On January 17, 1991, at 3am Iraqi time the USA launched it's missiles on targets in Iraq, signaling the beginning of the first Gulf War. As we all now by now, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. Irrespective of how others were dragged into the conflict and putting aside the issue of whether the war was justified, will the status of the USA been seen by future generations as being enhanced by it's actions? I fully realise that this post could end up being little more that a chance to sling mud at America, but I'm hoping that a more even handed debate can take place. Does the world need an "international policeman?" Should little tinpot countries be afforded the right to step on humanity? This is an age old debate, sometimes a firm hand is needed, as history shows. Where goes America stand today and what role should she play in the future?
Quite simply if you believe any action America takes is on humanitarian grounds you are deluded. Else why would they be funding Al Qaeda in Syria, the same boys they're fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. America's image used to be of the world policeman but has changed to a plundering Imperial force. Debates like this are too hard to interact in on the app alone so I'm giving my tuppence and bailing out
America's in a similar position to that of Britain before WW2 There's an aggressive murderous ideology spreading in a part of the world that hates democracy, Christians, Jews, and gays, oppresses women and does not tolerate any criticism of the Leader Meanwhile the government tries in vain to appease it, betraying allies in the process, while the media hurls vitriol at anyone disagreeing with the government's approach
Not every action taken by America involves oil Yes they take out dictators Yes they impose dictators But the world isn't a cheerful playground full of children and puppies The USA are no worse than ANY other nation in history, its just their bad luck the world had become smaller
All of the above except the bold bit. They acted from a unilateral stance far too often to be considered policemen. Self serving, murdering scum is what they are
So who is America then? It's just too silly to call them the Great Satan. Do they go to war just for the sake of it? Of course not. Do they chase oil? Probably. But global politics is very murky game. Things such as sea lanes, trade pacts etc are all important, and every nation on the planet pushes as best it can to fulfill it's own interests. We're looking for an even handed debate here, not one sided rhetoric.
Rhetoric? Facts is facts and it is the apologists that resort to labelling such as 'rhetoric' that only serve to allow the likes of America to continue in their murderous vein. Don't try to insist that the anti voices pipe down a bit. If the anti American rhetoric is too bitter for your tastes, balance it out with a counter argument.
If they are this age's Rome, how long can they afford to support armed conflict? They have a huge debt already, surely they can't keep applying heat to overseas problems?
Poor old America, it tries so hard to do the "right" thing but ends up putting it's collective foot in it every time. They are a new country in the global scheme of things and only had the financial might to contend as a world player at the turn of the 20th Century. The rise to top dog has come about very quickly and after helping us out in WW1 and WW2 (and giving us WWE) they went strutting their stuff around the world with increasing lack of success. It started in Korea, fail. They moved onto Vietnam, epic fail. Propping up Israel during the 70's and 80's is what has done for them in the middle east and the unrest in that part of the world hasn't been helped by their support of dictatorships such as Saddam Hussein who they liked because he oposed the regime in Iran. Iraq then invades Kuwait so it is all guns blazing and off they go to the Gulf. Partial success as Kuwait's sovereignty is restored but they fail to take out Saddam. Roll on a few more years with fundamentalists across the Arab world deciding the only way to prevent being puppets of the USA is to wage a campaign of terror and we find ourselves back in Iraq and then Afghanistan trying to impose democracy on yet another group of people who don't want it. Strange how Syria has been left to commit genocide on its people and not an eyebrow has been raised. The USA picking and choosing its fights isn't going to stop anytime soon and if Obama gets turned over by that lunatic Romney we can only expect more of the same.
Now for this eras Condottieri, the US already use Private Military Contractors, expansions into this...option wouldn't surprise me
Just a thought. Did the rise and Western fear of communism heap an unwanted load on the US? As a child I lived under the so called threat of the those who lived behind the iron curtain. That fear was a real fear, and it was felt across the western world. As the heavyweights of the west, they felt it their job to try to hold off the USSR. Nobody else could do it. They revelled in it of course, but what else could they do. I I'm not an apologist for the US, history just interests me.
Marxism is quite a nice, cuddly sort of thing but it evolved into Communism which has been proven not to work and the US may feel justified in their repeated opposition to it having seen the Soviet Union crumble and China become such a capitalist country nowadays. Sure there is a lot of state intervention in China but they know the value of a dollar now and so do their people. I don't envisage a Glasnost type reaction where the people start demanding more from the state but the Chinese Politburo know that they could never control what is getting on for nearly 2billion people if there was another revolution. As a result they are being kept happy with consumerism, you can't stop people wanting Levis and Coca-Cola!! Maybe the USA thinks it can take the same stance against Islam and that by enforcing democracy in the Arab states that their peoples will naturally move away from hard lined Muslim fundamentalism and become more easy going. What they appear not to have learned is the lesson the Vietnam war taught them which is you can fight armies and win but you will only ever lose against people.
