But didn't Merkel say it was time for Europe to start findong new allies (can't remember how she put it). Was that just bluster? — frank
None of that matters all that much, we come from the same catholic cultural root. — ChatteringMonkey
Social democrats and communists have allways been sworn enemies, because the social democrats betrayed the revolution. — ChatteringMonkey
I dont think they want guns at all. They want windmills. — frank
but after the Eastern Block socialist systems before the iron curtain fell. — god must be atheist
The authors of the report stated in a press release that the kind of drastic, large-scale action the planet desperately needs has yet to be seen, even though global emissions have reached record levels at 53.5 billion metric tons in 2017, with no signs of peaking.
I'm not so sure does the US allways put it's citizens first (just thinking about the US health care system), but in fact this as a purpose is totally OK and fine.Outside of that, the US behaves much like other countries do and have behaved. Every national government has as its highest goal to benefit its own citizens first. Other nations' citizens are elsewhere on the list. — Bitter Crank
It's just talk in the sense that those with real power are not going to listen. But it is real talk in the sense that people in general do not support global cop, regime change, regular interventionist empire type stuff, so those with real power have to do some false advertising, which they effectively did in the last few decades. But the US isn't one person talking out of the side of its mouth. It's not a democracy, so real talk and real opinions have little effect in an oligarchy.Thus all the whining from Americans that they shouldn't be involved in the affairs of other countries and the soldiers should come home, it's just talk. — ssu
Isolationism has come upon me lately for the very reasons laid out by P. Buchanan in 2013: — frank
Isolationism or interventionism is only a matter of strategy on how to best attain ultimately the same goal. — ChatteringMonkey
How so? — frank
Perhaps the problem here is that the opposite for isolationism doesn't have to be interventionism. The thing is that you can participate very actively in international organizations, without intervening in the affairs of other countries. The only thing is to respect the sovereignty of other states as you want others to respect yours.Why do we think US interventionism has been anything but America first? Isolationism or interventionism is only a matter of strategy on how to best attain ultimately the same goal. — ChatteringMonkey
Perhaps the problem here is that the opposite for isolationism doesn't have to be interventionism. The thing is that you can participate very actively in international organizations, without intervening in the affairs of other countries. The only thing is to respect the sovereignty of other states as you want others to respect yours.
That's it.
You don't have to close your borders, retreat to North Korea -type isolationism or leave international organizations and look at them as having sinister plans against you. You just opt out from the use interventions. Especially military ones. — ssu
It think governments always try to do what is in their best interest of their country in the first place — ChatteringMonkey
The US tends to produce do-gooders. A less famous example is Herbert Hoover, who felt it was important to lead a multi-national team to rescue starving Russians. They discovered that they couldn't distribute aid because the railroad had broken down. So they fixed the railroad. Little did the participants know: Lenin wanted those people to starve to death. Bizarre, but true.
If you read the article posted in the OP, Buchanan gives more recent examples of the same thing: interference that proceeded from good intentions (to protect the development of democratic nations), but that 1) is costly to the US, and 2) is not welcomed by the affected regions. — frank
Beyond that, I think the world should shift to looking at China as a peace-keeper, not the US. — frank
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