The American Empire Is Coming To An End

Nah...Bush was undecided. I don't blame him as much as I do the false intelligence he was given...and that required time to set-up...a combination of Iraqi ex-patriots and neo-conservatives. Bush admits as much in his memoirs.

 

AND, the economy does better too.

 

Care to source that?

Oh, and you better make sure your talking about a president with the House of Representatives and Senate of the same party, because Congress has a much bigger play in the economy than the president.

I'll wait for those facts.

 

We had plenty of inspections that demonstrated clearly that the claims of WMDs were total crap.

Beyond that, we had far and again enough power to demand more complete inspections as the majority of the UNSC wanted.

Claiming the resistance to total openness as a justification for war is just ridiculous - it demonstrates that US officials WANTED war.

And, that is what those in the Bush administration have stated. Read the documents of the Project for a New American Century - signed by numerous Bush administration figures. They wanted to conquer Iraq so that the US could use it as a replacement for our military footprint in Saudi Arabia - which was opposed by a significant percent of Saudi Arabia. Remember 911? Remember the billions we spent on permanent bases in Iraq - FAR more than we would ever have built to simply hand to a new Iraqi government???

 

Oh, who made you king. I did source it, earlier in this thread. Clear back to the 1947.





Have a nice day!

 

Source that.

Oh **** it, I'll do it for you.

It's not that cut and dried.

https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2002-10/features/iraq-chronology-un-inspections

 

In 1952 defense spending was 15% of GDP. Was that really worth the political benefits of somewhat cheaper gas?

 

This supposedly declining power is building 145 new stealth bombers to bomb the little countries with:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...gets-endorsement-from-biden-air-force-nominee

They'd be wrong. Empires dominate and control the governments of other countries. Simply having military bases is not the same thing.

 

So silly and inane. America is the most tolerant, free, supportive, advanced, economically advanced, and benevolent country in the history of the world.

 

Which is rather like claiming that the king of where ever doesnt care to live here. At least not until his rather reluctant subjects decide to make other arrangements for leaders.

 

There is not now, nor has there ever been a perfect country, just as there is not now nor has there ever been a perfect human being. The problem with the left is that not only do they have no idea what perfection is or have any real idea what it takes to get there, they will produce hell on earth trying to obtain that which cannot be had by any human being and think themselves heroes for having done so.

 

So, YOU think the history of the world is good enough as a measure? Are you sure?

When we promote humanitarian atrocities such as the continuing decades of ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the unending war waged against Gaza, I just say your self-awarded gold star looks totally unjustified.

Besides any humanitarian issues, we do NOT act on what we claim to stand for.

We do some good stuff. But, we have work to do both here and internationally if we want that gold star you claim.

 

We are not even 5% of the world population.

The idea that the 5% is going to reign over the 95% forever is not even consistent with our own foundational principles as being a moral or legitimate thought.

And, more bombers and nuclear weapons is NOT going to change that.

 

Speaking of nuclear weapons, we're also developing a new nuclear cruise missile for our new stealth bombers to carry:
https://www.afnwc.af.mil/News/Artic...s-contract-for-new-long-range-missile-system/

And our submarines will be getting new warheads too (the US' first new warhead design since the end of the Cold War):
https://www.rollcall.com/2020/07/29/trump-teams-case-for-new-nuke-cites-risks-in-current-arsenal/

 

Do you think it has to be?
Winston Churchill once said "Democracy is probably the worst form of government.... except for all the others."

Human beings are a work in progress world-wide. America has been in a position of leadership, not holiness.

 

I don't understand what point you are making here.

 

I agree with that.

We do need to keep working to improve, including wrt our fundamental principles as laid out in our founding documents.

 

I was showing off our new nukes in addition to our new bombers.

I don't think we'll have much trouble bombing the bad guys in coming years.

 

Some very good points . The day we see a competitor to the US system of international payments .. will be the day the history books record as the defacto end of the US Economic Empire. and that day is comming way too soon.

 

I think you are missing that we are less than 5% of the population.

We will regress toward the mean as other economies compete with our own.

There is not the remotest of possibilities of us maintaining an economic advantage over China, and in the slightly longer term, India.

Our position, our standard of living, our national security, etc., depend on economics, not on bombs.

And, our economic advantage has been based in agriculture and then manufacturing - two major sectors where all other nations are eroding any advantage we've had.

Worse yet, we show almost ZERO interest in expanding to other economic sectors - willingly conceding clean energy to China, ignoring the fact that future sectors require more education than we're willing to support. In fact, we've moved toward the direction of despising education.


So, we build bombs when we needed to build smart minds that can help us compete.

And, then we get proud that we can kill more people than before.

 

I disagree. I don't mean to minimize the importance of economics, but weapons are very important too. Without powerful weapons we would be conquered and enslaved. It is desirable that we avoid that fate.

 

"Without powerful weapons" is not the issue. We have enough power to destroy the majority of life on this planet.

 

Not if we don't keep modernizing to keep up with the rest of the world.

 

And so do a dozen of other countries! That doesn't make you safe!

 

It just makes the US a threat ..........which does not help intentional relationships. This country has been far too "war happy". and these destructive episodes have deteriorated any respect for this country.

Was America ever a real empire?? (except in their own mind?) Most advanced places have evolved beyond that kind of thinking.

This country may still be a leader in some areas......but other places lead in others. The world is a much smaller place now. Most matins realize that collaboration is the path.........and not world domination.