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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 994 Views
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I'm not sure i understand. - 23/05/2017 05:54:33 PM 394 Views
That's a quite obtuse answer - 23/05/2017 08:34:20 PM 406 Views
Hiding? - 23/05/2017 08:58:11 PM 441 Views
What do you mean, exactly, by "stop making ourselves targets" then? - 23/05/2017 09:47:43 PM 381 Views
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What hasn't been consistent about our foreign policy in that region? - 23/05/2017 11:13:57 PM 453 Views
I thought it was obvious that I didn't mean consistently shit. - 23/05/2017 11:36:58 PM 430 Views
It's always about us, then, isn't it? - 24/05/2017 02:34:52 AM 398 Views
For me, it is. - 24/05/2017 07:49:03 AM 398 Views
Don't forget getting an education if you are female *NM* - 23/05/2017 09:38:26 PM 229 Views
They might have a point with that one. I haven't seen much value from it. - 23/05/2017 09:53:19 PM 350 Views
You are going to get rocks thrown at you *NM* - 23/05/2017 10:29:45 PM 201 Views
There aren't many left who would bother. *NM* - 23/05/2017 10:52:14 PM 220 Views
Me and the jihadis - victory by sticking around! *NM* - 24/05/2017 11:11:35 AM 221 Views
Picking a concert that would be mostly teenage girls makes it extra disgusting *NM* - 23/05/2017 09:37:25 PM 219 Views
Not really. It's a logical extension of the whole rationale. - 23/05/2017 09:50:30 PM 430 Views
He said 'extra disgusting'. Not 'less logical'. *NM* - 23/05/2017 10:29:21 PM 235 Views
I am not sure logic applies to the issue. - 23/05/2017 10:41:32 PM 352 Views
I can see that - 24/05/2017 11:47:59 AM 402 Views
It makes me wonder about the attacker - 23/05/2017 11:00:40 PM 396 Views
I wonder about what these people sea in a good who wants this kind of thing - 24/05/2017 05:58:25 PM 382 Views
It really does. That shit makes the blood boil. *NM* - 24/05/2017 05:23:33 PM 241 Views
Isis Shmisis. Daesh is just the end result of the radicalization of many Muslims. - 23/05/2017 11:58:42 PM 373 Views
Blaming the Ottomans, while largely correct, is less satisfying to them. - 24/05/2017 03:21:14 AM 408 Views
There's lots of nationalist feeling, surely. - 24/05/2017 06:48:59 PM 390 Views
Your errors are legion here. - 24/05/2017 10:03:53 PM 378 Views
Really? I see precisely one point which, according to you, is a factual error. - 26/05/2017 11:41:00 PM 408 Views
You're not looking very hard, then - 27/05/2017 03:23:36 PM 466 Views
At this point we're just arguing about perspective, seems to me. - 28/05/2017 07:11:55 PM 525 Views
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Alright, I did miss that point. - 29/05/2017 07:33:36 PM 359 Views
You can't do anything - 24/05/2017 05:00:31 PM 356 Views
Be honest. We both know I am a major hardass and you like it. *NM* - 24/05/2017 05:19:21 PM 198 Views
Oh I do - 25/05/2017 10:27:08 AM 449 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 404 Views
I would prefer to annihilate them, if possible, without boots on the ground. - 24/05/2017 06:03:49 PM 357 Views
I admit my reaction is as much emotional as rational but boots may be needed - 24/05/2017 06:37:51 PM 454 Views
Are you serious? - 28/05/2017 09:56:07 PM 312 Views
There is no tool for not allowing citizens back in the country - 29/05/2017 10:11:42 PM 335 Views
Re: There is no tool for not allowing citizens back in the country *NM* - 29/05/2017 10:11:52 PM 221 Views
Wow, talk about mission creep hitting after just one (incoherent) message - 30/05/2017 03:07:46 PM 571 Views
Speak for yourself. - 30/05/2017 06:57:16 PM 394 Views
You have thus argued for the death of education. - 31/05/2017 02:51:11 PM 389 Views
No, I've argued for substance over form. - 31/05/2017 07:07:28 PM 387 Views
Well, fuck you too then - 02/06/2017 01:43:47 AM 558 Views
Tom, he's dyslexic. Stop being a dick. - 02/06/2017 09:37:27 AM 332 Views
I'm such a n00b *NM* - 24/05/2017 06:03:50 PM 212 Views

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