Originally Posted by JohnnyB
TLDR at the end.
Given the average age on CP, I'm pretty sure none of us are in high school and I'd guess nobody really cares about being "edgy". Anyways, even if it is edgy to call people fools, it's hardly edgy to recognize that the US has a dubious history of overthrowing democracies, waging wars, and committing human rights abuses simply in order to serve their own strategic interests.
That doesn't mean Americans generally or in their foreign affairs or military are bad people, or that they don't believe in democracy, but that's how it goes when you're dealing with a systemic problem. They're also not the ones setting broad policy directions. Diplomats are a bit like the doctors engaged in the distribution of Oxycontin who genuinely believed in good care for patients and helping them live healthier lives, just as people in the press are bit like the people who engaged in convening marketing activities for the stuff.
At the strategic level, the US focuses on their own interests through the lens of US supremacy.
We're at a point in this war where it's looking like there's a good chance of Ukraine not being able to gain back the lost territories. It's unquestionable that Ukrainians are the victims and Russia should not have invaded, but it's also worth remembering that back in March 2022 there was an opportunity for a peace deal that the US apparently shut down - shut down because they apparently felt it was important to make a point to China about Taiwan.
A year and a half on, sure, that point has been made. The US has also gained much greater influence over Europe and they've put a serious drain on Russia. It's the best money they've ever spent, as Lindsey Graham put it. It has also come at the price tag of millions of Ukrainian refugees, huge numbers of Ukrainian and Russian deaths, and an Eastern Ukraine that has been blown to bits and thoroughly mined such that people will keep getting blown to bits for a couple of generations. What is left of Ukraine will also likely come under much greater American ownership as rebuilding and economic recovery is financed by American firms.
So, what of that point made to China about Taiwan? The US strategic interests aren't about the people of Taiwan or their democratic system either. Their interests are in relation to the importance of Taiwan's location in the region and in the importance of TSMC. The importance of Taiwan is in relation to US goals for constraining China's growth and opposing their rise as as global competitor. It's a key compliment to other strategies of constraining and restricting Chinese economic and technological development.
Put in perspective, the US shot down a deal that could have precluded an enormous amount of suffering in Ukraine in part because the US (a country with a per capita GDP of $70,000) is very concerned with restricting the economic development of a country with 1.4 billion people and a per capita GDP of $13,000. How ####ed up is that?
The US is just writing cheques feeding into their own arms industry while the human and economic costs of war are borne by Europe and Ukraine, and they seem happy to do it because it serves to increase their influence over key allies, weaken an adversary, and support a strategy to keep 1.4 billion people far lower than them on the economic ladder from having the chance to climb up, all of which helps to secure their supremacy.
The Ukrainians are very much the victims in this, and there's no inconsistency in recognizing that and wanting them to have safety, security, and wellbeing while also recognizing that as America funds their defense they are also being used by the US to serve larger American strategic interests.
There's also nothing inconsistent in wanting the Ukrainians to get support from the US and to be able to defend themselves and their home while simultaneously recognizing the extreme cynicism and inhumanity of an American strategy to constrain the advancement of 18% of the world's population so that a rich country with 4% of the world's population and a political system dominated by the richest among them can maintain their global supremacy.
Personally, I like a lot about America as a brand, but when you see human suffering being used as a tool to enable further human suffering, all to serve control and security for the few, well it's pretty gross. I still might not call people who believe the brand messaging "fools", but at least well-meaning and hopeful people who are being misled.
TLDR: Just putting on my eyeliner and my anarchy shirt, and getting edgy.
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