to a Democratic vs Communist one.
Admittedly if the roles were reversed, and Europe defended the US vs and Communist/Fascist enemy to the North/South it would be Europe that was irreplacable.
However in our world, the US is the top dog of Democracy when it needs to be, and if it slips from that spot, unless there is a strong Democratic defender to replace it we are all in trouble.
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Deleted member 16771
Culture isn't a single path forward. We've had Dark Ages before.
If Democracy isn't seen as profitable or successful then people will reject in favour of Strong Men, on the Left or Right. We're already seeing this in places like Turkey, India and alike.
I already see in media the idea of "You are with us or against us" mentalities on both sides, the sort of thing that leads to Dictators. "Give me power and I will crush the others", "I will silence those who disagree with you, one way or another."
We can easily slip back into more... Autocratic structures.
Democracy isn't a fight that is won once, its one that we have to fight for every single day.
America protects the whole world while our infrastructure at home crumbles. We debate heavily expenditures like healthcare but if we double the military budget to extend the hegemony further and further nobody complains.
People don't even appreciate what we do they just call us warmongers. Let them fight their own wars and furnish the corpses from thier own citizenry. We have the preservation of our increasingly fragile union to prioritize if we are to even exist at all in the future.
People don't even appreciate what we do they just call us warmongers. Let them fight their own wars and furnish the corpses from thier own citizenry. We have the preservation of our increasingly fragile union to prioritize if we are to even exist at all in the future.
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Deleted member 16771
At least you have the Japanese and German economies as the fruits of your labour.
What a weird situation that the major beneficiaries of the victory were it's aggressors.
I believe we can have a little of Column A and a little of Column B.
Get the NATO nations to pull their weight (looking at YOU Germany), prop up Democracys and fund Pro Democratic groups across the world in nations which do not have free elections.
Get bsuiness interests to invest in better infrastructure by offering shares in construction projects and/or tax businesses to help support the infrastructure that is their lifeblood.
Also hit the tech corps, Apple, Amazon and Google aren't short of cash right now.
The social issues in the US... You just need more Moderates back in important positions. Get a sense of the value of Being American again that is non-partisan.
The US needs to defend the world because if it doesn't, those wars will come back to the US eventually.
And I don't want to have to start learning Chinese or Russian...