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It's always about us, then, isn't it? Tom Send a noteboard - 24/05/2017 02:34:52 AM

Every dipshit and their retarded cousin blames the US for everything. If there is, for example, corruption in Syria, or rampant illiteracy in Egypt, or some douchebag walks into a market in Jordan and blows himself up because he thinks God wants him to kill people for not being pious enough, that's not really our fault.

Power abhors a vacuum. Sure, the US gets involved in shit it has no real business being involved in, but if we don't, other people do. This is very easily shown because when Obama stepped back from making any decisions in the Near East, Russia stepped in, Iran stepped in and Saudi Arabia stepped up. The whole idea that we don't believe in spheres of influence is bullshit. We just got so blinded to being in control that we don't recognize our own spheres of influence anymore.

What I don't like about Obama's foreign policy was his inability to project any sense of leadership or respect. In Libya he was going to "lead from behind" (in common English, that's called "following", by the way) to kill a leader who was not a great guy but who had relinquished nuclear and chemical programs to try to avoid regime change, yet got it anyway. What a terrible message to send to every despot out there - you can't trust us to be loyal when you try to do the right thing. Is it any wonder Kim Jong-fat is wary? In Egypt, he pulled the rug out from under Mubarak and got the Muslim Brotherhood in power before the army finally stepped up and put an end to that farce. In Syria, he said chemical weapons were a "red line" and then did nothing about it, showing himself to be an idle talker whose words meant nothing. In Iraq, he intentionally pulled out our troops just as the country was starting to work under a flimsy pretext (every country pushes back on a Status of Forces agreement and then is told by the US to shut the fuck up; Obama said, instead, "okay, well, I guess we'll leave then" ). Iran came in and so the Gulf States, freaked out, threw material support behind ISIS as the only thing that could stop the Iranians from controlling all of Iraq (and Syria, eventually). Speaking of Iran, Obama did nothing at all when tens of thousands of Iranians were protesting their stolen election. In Afghanistan, he told the Taliban when we were pulling troops out ahead of time, and how many, and otherwise generally fucked up the country.

In other parts of the world Obama showed how useless he was. He tried to scare people in the UK into voting against Brexit, saying the UK would have to "go to the back of the line" on trade agreements (it didn't have to). Then there was the apology tour, of course. Nothing projected weakness quite like it.

I have to admit that on most of these points, I don't think Clinton would have followed Obama's ruinous foreign policy. By all accounts she and Bob Gates twisted Obama's arm to force the bin Laden raid.

Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
This message last edited by Tom on 24/05/2017 at 02:35:38 AM
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Terrible thing in Manchester last night. - 23/05/2017 03:34:11 PM 1141 Views
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That's a quite obtuse answer - 23/05/2017 08:34:20 PM 553 Views
Hiding? - 23/05/2017 08:58:11 PM 605 Views
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What hasn't been consistent about our foreign policy in that region? - 23/05/2017 11:13:57 PM 613 Views
I thought it was obvious that I didn't mean consistently shit. - 23/05/2017 11:36:58 PM 579 Views
It's always about us, then, isn't it? - 24/05/2017 02:34:52 AM 560 Views
For me, it is. - 24/05/2017 07:49:03 AM 565 Views
Don't forget getting an education if you are female *NM* - 23/05/2017 09:38:26 PM 306 Views
They might have a point with that one. I haven't seen much value from it. - 23/05/2017 09:53:19 PM 504 Views
You are going to get rocks thrown at you *NM* - 23/05/2017 10:29:45 PM 266 Views
There aren't many left who would bother. *NM* - 23/05/2017 10:52:14 PM 307 Views
Me and the jihadis - victory by sticking around! *NM* - 24/05/2017 11:11:35 AM 300 Views
Picking a concert that would be mostly teenage girls makes it extra disgusting *NM* - 23/05/2017 09:37:25 PM 291 Views
Not really. It's a logical extension of the whole rationale. - 23/05/2017 09:50:30 PM 596 Views
He said 'extra disgusting'. Not 'less logical'. *NM* - 23/05/2017 10:29:21 PM 311 Views
I am not sure logic applies to the issue. - 23/05/2017 10:41:32 PM 494 Views
I can see that - 24/05/2017 11:47:59 AM 558 Views
It makes me wonder about the attacker - 23/05/2017 11:00:40 PM 560 Views
I wonder about what these people sea in a good who wants this kind of thing - 24/05/2017 05:58:25 PM 546 Views
It really does. That shit makes the blood boil. *NM* - 24/05/2017 05:23:33 PM 324 Views
Isis Shmisis. Daesh is just the end result of the radicalization of many Muslims. - 23/05/2017 11:58:42 PM 532 Views
Blaming the Ottomans, while largely correct, is less satisfying to them. - 24/05/2017 03:21:14 AM 562 Views
There's lots of nationalist feeling, surely. - 24/05/2017 06:48:59 PM 556 Views
Your errors are legion here. - 24/05/2017 10:03:53 PM 534 Views
Really? I see precisely one point which, according to you, is a factual error. - 26/05/2017 11:41:00 PM 595 Views
You're not looking very hard, then - 27/05/2017 03:23:36 PM 620 Views
At this point we're just arguing about perspective, seems to me. - 28/05/2017 07:11:55 PM 716 Views
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Alright, I did miss that point. - 29/05/2017 07:33:36 PM 506 Views
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Oh I do - 25/05/2017 10:27:08 AM 630 Views
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When I see those girl's faces and think about how easily it could be my 11 year old daughter - 24/05/2017 05:53:01 PM 544 Views
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Are you serious? - 28/05/2017 09:56:07 PM 461 Views
There is no tool for not allowing citizens back in the country - 29/05/2017 10:11:42 PM 490 Views
Re: There is no tool for not allowing citizens back in the country *NM* - 29/05/2017 10:11:52 PM 307 Views
Wow, talk about mission creep hitting after just one (incoherent) message - 30/05/2017 03:07:46 PM 721 Views
Speak for yourself. - 30/05/2017 06:57:16 PM 548 Views
You have thus argued for the death of education. - 31/05/2017 02:51:11 PM 534 Views
No, I've argued for substance over form. - 31/05/2017 07:07:28 PM 612 Views
Well, fuck you too then - 02/06/2017 01:43:47 AM 713 Views
Tom, he's dyslexic. Stop being a dick. - 02/06/2017 09:37:27 AM 495 Views
I'm such a n00b *NM* - 24/05/2017 06:03:50 PM 287 Views

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