Have you seen Litwin's [maps] provided a few times each day?
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You fought the 2nd world war because of the attack on Pearl Harbour. One thing which I did not know before but heard recently you had already been fighting on non violent ways with Japan so it was not quite the 'unprovoked attack it has always been made out to be.
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That is what the US expected itself to be. The pre-eminent power world power. The cold war made them hold back for some time. Is there ever a good reason for one power to be able to 'rule the world' as the US wanted?
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'won the cold war'. Ah that would be won what was holding the US back from its pre-eminent position in the world which it believed in deserved since WW2. As Jeffry Sachs has said time and again, the US worked to make sure Russia would not succeed. Eastern Europe yes but Russia no. Now it is using Ukraine to try and finish what it started and 'weaken' Russia in part to set the stage better for the US's war with China.
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How can you criticise Russia as a 'mafia security state' when not noticing that your own state is very much like that with lots of criminality in it. Bolton etc. …. OMG. Well done, You noticed. As a German minister said recently the US has not won a war since WW2. It has fought many, caused millions of deaths but it has not won any. The US is not a State that believes in Diplomacy. It believes in Freedom only in the extent it believes in freedom for Neo Liberalism. How can you possibly believe the US is the propaganda you are regurgitating? I say that in part because I have often agreed with you but this absolutely is propaganda and I am going to include a video which explains that and the real situation.
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There is something in this group [Responsable Statecraft] which you find acceptable which you would not find if they did not believe in the US ruling the world?
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Oh boy. Your arrogance knows no bounds. Again given that previously I have tended to agree with you very disappointing. MAGA has absolutely nothing to do with this. Some of them may have a liking for the Russians but in the main it seems to be the game the citizens of the US always play. Whatever the other party is doing, the other does not agree with and the Dems are very much setting themselves up now as the 'war' party. People who cannot take alternative views in a society they ca,ll 'free'. I also find your talk of 'the left' as if everyone who was on the left thinks identically and can be distained and dismissed simply because you identify them as one voice is simply another sign that you are just someone who follows propaganda, it would appear from what you say right wing propaganda and that you never look at extremely good oppositional arguments. In the video I shall now put you will see what I am talking about as propaganda and the situation much as it is.
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I mostly agree with your views on, and approach to, the tragic war in Ukraine. My comment (#191 above) that you object to was directed mainly to MAGA American isolationists, and meant to point out the shallowness and contradictions in
their own world views about what they once believed and now believe made the U.S.A. — “America” (Lol!) — a strong and powerful nation. I don’t pay much attention to the Litwins or Barons here at USMB, as I suppose you must. I do read Geoffrey Sachs and pay close attention to his and similar views.
Please note I used a lot of quote marks to emphasize that U.S. views of “Greatness” and our wars for “freedom & democracy” in the past were often fraudulent. I didn’t mention WWI which was certainly nothing but an inter-imperialist war. As you point out even U.S. participation in WWII was a matter of economic / political interests & power much more than … ideals. We are both realists, I think.
Imo, all American wars, occupations, and policies in the Middle East are ultimately about U.S. oil imperialism (and geo-political interests), our support to coups in Latin America and our sanctions and hybrid wars around the world have been and still are — as you imply — mostly the result of Wall Street and its extended financial empire struggling for world dominance.
Nevertheless, I’m sure you also recognize there remains substantial and meaningful difference between on the one hand Western societies that generally allow and cherish more freedoms for individuals and opposition groups, and on the other hand “one man” or “one party” dictatorships like Putin’s Russia or XiJinpings “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.” There are historical reasons for these differences, of course, but they cannot be denied.
I’m convinced that we agree on much more than we disagree on.