on the one hand it is horrific the way we have betrayed our allies and on the other it is insane that for seventy years europe has relied on a foreign power it has no control over to be its security guarantor
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A theory I've heard for years but which I feel more and more supportive of is that the post-WW2 string of American presidents/presidential candidates up until the turn of the century were all men who either served in that war or grew up with people who did so that sense of being a bulwark was strong
before any differences on the contemporary issues of the day were formed. That is probably tinged in nostalgia to be fair, however I do think the Atlantic partnership was bound to be frayed as the people who remember what American isolationism was like are dying out
I think it was smart of them. Being a global power has rotted the soul of the United States. And we WANTED it—or our rich people wanted it. We get the strong dollar as compensation, our rich got much richer and they could avoid all the hassles. They came out better in this deal.
I mean, on one hand, the US can be seized by lunatics; on the other hand, any number of European nations can too, and now if that happens they will likely have/have more nukes. Ditto Japan and any other nation that has relied on us
European militaries also re-invented themselves as occupied territory patrol forces to assist the US in its overseas adventures. Which was an absolute daft idea, a waste of resources and actually immoral.
Not entirely true. For most of the cold war, Europe had formidable militaries. The recent military decline had more to do with the (wrong) idea that we were at peace and everyone was a business partner instead of an enemy, than with relying on the US as a security guarantor.
Because of the shared Whiteness between WW2 Americans and Europeans. And ironically, the Americans who have betrayed Europe are the White Americans, 57% who voted for Trump.
I get the sentiment, but you'd think as a species we'd be aiming for global unification at some point. The entire species advances for the betterment of the entire species. Not having petty squabbles fueled by land, religion, and ethnicity for resources that belong to no one when all are dead.
Blowing up the Iran deal was such a harbinger. It was such a good deal too. But he wasn't really punished for it. Now everyone is incentivized to get a nuke. Hell, we could've ended the NK program post 9/11 with soft power and grain. Instead we put them on the axis of evil and they built nukes.
It's amazing how many people do not understand how good a deal that was, and how it really basically did check Iran's nuclear ambitions in a way palatable to pretty much every stakeholder.
There was literally no reason to abandon JPCOA. It was a huge win for America.
The alternative was just a lot less attractive at the time during the Cold War not long after WW2: a dozen more countries seeking their own nuclear arsenals at a time of elevated global tension.
A unified security policy was a tough nut to crack for the EU, and the American umbrella gave everyone a reason not to try. Hard to reconcile the vastly different ethos of the major players (France/Germany/UK) both between eachother and the also in relation to the smaller nations
Wow, this is so interesting! I never thought of it that way.
Of course, no matter how you look at it, they are both vile creatures!
President Zelensky deserves our support, respect, & GRATITUDE!
They are loser bullies!
To be fair, they operated under a healthy skepticism that a nation of ambitious immigrants with hegemonic control of global resources and boasting the most well-supported institutions of innovation and creativity would flush it all for the most obvious network TV conmen in history. Their bad lol.
Up until the wall fell NATO, while
US led, fielded a powerful multinational force. Any cost efficient answer for self defence inevitably leads to mass nuclear proliferation among small nations. No one should want this.
In the aftermath of World War 2 there were a lot of people who had good reason to consider rearmament to be a much bigger risk. This was always a possible risk of that course of action and now we just have to deal with it. Bastards.
When your countries are in ruins & poor because of an ultramilitarist regime, it's pretty easy io submit to a superpower who guarantees prosperity & security.
In the 90s a German general told my father at a dinner that he was ashamed by the European and especially German recalcitrance in the continual increase in NATO intervention in Bosnia.
This was well after the peace but during the buildup to the intervention in Kosovo where he saw it all happening again where Europe could not be relied on to take affirmative action even within Europe.
Britain and France have nukes. The NATO countries don't need to worry. Putin's spectacular miscalculation and military ineptness can't even handle the single country of Ukraine, he's not going to be taking on Europe, at least not without America's help.
America standing there as the unrivaled superpower couldn’t have had zero impact on preventing another huge war in Europe. Unipolar world made everyone better off through simple stability and was fine as long as we didn’t install an international criminal as president.
We're asking you to march through Poland as peacefully as you *claimed* you would march through Belgium in 1914. And as an ally of the heavily armed Poles, not as their overlord or conqueror. Well, we can maybe talk of giving you back Kaliningrad/East Prussia. MAYBE.
