I think we have with the exception of the cold war era been basically an isolationist nation. That we’re returning back to basic isolationism. Only around a third of all Americans care about what is going on with the war in the Ukraine or the Israel/Hamas war. It seems more and more Americans just want to keep the world out and let us live our own lives in peace.
Yes we should be isolationist. Thomas Paine (1775 perhaps) gave as one good reason for breaking away from Great Britain, not getting entangled in European wars. And every war since WW2, although from Vietnam onward was started by the CIA or our President or even our whole country, was initially claimed to have been started by the country we are fighting. Decades later the truth gets out and by then nobody cares.
Our ancestors came here for freedom and opportunity. The societies in Europe were stagnant and fixed. If you were born a peasant, you died as a peasant. U.S. isolationism ended with World War II. Given the involvements, sometimes over involvements, in foreign affairs, it is ludicrous to call the U.S. isolationist.
The public correctly wants to be isolationist, to supply our own needs ourselves, and our country is large enough to do that. The public does not want us to steal from other countries and even refuses to believe we do that.
you are mistaking self-sufficiency and a desire to be free of cumbersome foreign entanglements for isolationism.
Is there in practice any difference? From Vietnam to Ukraine and Iran, the US or some obscure part of the US, the CIA covert operations, has started every war. I see what you are saying but the elements of both sets are almost the same. Given how little the public understands politics, not jumping up and saying 'war war war, give us more' every time some politician says we need to go to war to 'help' someone somewhere, refusing to go to all those wars would over the past 70 years have been the right answer.
An interesting question might be 'why are we so bad at avoiding entanglements?' I remember writing against starting the war in Iraq. That war was a stupid as most. The rational for starting the war was the public were suffering under a dictator Saddam Hussein and we had to go there and kill him. Which we did, then kept the war going and going for years. That made no sense. Nor did us blowing up Baghdad Power station and a lot of other infrastructure causing death and misery to hundreds of thousands, just adding more pain to the pain Saddam was causing, also didn't make sense. Except to American Neocons.
Power stations and bridges, infrastructure to include communications has always been a military target. Power stations provide the electricity for weapon making plants to include ammo, tanks, artillery, planes etc. Bridges gives the opponent you’re fighting a way to get their reinforcements and supplies, logistics to their men in the field. The goal was to stop Iraq’s war making capability and the means to transport that capability to the front.
That was what it was supposed to be about, and in the minds of many, what it should be. WW1 was where it all really went off the rails. We had no interests in that war. Getting involved has had us involved in everything since then.
Wilson ran a phony presidential reelection campaign in 1916. He said that he would stay out of the European War and then got right into it as soon as he was reelected. The argument that the sinking of the Lusitania got us into the war is false. It was torpedoed in 1915 almost two years before we entered the war. Wilson's supporters issued this button during the 1916 campaign. What a line of bull! The American isolationist movement issued this piece circa 1940.
Nothing to do with infrastructure, communications facilities, power stations, factories, transportation, bridges, rail etc. being a military target.
I don't remember all that, just that we were going to help Iraq by removing the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein. I never took on board that we would bomb a lot of the country, stay there another 9 years, kill a couple hundred thousand in the war and a couple hundred thousand more by sanctions.
I was explaining why the power plant was destroyed. It was a military target along with a lot of the infrastructure and more. Basically, to destroy Saddam’s ability to make war. As for the justification of the Iraq War, folks can debate that until the hogs come home.
In WWI and in WWII America got involved partly because we Canadians were dying in huge numbers. Because of the close relationship between Canada and the USA Americans considers us Canadians to be "neighbours" unlike anybody else on earth so the USA in both world wars played the role of the Cavalry who was doing what you felt should be done to save us from pretty much being depopulated on a level that could have been like what happened to Russia during WWII?????
you should probably get over yourself right now. the u.s. government couldn't care less how many canadians die. hell, we can hardly get them to give a crap about their own citizens. the u.s. entry into ww1 was all about power through influence. giving the appearance of coming in to save the day in both european wars was designed to spread our sphere of influence and it worked like a charm. it worked so well that we kept using similar tricks around the world. from korea and vietnam to all of those nasty little uprisings in various parts of the world to our latest involvement in eastern europe. even when we lose, as in vietnam, we have spread our brand there, it has taken root, and it has paid dividends down the road. throughout the cold war it was sold to the american people with cliches like "the domino effect" and "we fight them there so we don't have to fight them here", but it seems now we get involved in these skirmishes just out of habit.
The US got involved because the Germans implicated a campaign of mass sabotage in the US, urged Mexico to invade the US and opened up unrestricted U-boat warfare, that's why the US got involved. The situation changed, unrestricted U-boat warfare, the Zimmerman telegram and the German sabotage campaign. And is Iraq a better place today? Yes indeed. Well that's a new one! The US got involved in WW1 due to Zimmerman/U-boats/Black Tom, the US got involved in WW2 because of Pearl Harbour.
Not even close. Historically the US has intervened in other countries business more than any other country, except maybe the British Empire. It has been the foundation of US foreign policy, especially in the past 80 years. You (Russia) should do as you say and get the heck out of Ukraine
Thank you for that interesting history lesson ReasonableRob ... I had to dig through three Zimmermans on wikipedia to find this one. But yes I do also stand by my assertion that Canadian getting killed in action in Europe does tend to get Americans riled up. America wants to be isolationist, [who could blame you really], so it takes a lot to get Americans to want to go overseas into a war zone. Once Americans do get involved in the form of boots on the ground then that war gets won. Thank you for the info on "Black Tom" as well....
They were no threat at all. What they were were an opportunity to the now very powerful MIC to keep the WW2-level profits rolling in. That's why they made up the imaginary threat of communism. They needed a monster to slay that seemed so horrific to the average American that they would throw away their tax dollars and send their children to die to keep the monster at bay. Of course, it was all bullshit. The oligarchs on the other side were just as bad, turning capitalists into equally horrific monsters. That's all wars are...bankers and other oligarchs creating monsters and terrifying the average Joes to the point where they will give anything to kill said monsters. It keeps the rich and powerful rich and powerful, and turns everyone else into the batteries that keep the war machine running, either contributing their hard earned dollars or their own blood or the blood of their children.
Tell that to the hundreds of millions of people who were tortured and murdered as Communism spread throughout Russia, China, Cuba and to so many other nations. Rumor has it that Karl Marx was also a Theistic Satanist who did some of the things that have been reported by former Satanist John Ramirez. Satan apparently told Karl Marx to lie and say that he was an Atheist but Atheism was not his actual religion. Karl Marx and others though turned "Atheism" into what became for all intents and purposes the State religion of the communist nations. We now live in a time period when much better information is available www.CarbonBias.blogspot.ca/
Those nations will get rid of it on their own if they don't want it. No reason to send our children to change it for them. Regimes like that either collapse or stay in a permanent broken nation like North Korea. China was not able to stay that way, and neither was Russia able to. Neither are communist any longer, except in legacy titles. And our capitalism was responsible for millions and millions of deaths as well in countries outside of our own. Our regime changes often bring in monsters every bit as bad as communist regimes. There is nothing holy about capitalism, and Satan is right there whispering into the ears of the bankers and oligarchs just as much as he was Karl Marx.
Washington, the Father of the nation felt we should not get involved in the affairs of other nations.
