The US Empire's changing face masks old ambitions

[ahfatzia]

"War is diplomacy by other means." - Clausewitz.

It is diplomacy still!

There you go, a MacArthur is always more dangerous than a Truman. A soldier should always do what he does the best- taking orders instead of giving them.

 

[VCheng]

There you go, a MacArthur is always more dangerous than a Truman. A soldier should always do what he does the best- taking orders instead of giving them.

What a great quote for a PAKISTANI defence forum!

Thank you.

 

[Oldman1]

Not to mention countries that tends to know only force. Hence the frequent conflicts. I mean you had President Clinton apologizing to the Rwandans for not intervening. I mean really? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[Sashan]

This thread is not to put all America military interventions in bad lights but rather, because the frequency of its adventures and how quick the civilian leaders ordered their deployments due to the influences of the hawkish elements in the military, can lead the country to a new form of colonialism if it haven't done so already.

The facts are out there for people to witness. There's no retrain whatever for the US to threaten or the actual use of force whatever little perceived threat comes up. Diplomacy is no longer a norm but an exception now a day for the Americans. This trend is very dangerous, if continues and expanded, to the world at large and to the Americans themselves.

If nothing else happen soon enough, bankruptcy for America is imminent and drag the world down with her.

You understand that US recovered from the world's worst economic crisis through the world's biggest war right?

 

[ahfatzia]

You understand that US recovered from the world's worst economic crisis through the world's biggest war right?

There was a time when America and only America can produce everything the world needs but it's no longer hold true anymore. Now Americans buy from the world and when their collective credit reaches the limit the bubbles burst.

 

[Sashan]

There was a time when America and only America can produce everything the world needs but it's no longer hold true anymore. Now Americans buy from the world and when their collective credit reaches the limit the bubbles burst.

Everyone is making negative predictions for various countries - US spending, Chinese demographic change and middle income trap and slow down in manufacturing due to labor force reduction. I would caution you to wait and watch and not become a nostradamus.

 

[ahfatzia]

Everyone is making negative predictions for various countries - US spending, Chinese demographic change and middle income trap and slow down in manufacturing due to labor force reduction. I would caution you to wait and watch and not become a nostradamus.

I personally have no problem and am not predicting which way America is heading. It's just sad to see people like my two older brothers, who are both American citizens and holders of high degrees, have been out of regular jobs for the past decade and don't even bother to search for what they're qualified for anymore. "Take whatever they come", they insisted , if they do come.

 

[VCheng]

There was a time when America and only America can produce everything the world needs but it's no longer hold true anymore. Now Americans buy from the world and when their collective credit reaches the limit the bubbles burst.

So how is this credit "limit" set and by whom?

 

[ahfatzia]

So how is this credit "limit" set and by whom?

By the market. You remember, almost a year ago, when Obama had to use the Federal Employee Pension Plan's fund to pay the salaries of federal workers while waiting for the Congress to raise the ceiling of borrowing, the bond market tanked momentarily. As far as the consumers' credit goes the banks have a say in that.

 

[gambit]

This thread is not to put all America military interventions in bad lights...

Of course it is. You are not fooling anyone here.

The facts are out there for people to witness.

You mean SELECTED facts designed to inhibit or discourage critical thinking with proper historical contexts -- per event.

Witness -- Before the second invasion of Iraq to finally overthrow Saddam Hussein, the US supported a decade of strong diplomatic attempts to reform Iraq. While this was going on, China and Russia had under the table dealings with Saddam himself regarding covert oil contracts.

 

[Srinivas]

Of course it is. You are not fooling anyone here.


You mean SELECTED facts designed to inhibit or discourage critical thinking with proper historical contexts -- per event.

Witness -- Before the second invasion of Iraq to finally overthrow Saddam Hussein, the US supported a decade of strong diplomatic attempts to reform Iraq. While this was going on, China and Russia had under the table dealings with Saddam himself regarding covert oil contracts.

Sanctions on Iraq resulted in even more deaths. Second invasion of Iraq has to do with Oil companies in USA than any WMD's.

Surprisingly every dictator that US goes after has been a US friend in the past.

 

[ahfatzia]

Sanctions on Iraq resulted in even more deaths. Second invasion of Iraq has to do with Oil companies in USA than any WMD's.

Surprisingly every dictator that US goes after has been a US friend in the past.

That's because the said dictators no longer heeded the US policies. They invades the country if the dictator like Saddam Hussein has a strong grip on the country or regime changes like Marco with a changing Philippines. Of course they prefer the latter then the former. There were many cases like that in Latin America in the last century. The moral is who are they to decide what's good for a particular country and if this is not a form of colonialism I don't know what is.

 

[gambit]

Second invasion of Iraq has to do with Oil companies in USA than any WMD's.

Then you should have no problems showing sources on how much US oil companies profited from Iraq.

I will start...

U.S. Companies Shut Out as Iraq Auctions Its Oil Fields - TIME

Those who claim that the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 to get control of the country's giant oil reserves will be left scratching their heads by the results of last weekend's auction of Iraqi oil contracts: Not a single U.S. company secured a deal in the auction of contracts that will shape the Iraqi oil industry for the next couple of decades. Two of the most lucrative of the multi-billion-dollar oil contracts went to two countries which bitterly opposed the U.S. invasion — Russia and China — while even Total Oil of France, which led the charge to deny international approval for the war at the U.N. Security Council in 2003, won a bigger stake than the Americans in the most recent auction.

Ooopsss...My bad...

 

[VCheng]

By the market. You remember, almost a year ago, when Obama had to use the Federal Employee Pension Plan's fund to pay the salaries of federal workers while waiting for the Congress to raise the ceiling of borrowing, the bond market tanked momentarily. As far as the consumers' credit goes the banks have a say in that.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The US Congress sets this "ceiling of borrowing" a.k.a. the credit limit.

 

[ahfatzia]

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The US Congress sets this "ceiling of borrowing" a.k.a. the credit limit.

You're right on that, it's the cost that's set by the market.