I’m American, shamefully. Hopefully there will be no marching. I just can’t believe this is where we are at. Again. Because of that orange troglodyte and his cultish followers.
As a Ukrainian I would very much appreciate that but for now I think we all understand that the EU youth wouldn’t like being reminded that it has obligations, not just rights, because nobody really likes this. We’re very happy with your firepower helping our manpower though.
Oh, I know. I know it needs to be done. It’s just, it’s absurd that Europe needs to rearm again, because we couldn’t keep that orange fucker out of the White House.
The majority of the American people support Ukraine.
My heart aches both for how irrational this all is (I mean, you’re giving us the old materiel that needs to be changed anyway and creating workplaces for your people, how is that a bad thing?) towards Ukraine but also for how they are destroying US science, being a researcher myself. It’s outrageous
I'm sure this is a child's understanding of the world, but periodically I think "yeah you do have an amazing welfare state (laudatory), what would happen if you had to fund 100% of your own military defense against Russian imperialism?"
In the sense that the US is the preeminent power and if any currency were to be the global default currency, then it would be theirs. But it's not as though this is something enforced by military power. It has been in the interests of the Europeans to outsource their defence.
The military is a key part of it, and cant be ignored. There are several other factors; and it’s far from some arbitrary “power” ranking and #1 gets the prize.
Down to its a major reason they never change the color or size, which would otherwise help many people
there will likely be some cut backs but remember the welfare state is an order of magnitude larger than the warfare state. That these are in conflict is only really on the margins
Have you priced out the cost, resources, and to develop a new stealthy fighter, bomber, or nuclear aircraft carrier lately? If you are talking not buying from US the costs would be astronomical and splitting it between nations is fraught with problems
The welfare state is the warfare state’s biggest supporter. Public health, public education, roadways, supply chains, the state of the population at large—these are military readiness problems.
They're only in conflict because the Oligarchs think they shouldn't have to support infrastructure they, personally, don't use. But their businesses are built on the labor of workers (even as they move to AI). The WORKERS use the infrastructure!
If they move to AI, who buys their products?
It's not my best structure, I admit.
I felt I had to add the AI caveat bc they ARE trying to eliminate workers. And that created the need for the last line. I was tired?
And yes, my brain has way too many points to make.
Can AI write THAT?
Gawd, it's time for 😴
Oligarchs also think they shouldn't have to pay to subsidize medical care for the disabled. But their workers have FAMILIES that may need extra assistance. If the govt helps with those extraordinary expenses, their WORKERS can focus on 1 job without worrying & do a BETTER job.
Oligarchs ... 👇🏻
The UK was repeatedly forced to choose between building and maintaining their welfare state and NHS, or trying to remain a colonial or at least global power. Even though they chose the welfare state and handed global naval hegemony over to the US, they are now likely to end up with neither.
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Sincerely, Donald Trump
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-pledges-make-its-military-the-backbone-defence-europe-2023-11-09/
There was literally no reason to abandon JPCOA. It was a huge win for America.
And the Atlanticists in Europe got their way for years, although I think that viewpoint is likely dead in the long term now.
Of course, no matter how you look at it, they are both vile creatures!
President Zelensky deserves our support, respect, & GRATITUDE!
They are loser bullies!
US led, fielded a powerful multinational force. Any cost efficient answer for self defence inevitably leads to mass nuclear proliferation among small nations. No one should want this.
The big EU fail is not that we stayed complacent after Trump's first term, which we all hoped would be an aberration.
The big EU fail was that we stayed complacent 10 years into a war on Europe's border, which got very hot in the last 3.
The last 10 years are totally on us.
The majority of the American people support Ukraine.
But it wasn't the German-ness that was the problem last time.
It's not wrong that the US subsidizes their social nets
Down to its a major reason they never change the color or size, which would otherwise help many people
Otherwise it’s managing to do the incredibly difficult task of creating something dumber than armored Cybertrucks
If they move to AI, who buys their products?
This is either an AI response or you had some talking points you wanted to repeat
I felt I had to add the AI caveat bc they ARE trying to eliminate workers. And that created the need for the last line. I was tired?
And yes, my brain has way too many points to make.
Can AI write THAT?
Gawd, it's time for 😴
Oligarchs ... 👇🏻
What will America have with no global influence, and no welfare state? Enjoy the 80 hour work week
They cashed in the peace dividend hard.