Post: #1

This ex CIA agent seems to think so.
He reckons the US is stuck in the Middle East as far as the eye can see !
Mainly cause of a corrupted congress on the take.

Post: #2

Absolutely America creates its own enemies. Being the superpower that it was in the 1900's and continues to be today, eventually parts of the world are going to get tired of American presence everywhere. We haven't exactly been the models of morality with our history in the states.

Ron Paul had the audacity to argue this in the primaries but got booed for suggesting that our overly-aggressive foreign policy creates enemies.

I think a lot of Americans are woefully misled in thinking that our problems can be fixed just by, say, destroying Al Qaeda or toppling an Arab regime. The real problem lies within America's knack for creating enemies and interfering too much around the world.

Post: #3

(04-04-2012 08:06 PM)ZamboniJones Wrote:  Absolutely America creates its own enemies. Being the superpower that it was in the 1900's and continues to be today, eventually parts of the world are going to get tired of American presence everywhere. We haven't exactly been the models of morality with our history in the states.

Ron Paul had the audacity to argue this in the primaries but got booed for suggesting that our overly-aggressive foreign policy creates enemies.

I think a lot of Americans are woefully misled in thinking that our problems can be fixed just by, say, destroying Al Qaeda or toppling an Arab regime. The real problem lies within America's knack for creating enemies and interfering too much around the world.

Really though? A lot of people criticize the actions the US has taken, without truly understanding what the alternatives could have been.

If Saddam Hussain was allowed to invade Kuwait without restraint, he would have controlled *25%* of the world's oil reserves. He'd effectively be able to blackmail most of the world's oil-dependent countries and would be a price cartel all by himself.

If the US wasn't actively watching and operating in Iran, they'd probably have developed nukes and blew up Israel by now.

It's easy to say "we shouldn't be in those countries," but the reality is none of us really know what all the alternatives were. No action is often a much worst alternative than action that causes the world to hate us.

I'm just saying, I don't even pretend to understand these issues. I'm not uneducated and I believe I actually know more than most people. Which is why I know just how much I don't know.

The world does need a police. Being that police costs money and costs lives. The reality is, nobody else wants that role, nor can anybody else really take that role. We're the world's largest GDP. We can either step up to the plate or let things fall apart when nobody steps in those shoes. So, we step up to the plate.

I'm not hardcore on either side of the issue, I'm just saying there's much more to the issue than "we're making people hate us."

Post: #4

(04-04-2012 08:40 PM)DareP Wrote:  

(04-04-2012 08:06 PM)ZamboniJones Wrote:  Absolutely America creates its own enemies. Being the superpower that it was in the 1900's and continues to be today, eventually parts of the world are going to get tired of American presence everywhere. We haven't exactly been the models of morality with our history in the states.

Ron Paul had the audacity to argue this in the primaries but got booed for suggesting that our overly-aggressive foreign policy creates enemies.

I think a lot of Americans are woefully misled in thinking that our problems can be fixed just by, say, destroying Al Qaeda or toppling an Arab regime. The real problem lies within America's knack for creating enemies and interfering too much around the world.

Really though? A lot of people criticize the actions the US has taken, without truly understanding what the alternatives could have been.

If Saddam Hussain was allowed to invade Kuwait without restraint, he would have controlled *25%* of the world's oil reserves. He'd effectively be able to blackmail most of the world's oil-dependent countries and would be a price cartel all by himself.

If the US wasn't actively watching and operating in Iran, they'd probably have developed nukes and blew up Israel by now.

It's easy to say "we shouldn't be in those countries," but the reality is none of us really know what all the alternatives were. No action is often a much worst alternative than action that causes the world to hate us.

I'm just saying, I don't even pretend to understand these issues. I'm not uneducated and I believe I actually know more than most people. Which is why I know just how much I don't know.

The world does need a police. Being that police costs money and costs lives. The reality is, nobody else wants that role, nor can anybody else really take that role. We're the world's largest GDP. We can either step up to the plate or let things fall apart when nobody steps in those shoes. So, we step up to the plate.

I'm not hardcore on either side of the issue, I'm just saying there's much more to the issue than "we're making people hate us."

It would be impossible to argue that all military actions are unjustified, but you have to admit there's a pretty big gap in justification between the Gulf Wars I and II.

Post: #5

This is absolutely true, and one of the painful statements that is occasionally uttered in whispers about USA and Israel, but never gains public weight. While many wars were justified (including WW2, Korean War, Gulf War, Kosovo and Libya imo - I'm not harsh), the modern behaviour of these countries will be their death sentence. Things like Iraq, saber-rattling about the likely attack on Iran and pointless game of intimidation with Russia and China are just sheer idiocy.

The USA has entered some kind of horrible self-perpetuating loop, where its reckless actions and wanton use of military power make it universally despised and likely to enter further pointless conflicts. Same with Israel - I support the right of Jewish people to have their own country in that land, and have thoroughly enjoyed their trouncing of Arabs in 1956, Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War, but in the last decade the country has taken a downward plunge that will eventually result in its annihilation. Much of the modern hatred towards both countries is caused only by their own actions.

While you will occasionally see criticism of European foreign policy, much more peaceful in comparison, not even dictatorships like Iran are hostile to it like they are to USA and Israel. I don't think this is a coincidence.