Every time the newspaper or TV mindlessly repaats that China is a "threat", "adversary" etc, remember to ask yourself if China has 500 bases surrounding the US, or whether it gathers vassals and takes warships to sail "freedom of navigation" provocations off the coast of Florida or the Long Island Sound, or whether China is stuffing Puerto Rico full of weapons pointed at at the continental US.
And ask yourself if the actual "threat" isnt that China in the past 3 decades has lifted the largest number of people out of abject poverty, in the history of mankind.
Or just take a trip to the US and see the number of homeless people and fetanyl and meuth junkies littering the streets, the number of minorities stuffed in prisons, the crumbling post offices, rusting bridges and overpasses....alongside the orgy of wealth of a tiny few. And you will understand why they need to create diversions and manufacture enemies out of countries that are actually just minding their own business and taking care of their own people without stomping on the necks of other countries.
The US had a sub-goal of bringing Germany down from being an EU economic powerhouse to running on a seized engine. To do so, we destroyed the pipeline that had provided energy- according to contract with Russia even as Germany sided with Ukraine. We then offered to sell it our LNG.
Sanctioning Russian cargo ships didn't stop Europe from getting Russian oil but it greatly increased the cost as oil was purchased by India and THEN sold to the EU and UK. There were other round-about ways to obtain Russian oil but all more costly.
These maneuvers helped bring down an economic rival.
No, Wren. WE didn't do that. Stop identifying with this evil empire just because you happened to be born within it. Language matters, and every time Americans say "we" and "our" to refer to the machinations and crimes of the "empire loosely centered in Washington DC" as Caitlin so adroitly puts it, we somewhat legitimize it. Speaking clearly about the real culprits, who are in control regardless of whether we vote for Tweedledee or Tweedledum, helps to expose them, a necessary small step toward stopping them.
I suppose I could have easily cluttered up the comment with caveats exempting myself specifically and denouncing the real culprits, but this isn't an essay and brevity does not confuse people reading what I have to say. It was more of a reference to a place (America) and less of a reference to who specifically called the shots.
Any sentence can be expanded with details if you choose to go down that route.
It was a reference to The United States of America, not "America". America can mean Canada, Mexico, Central America and all of South America. So get it clear. Language matters.
I think you may have missed the point, which is not to exempt yourself specifically, but to underline that the policies carried out by the oligarchs in DC are NOT the will of the people--we do not get to vote on policy, we are rarely consulted.,the Price-Gilens study showed public opinion has essentially zero influence on policy. If the endless crimes and atrocities inflicted on the world by THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES are attributed to the people of the United States, then I guess China really is "our" enemy. I don't know how it will be possible to take down this destructive, criminally insane oligarchy but I think a necessary start is to properly identify it. It isn't "the United States," not if you mean either the land or the people of the US.
"Despite recently closing hundreds of bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States still maintains nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad—from giant “Little Americas” to small radar facilities. Britain, France and Russia, by contrast, have about 30 foreign bases combined."
Every time the newspaper or TV mindlessly repaats that China is a "threat", "adversary" etc, remember to ask yourself if China has 500 bases surrounding the US, or whether it gathers vassals and takes warships to sail "freedom of navigation" provocations off the coast of Florida or the Long Island Sound, or whether China is stuffing Puerto Rico full of weapons pointed at at the continental US.
And ask yourself if the actual "threat" isnt that China in the past 3 decades has lifted the largest number of people out of abject poverty, in the history of mankind.
Or just take a trip to the US and see the number of homeless people and fetanyl and meuth junkies littering the streets, the number of minorities stuffed in prisons, the crumbling post offices, rusting bridges and overpasses....alongside the orgy of wealth of a tiny few. And you will understand why they need to create diversions and manufacture enemies out of countries that are actually just minding their own business and taking care of their own people without stomping on the necks of other countries.
Excellent Kojo. I would like to add to your list the fact that China has not done any coups, nor regime changed.
And Russia, North Korea and Iran ?
NONE
The US had a sub-goal of bringing Germany down from being an EU economic powerhouse to running on a seized engine. To do so, we destroyed the pipeline that had provided energy- according to contract with Russia even as Germany sided with Ukraine. We then offered to sell it our LNG.
Sanctioning Russian cargo ships didn't stop Europe from getting Russian oil but it greatly increased the cost as oil was purchased by India and THEN sold to the EU and UK. There were other round-about ways to obtain Russian oil but all more costly.
These maneuvers helped bring down an economic rival.
No, Wren. WE didn't do that. Stop identifying with this evil empire just because you happened to be born within it. Language matters, and every time Americans say "we" and "our" to refer to the machinations and crimes of the "empire loosely centered in Washington DC" as Caitlin so adroitly puts it, we somewhat legitimize it. Speaking clearly about the real culprits, who are in control regardless of whether we vote for Tweedledee or Tweedledum, helps to expose them, a necessary small step toward stopping them.
I suppose I could have easily cluttered up the comment with caveats exempting myself specifically and denouncing the real culprits, but this isn't an essay and brevity does not confuse people reading what I have to say. It was more of a reference to a place (America) and less of a reference to who specifically called the shots.
Any sentence can be expanded with details if you choose to go down that route.
I chose to write it this way.
It was a reference to The United States of America, not "America". America can mean Canada, Mexico, Central America and all of South America. So get it clear. Language matters.
I think you may have missed the point, which is not to exempt yourself specifically, but to underline that the policies carried out by the oligarchs in DC are NOT the will of the people--we do not get to vote on policy, we are rarely consulted.,the Price-Gilens study showed public opinion has essentially zero influence on policy. If the endless crimes and atrocities inflicted on the world by THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES are attributed to the people of the United States, then I guess China really is "our" enemy. I don't know how it will be possible to take down this destructive, criminally insane oligarchy but I think a necessary start is to properly identify it. It isn't "the United States," not if you mean either the land or the people of the US.
Hear, hear. I tell people this all the time.
The EU is just as big as China so is equally an enemy.
Just saying that I agree, but 500?
"Despite recently closing hundreds of bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States still maintains nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad—from giant “Little Americas” to small radar facilities. Britain, France and Russia, by contrast, have about 30 foreign bases combined."
Their poverty is our profit. Poverty must be maintained.