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Nowhere is safe

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Re: Nowhere is safe

#301

Post by cogman10 »

kakacik wrote: post #176
cogman10 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add, the primary reason the US supported Iraq was because it didn't want Iran to send oil to the USSR. This was because the US didn't want a communist nation to have a good economy. That's the story of a bunch of the CIAs operations.

Iran itself in its current form is a continuous line of failures of CIA and MI6 that led to their revolution against highly unpopular shah that was undemocratically installed only by those powers. Why do you think back then the us embassy situation evolved as it did. 'Embassy' my ass, full of cia folks regardless what shallow hollywood flicks try to propagate, meddling with internal affairs for profit and power of br…

> but egos got hurt so its highly emotional topic for americans.

We've simply had decades of propaganda teaching us that the US is the most moral nation that has only fought moral wars for moral reasons.

A lot of the history books are about American exceptionalism and triumph. Even when they cover topics like slavery and civil rights, they paint it as being temporary embarrassments that we got over and now everything is OK.

MAGA is just a bunch of people who swallowed that propaganda whole and never questioned it in the slightest. We can see that in the fact that they get really upset about history lessons that are even slightly critical or analytical of America's past.

Re: Nowhere is safe

#303

Post by Flere-Imsaho »

hackable_sand wrote: post #244
TheGRS wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Globalization offered the model for this. When the economy is globally linked there is more pressure for stability than conflict. I think that theory still holds. The fallout of the last 10 years is that the distribution of the wealth created in that system has not been even at all, and we are seeing huge wealth gaps. Jobs were redistributed to poorer nations and lost in a lot of wealthier markets. If nations can sol…

I would like to evolve beyond the archaic notions of nationalism. The idea that you can mark a map and define property and consolidate identities to property is so anti-human. If you embrace humanity then you should also reject the premise that there is any Other humanity. It's historically supremacist.

This is ignoring the concept of "cultures" entirely. Other cultures are not the same as mine. They do not hold the same values, morals, beliefs or language. These are all important for societies to function.

Societies that are split along these lines are doomed to fail. Take a simple example of a new neighbor moving next door to you. If they don't speak the same language, do you think you'll form much of a relationship? Possible, yes, but more likely no. Now add religion, tradition, etc into the mix.

Re: Nowhere is safe

#304

Post by lotsofpulp »

nradov wrote: post #299
gmerc wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not the same thing tho. issit?

How is it not the same? State governments can just build things without the approval of federal senators.

Starting with CodingJeebus' comment, the context of the discussion is what the US federal government can and cannot do, or does and does not do, at the best of a single person (the US President). They have the power to direct destruction, but not the power to direct creation.

Not only is a state government's capabilities irrelevant, it is also incomparable to the might of the US federal government, given its unique ability to sell US Treasuries and issue US currency. State governments are also in competition with each other, unlike the federal government which is in competition with other countries and has more power to restrict and negotiate trade agreements.

Re: Nowhere is safe

#305

Post by danny_codes »

firefoxd wrote: post #9

I often see these angles, how we should have prepared better or attacked this instead of that, or the unexpected strategy from the adversary. What about not bombing? The best safety trick the US can use is not bombing others.

Hey! If we did that Palantir’s stock price would go down.

Unacceptable, more children must be bombed. ‘Tis the only thing to do.

Re: Nowhere is safe

#306

Post by pstuart »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #193
cladopa wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you American? Because if you are from the country that dominated the world since WWII it feels different than being from the rest of the world. Bretton Woods gave the Americans an "exorbitant privilege" that basically meant the US could live extracting wealth continuously from the rest of the world. Then later the petrodollar system was established. People needed oil, the US would protect the Arabs with its immen…

Given the immense capabilities of the United States government, I don't think there is going to be a war inside the US. Or at least not one that lasts any amount of time.

There's a stealth Civil War II currently going on. The South had their fingers crossed when they surrendered.

Re: Nowhere is safe

#307

Post by pstuart »

kelnos wrote: post #201
firefoxd wrote: post #9

I often see these angles, how we should have prepared better or attacked this instead of that, or the unexpected strategy from the adversary. What about not bombing? The best safety trick the US can use is not bombing others.

It's a lot more than "just" not bombing. We also need to stop meddling in other countries' affairs. 9/11 and the war on terror are a direct result of all of our "nation building" over the prior decades. If we'd left well enough alone, the twin towers would likely still be standing, and we might still be able to bring as many liquids as we want on planes, and see our loved ones off at the gate when they're taking a tr…

We need to stop treating business's resource extraction from foreign countries as "national security".

And I'd be all for "nation building" if it actually worked and moved countries to be democratically run. The +$6T spent on Iraq and Afghanistan are an indictment of our efforts to "help".

We just fucked with Venezuela -- where are the reports of us "helping"?

Re: Nowhere is safe

#308

Post by nradov »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #304
nradov wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it not the same? State governments can just build things without the approval of federal senators.

Starting with CodingJeebus' comment, the context of the discussion is what the US federal government can and cannot do, or does and does not do, at the best of a single person (the US President). They have the power to direct destruction, but not the power to direct creation. Not only is a state government's capabilities irrelevant, it is also incomparable to the might of the US federal government, given its unique a…

You're completely missing the point. States can build infrastructure on their own. They don't need to depend on the federal government for everything.

Re: Nowhere is safe

#309

Post by AugSun »

DeathArrow wrote: post #210
kakacik wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem in my view is, once dirt poor countries that work for nothing in horrible sweatshops to make cheap trinkets skill finally up and entire region moves from horribly poor to just poorish, the not en-vogue parts of the rich world will suffer some decline if they dont adapt and refocus on whats needed now and in near future. Sounds like it matches those 2 regions although I am not that familiar with Toledo sto…

>nothing to do with socialism "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." - Karl Marx

... that's Communism, bro. :-) Ask ChatGPT to summarise it for you. The Socialism was "от каждого по способностям - каждому по труду".

Re: Nowhere is safe

#310

Post by fingerlocks »

dTal wrote: post #292
kakacik wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran itself in its current form is a continuous line of failures of CIA and MI6 that led to their revolution against highly unpopular shah that was undemocratically installed only by those powers. Why do you think back then the us embassy situation evolved as it did. 'Embassy' my ass, full of cia folks regardless what shallow hollywood flicks try to propagate, meddling with internal affairs for profit and power of br…

I keep seeing comments that refer to Iranians as "brown people" - usually to emphasize their perceived "otherness" by the ignorant, as in this case. But Iranians aren't brown, or Arab apart from a small minority, and relatively speaking their culture isn't even that "other" - it would probably feel more familiar to the average American than some European countries even. Do Americans really hear "Iran" and think of du…

Correct, “Iran” literally translates to “Ayran”.

But America is a big place. Americans living in cities probably know a first or second gen Persian, there’s lots of them everywhere. They even have a reality TV show.

Outside the urban archipelago the average person couldn’t tell you the difference from India, Turkey. and everything in between.

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