The Decline of the American Empire

I did 20 years in the military but luckily never served in combat. I did volunteer with the understanding I could be put in harms way. I'm sure the person you know serving in Afghanistan also knew before signing up. We all hope our brave patriots come home safely.

 

That's not really the point. Those who serve in the military have faith that our leaders will not put the in harms way unless there is a good reason. There is no good reason why we are still in Afghanistan and there certainly was no good reason for going into Iraq.

Ask those who were put in harms way on the basis of fighting terrorism (Al Qaeda) - a legitimate and worthy objective - "Do you agree with our current policy of arming and supporting Al Qaeda" - what do you think they will respond ?

Do you not see a problem with this picture ?

 

3 administrations have determined Afghanistan to be vital to America's national security. The US went into Afghanistan for 2 reasons. the first reason has been eliminated. The Taliban is still a threat. And that is all I'm going to say on this subject.

 

Taliban are not a threat - and never have been a threat - to the US homeland.

Your 3 administrations comment only serves as proof that our foreign policy is dictated by Establishment international financiers. Since the "administrations" do what they are told - this is no surprise.

The reason we are still in Afghanistan is economic - as stated previously. Same reason we got involved in Syria with the same objective - destabilize the region.

 

You got the last word.

 

Time to wake up and smell the flatus

 

I'll give you a 'like' but only for the first half!

 

Honestly, I haven't the interest or inclination to look at BLM's website but I'm sure they 'name names' there.

 

The US created neither Al Qaeda or the Taliban. The US, nor any western democracy, is responsible for Islamic terrorism. That was long in the works even before the US became a world power, beginning with the Brotherhood.

Certainly there are those who will say France deserved to have their people killed, or the Brits, the Danes, the Germans, Chinese, Canadians, etc. but the responsibility lies 100% on Muslim terrorists responding to the hates they were raised on.

 

The superpowers magnanimity is overwhelming. On behalf of all pipsqueaks we praise your beneficent wisdom and mercy........

 

Don't be so sure. Nobody really deserves to be killed indiscriminately in terrorist attacks but there is a history there.

For instance, what was Ayman al Zawahiri doing meeting with MI6 and other officials in Bosnia in the 90's? Who was Ali Muhammad and why was he able to take time off from being an officer at Fort Bragg to help Osama bin Laden move? Why does you second greatest ally in the ME support Salafist schools that export the most extreme forms is Islam to the ME and around the world and why are you helping to fund the export of terrorism to places like Syria and Yemen where al-qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is one of the chief beneficiaries of Saudi largess?

Methinks there is a lot of your own history - and yes, you can include France and a lot of other nations in that equation - that you are either unaware of or simply gloss over because it is hard for the world's' only superpower to look at these things.......

You do know that the Mujaheddin and the Taliban are pretty much synonymous as one morphed into the other after Russian defeat right? You do know that OBL was operating in concert with the Mujaheddin and other western backed militias to overthrow the Russian backed regime in Afghanistan and that the US funded these efforts?

 

Enjoy it while you can. The meek may inherit the earth but only after the Superpower is done with it.

 

There should never be a 'but' following "Nobody really deserves to be killed indiscriminately in terrorist attacks"

 

I agree with your premise but not your reasoning. We are in the stages of late Rome, and the American empire is falling to pieces, but not for the reasons you give. The reasons the American empire is falling to pieces are the same as the reasons Rome fell: 1) Barbarians in the gates, not at them. 2) Educating the enemy. 3) Feminization of the culture. 4) Loss of faith.

1. Barbarians in the gates. Today, just as in Rome's time, it is believed that all the world's peoples can come to America and be Americans. And while it's true for a minority of minorities, it turns out not to be true for the majority of non-whites around the world. Why? IQ. The average white IQ is 100. The average Chinese and Japanese IQ is 105. The average Ashkenazi Jew IQ is 117. For every other ethnic group, the average IQ is 90 or less. And we know from extensive studies that the vast majority of violent criminals are men in the IQ range of 70-89. These are your barbarians. And these are the people we have taken in by the millions since 1965. It's now estimated that there are 50 million Hispanics in the US, with an average IQ of 90. Added to the ranks of American blacks with an average IQ of 85, and you have a vast underclass of barbarians in our midst. You want to know why inequality is growing? Take a look at these numbers and you'll see. The white population is stable or shrinking, and makes most of the money. The black and Hispanic populations are growing and aren't smart enough to make money. The same situation occurred in Rome. By the end, the actual Romans were very few in number, while the "adopted" Romans accounted for most of the populace. No wonder Rome fell, no one was left who gave a damn.

2. Educating the enemy. Today, just as in Rome's time, the West educates its most formidable enemies. Up until the 1950s, the Islamic world feared and respected the West's accomplishments and wanted to emulate it. But then a man who attended an American college in Iowa returned to Egypt and denounced all things Western and became the spiritual founder of today's Islamic fundamentalism. Many of the leaders of the communists in Russia and the far east attended Western universities. Today, China's elite send their children to American colleges. Vicente Fox of Mexico attended Harvard. Back in Rome's time, the two most effective leaders of the barbarians that brought Rome first to its knees and then to destruction were the sons of barbarians educated in Roman schools. Why we still haven't learned this lesson and put a stop to it is a mystery to me.

3. Feminization of the culture. This is the preeminent predictor of the fall of civilization. I once started to read a history of China that was over a thousand pages long. I finally had to give it up because it was so repetitious. A new horde of barbarians overruns the previous civilization and sets up shop. A hundred, two hundred, five hundred years later, the grandsons of the previous barbarians have become homosexuals and artists and a new flowering of artistic accomplishment marks the moment just before the civilization falls to the new horde of barbarians. The same thing has already happened in Europe and Europe is in the middle of collapse. The same thing is happening here, slower but just as surely.

4. Loss of faith. I mean two kinds of faith here, both the faith in God and the faith in the country's mission. In Rome, it was loss of a faith in the traditional gods, replaced by Christianity. And then a loss of faith in Rome's purpose for existence. Here, today, we have lost faith in the God of Christianity and we have lost faith in America's mission, America's reason for existence. Half or more of the population doesn't even believe America should be the world's only superpower, despite America being the best nation on earth to wield such awesome might. Who have we conquered? Where have we annexed land? Where have we pushed people around? Answer: No one and nowhere. We invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and then set up democratic governments there. We haven't invaded Iran or North Korea despite having far more provocation to do so than we did in Iraq. Our involvement in Syria has been weak and ham-handed despite our overwhelming military might. We are a good country, but our people have become timid, afraid, self-loathing, America-loathing.

The end isn't too far off, unless I can rise to power somehow. Still haven't figured that part out.

 

We are a good country, but our country's government is wicked and criminal.

 

Thanks for that. Very interesting but not often discussed. I feel that it comes down to 'the poor will always be with us' and we should expect that, while helping them. Of course that may not solve the crime problem but often that's a cultural and educational thing more than an IQ or poverty problem.

 

Good grief - you did not actually buy in to that historically illiterate synopsis I hope.

 

Please be more accurate as to what you're specifically referring to.

 

These are not the reasons that Rome fell other than "educating the enemy" but not in the way this is stated. The natural tendency of technology is to spread which was one of the factors that led to the fall of Rome.

The rest is pure nonsense and leaves out the main factor = trying to maintain hegemony "project power" in areas where the cost of doing so was greater than the return on investment.