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Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

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Re: Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

#21

Post by scribu »

elliotec wrote: post #17
ramzyo wrote: post #14

Who is Steve Hsu, and why are his statements, opinions, and speculation about the future of America notable? Or is he just summarizing the statements, opinions, and speculation of the historian in the ~30 minute video linked on the page?

Why does he need to be notable? Maybe he's just some guy on the internet with an opinion like you and me.

If you have an illness, who’s opinion would you like to hear most? That of a random internet person or that of a medical professional?

If you don’t have an illness and just want to read random stuff, instead of some other leisure activity, I guess it doesn’t matter.

Re: Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

#22

Post by eksu »

joss82 wrote: post #5

George W Bush should be trialed in front of the International Criminal Court, if that court wants to remain relevant. Any international lawyer here who knows a way to start the process? I know I'm naive, the guy is going to die of old age after a long and blissful life likely playing golf and having fun. Edit: typos.

That would be a great way to destroy the ICC, and sorta fuckup the whole world in a lot of ways.

Re: Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

#23

Post by fishcolorbrick »

ashark wrote: post #16
mc32 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One hopes neoconservatism is good and dead. It was an ambitious ideology which presumed everyone in the world shared western values or wanted them. I think the American public tired of this neocon hawkishness and I'm hopeful we see a change in our foreign policy.

> One hopes neoconservatism is good and dead. It was an ambitious ideology which presumed everyone in the world shared western values or wanted them. I dunno, seemed to last well into Obama's tenure in practice if not in rhetoric, from what I can tell, and Syria may well be a bigger disaster than Afghanistan and Iraq combined by any measure, including realpolitik (see: its effects on European politics, maybe also on…

Same - I supported Obama for years, and yet my favorite bar trivia anecdote is "Name all the Nobel Peace Prize winners who have killed other Nobel Peace Prize winners" [0].

[0]: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/obama-apology-dwb-1.3261009

Re: Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

#25

Post by ramzyo »

elliotec wrote: post #17
ramzyo wrote: post #14

Who is Steve Hsu, and why are his statements, opinions, and speculation about the future of America notable? Or is he just summarizing the statements, opinions, and speculation of the historian in the ~30 minute video linked on the page?

Why does he need to be notable? Maybe he's just some guy on the internet with an opinion like you and me.

Well I guess that I implicitly expect opinionated front page HN content to come from someone whose opinion is more informed than mine. I’m not sure what to take away from this post, given the lack of supporting evidence for the assertions made. Currently I’m at “huh, interesting opinions, who is this guy and how did his post make it to the front page of HN?” Of course this is just my interpretation of why things get upvoted to the home page.

Re: Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

#27

Post by throwawayjava »

ramzyo wrote: post #14

Who is Steve Hsu, and why are his statements, opinions, and speculation about the future of America notable? Or is he just summarizing the statements, opinions, and speculation of the historian in the ~30 minute video linked on the page?

https://vprgs.msu.edu/stephen-hsu-vice-president-research-an...

Re: Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

#29

Post by throwawayjava »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #12
api wrote: post #10

To me the lynchpin is the monumental catastrophe represented by Iraq War II and the entire decades-long Middle East quagmire in general. It's been nothing short of national suicide, especially when one considers what else might have been done with all that money. We almost literally set the surplus of an entire American generation on fire and watched it burn. The neocons are the worst villains but not the only ones.…

Not Germany waging two world wars? Germany in 1910 was dynamic, and due to those wars they lost multiple generations and at least a third of their land. Germany recovered from that within 40 years. The Iraq war was a disaster, but there's nothing especially trying about recovering from that given time.

Germany was rebuilt from that, first through a brutal dictatorship and then, after that, with enormous assistance from the largest and strongest economies in the world, powered by a demographic boom in the richest parts of the world.

And no matter how much progress has been made between 1950 and 2017, there's so little comfort in drawing a parallel between our present situation and the trajectory Germany from 1910 to 1945.

Re: Remarks on the Decline of American Empire

#30

Post by aaavl2821 »

I don't always think internal strife is a bad thing, nor that internal strife is at higher levels now than in the past. We had a civil war, and after that was the end of slavery and the gilded age. too much harmony stifles innovation

I'd also disagree with the passage at the end of the article. George Washington was about as mercenary and capitalistic as they come. The revolution against Britain was started by the wealthy merchant class who calculated the npv of continued relations with Britain vs independence and found that independence was more profitable. Rockefeller was obsessed with money (recorded every penny he ever spent). The Bay Area economy was created as a result of ambitious young people literally taking part in a gold rush. It is disappointing that the romantic, politicized and intellectually lazy notions put forth in that final passage get any credence

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