If America wasn't at the front line defending liberal democracy you wouldn't be one.
Don't think your Norwegian values protect you.
They don't.
People didn't stop conquering their neighbors because they decided to turn a new leaf. They did it because the world's most powerful country became a liberal democracy and built the post-World War II international order that largely put a stop to that kind of thing.
So yes, we are very much the good guys and the fact you can't differentiate us from North Korea is a "you" problem.
DNA doesnt lie. Or are you one of those science deniers? IDGAF how many surgeries they have, doesn't change the science, doesn't change their DNA. Are you suggesting that feels holds a greater sway than science? Be careful how you answer. I dont care if they 'change' their mind. Nor, do I care about their lives, worldviews or struggles... they are irrelevant... because DNA > feels.
--- Want any of my Constitutional rights?, ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
I come from a time and a place where I judge people by the content of their character; I don't give a damn if you are tall or short; gay or straight; Jew or Gentile; White, Black, Brown or Green; Conservative or Liberal. -- Note to mods: if you are going to infract me have the decency to post the reason, and expect to hold everyone else to the same standard.
Just in case any non-americans wonder why Skroe and other Americans are obsessively paranoid about Russia, it is because the Democrat-controlled news networks in the US endlessly run stories unsubstantiated stories about Russia being responsible for almost literally everything bad that happens. People like Rachael Maddow are the rough Democrat equivalent of crazies like Alex Jones. It is basically the new McCarthyism. As with people who watch Fox News it is basically a waste of time talking to them, they sound quite insane. The recent court finding that there essentially was no connection between Trump and Putin has actually made this problem worse as the Democrat networks desperately try to re-establsih their lost credibility with even more lurid and far-fetched stories.
This is the not to say that Putin isn't a very evil man, or that Trump isn't a horrible human being, but the grounds they are vulnerable (eg corruption, warmongering) are things the corporate democrats can't attack them as generally speaking they are just as guilty of those things.
Leader of the freeworld yet incarcerated 1% of its own population in jail. You do know that the whole north korea/USA thing has begon when USA started planting nukes in south korea after the korean war? While north korea reached out 5 times to the USA for peace and the USA didnt even bother to reply. You do know that right? Or the Cold War when America started planting nukes in Turkeye that could reach Russia and then Russia planted nukes in cuba as a reaction. You see the irony here and then call Russia the bad guys! Lmao. The irony.
Last edited by Sloppynacho; 2019-04-11 at 02:32 PM.
--- Want any of my Constitutional rights?, ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
I come from a time and a place where I judge people by the content of their character; I don't give a damn if you are tall or short; gay or straight; Jew or Gentile; White, Black, Brown or Green; Conservative or Liberal. -- Note to mods: if you are going to infract me have the decency to post the reason, and expect to hold everyone else to the same standard.
Skroe, never say stuff like this. It just insults everyone's intelligence. Any one can go and check up the number of dictatorships/theocracies the US supports directly with cash, weapons and sometimes troops. You can google it in seconds.
If you are going to make things up, at least hide it a bit better. Occasionally you say interesting things but it is difficult to read someone who is nakedly attempting to deceive you with such a poorly constructed piece of deception.
You keep telling yourself that, i'm sure it makes you sleep soundly at night while your country continue to bomb innocent human beings into oblivion, while throwing innocent people in jail left and right, while people have to work as slaves to just afford breadcrumbs for themselves and their children while the richer get's even richer, while you continue supporting and having tight relations to straight up dictatorships, because who can pass up some of that sweet oil huh?
If you are the good guys, why are you trying to arrest someone who was just releasing the truth about your country. No one has suggested Assange was making anything up.
"We are the good guys but we imprison people who tell the truth about us", does not sound very plausible. It makes you sound like North Korea.
No you're not. You've invaded dozens of nations, slaughtered tens of millions of people, economically exploited hundreds of millions, armed terrorists, deposed democratically elected governments, propped up dictators, installed black sites, are the only nation to ever use nukes on another nation, practiced slavery, committed genocide, and committed basically any war crime in the book.
Again, Theseus's ship argument. If you have a boy, and you slowly replace every body part with that of a girl, at what point does the boy become a girl? When you swap genitalia? The brain? The hormones? Does literally every part need to be swapped? If so, why? If not, then surely there is more to gender than simple biology.
Of course not.
Collateral damage happens in wars. The US has prosecuted war crimes committed during the wars of the last decade.
No that was a war crime.
You seem to have a warped perspective of the political power and economic importance of US defense contractors. Globally, their big compared to other defense firms. In terms of comparison to other businesses, they're pipsqueaks, and their market is a rounding error.
The defense industry is the most tightly regulated one in the US. It is an industry which can only sell to the US government, or countries the US approves on a case by case basis. And moreover, time and again, selling lots of little things is more proftible than selling a few big things.
I will offer a direct comparison. The F-35. Last year, Lockheed Marin made some fraction of the $10 billion the US and its partners spent on buying about 80 F-35s. Let's say they made $8 billion of that $10 billion to keep it simple.
Now by contrast, Apple made $80 billion in the 3 months between October and December on iPhone sales. Producing millions of phones and selling them for $700-$1200 generates significantly more revenue than Lockheed Marin building 80 expensive fighters, or ordinance manufactuer making 300 bombs. In fact, the US Defense budget in 2018 had a historically large "emergency purchase" of ordinance after the wars depleted stockpiles. How much did it amount to? About $5 billion. It turns out, that while $100,000 bombs are a lot of money, buying 500 of them doesn't really add up all that much compared to say, consumer goods.
The US defense sector dominates the global arms trade, but the net global business they do, per year, is about $200 billion, which sounds like a lot, but is nothing compared to the broader US economy. Apple could buy half the US defense industry with its cash on hand, for crying out loud. Lockheed Martin's annual revenues of $51 billion are about half of what Apple will make in a quarter from all products and services.
If the US was really going to engage in military conflicts for economic interests, it should never bother: would make more money off of selling consumer goods to the people living there than it would buying bombs and bombers to bomb them.
I actually regard the War on Terror as the greatest strategic miscalculation committed by a major military power since Napoleon decided to march on Russia. It's actually that bad. The US squandered half its relative military power on it. The New Cold War is going to be a lot harder for the United States because we convinced ourselves to (1) nation build Afghanistan rather than just do an in-and-out special operations retaliation after 9/11, (2) invade and occupy Iraq, and (3) treat terrorism as a military concern, rather than the law enforcement / intelligence / occasional special operations concern it truly is.
The US lost the War on Terror. It never should have fought it. And we'll be nationally paying the consequences of it for years to come.
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Yep I entirely agree. That's an excellent point I hadn't considered.