• JungleJim@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Yeah when we ask the government of that place, and they say yes, we should then feel free to do that.

      • queermunist she/her
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        10 months ago

        The US “asks”

        Look at the ruins left all over that region to see what happens to countries that don’t cooperate.

        • JungleJim@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          They get overrun by the local threats the USA may have been able to help with? I mean, there’s obviously nuance here, but you aren’t using it either so

          • lennybird@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Don’t waste your time. This user has gems like:

            Liberals in America are just right wing anti-communists, they’re not leftists at all. As for Bernie, social-democracy is the moderate wing of fascism and that’s why he supports Biden’s genocide.

            Both parties are evil because this is an evil country that must be stopped.

            But I’m quite serious about hating America. No one should be president and we should do everything possible to make that a reality.

            And told me that Russia is less corrupt and authoritarian than the USA. They ran away from that conversation once facts were laid out.

            • hydroxide
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              10 months ago

              Liberals in America are just right wing anti-communists, they’re not leftists at all.

              This is factually true

              • DdCno1@kbin.social
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                10 months ago

                The Democratic Party covers a range from supporters of European-style Social Democracy (Sanders, Cortez, etc.) to the moderate center-right. The former is definitely part of the leftist spectrum. They would be at least slightly left of the center in Europe and most definitely are by American standards.

                The fact that there aren’t any noteworthy Communist politicians in the US isn’t all that surprising given that America wasn’t exactly receptive to this ideology for most of its history and that the the whole Marxist Leninist world revolution ended up being a rather embarrassing failure. Arbitrarily claiming that anyone who is anti-communist, which is hardly an unreasonable position, can’t be leftist is just absurd.

                • hydroxide
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                  10 months ago

                  You have just explained Chomsky’s limits on the spectrum of acceptable opinion. Most of these Democrats are fiscally moderate at best and foreign policy aligns quite closely with US interests. Every single one is McCarthy levels of fervently anti-communist.

                  When every single senator and Congress member vote to agree on the defense budget, I can’t take you seriously when you speak about the ‘diversity’ of Democrats.

            • queermunist she/her
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              10 months ago

              Actually I went to work and your post required too much to respond during a bathroom break.

              I’ll get to you this afternoon!

            • pearable
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              10 months ago

              Honestly tho. ISIS was born in Abu Graib, a US run prison. The Taliban was a reaction to the warlords the US funded in the war against the USSR. Hamas has been funded by Israel, a US supported ally, for years. All the alternatives to Hamas in Gaza were suppressed. And this is just the middle east. The same pattern is repeated in South America and East Asia.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Do they put them wherever they want, or in coordination with the local sovereign governments?

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          They often crumble from internal sectarian violence. Or get overrun by Russian sock-puppets barrel-bombing and using chemical weapons against their own people. But ah, yes, while I opposed the Iraq invasion, Saddam was clearly a great guy and Iraq was thriving, right? Or how about Iran? No bases there! I’m sure the women just love their bastion of freedom from their US overlords, lol.

          • queermunist she/her
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            10 months ago

            Iraq was better off before the invasion. Fact.

            Also, do you think women get freedom when the US installs bases?

            • lennybird@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              20 years more of Saddam rule? As much as the pretense for going into Iraq was bogus, the oppressed Shia population would beg to differ.

              You’re the one who told me to look at countries that don’t coordinate with the US. I did. I’m not impressed. I look at countries like Germany today and by contrast, I am impressed. So are you impressed by Iran, Russia, North Korea? Or do you disagree with the likes of Jordan openly cooperating with the US to contain ISIS?

            • DdCno1@kbin.social
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              10 months ago

              Iraq was better off before the invasion. Fact.

              I don’t think this is a fact. Let’s look at a few metrics, starting with HDI:

              https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Iraq/human_development/

              Infant mortality rate:

              https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/IRQ/iraq/infant-mortality-rate

              GDP per capita (ignore the silly outlier):

              https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/IRQ/iraq/gdp-per-capita

              These basic figures suggest that a number of key aspects of life are indeed better than they were during the dictatorship.

              The homicide rate is higher now:

              https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/IRQ/iraq/murder-homicide-rate

              Keep in mind though that there is no way of knowing how accurate official figures from the past were (this also goes for the numbers on human and economic development, of course). Also worth noting that the government itself could kill and maim with impunity back then:

              https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde14/003/1996/en/

              Freedom of the press is still pretty abysmal these days (and the page also touches on what you were likely mentioning the instability):

              https://rsf.org/en/country/iraq

              A report from 2002 on the state of affairs under Saddam’s rule:

              https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/iraq/press.html

              I would admit that life in Iraq could be safer under Saddam Hussein compared to today, given that he kept a lid on especially religious conflicts, but this came with a big asterisk: Provided you didn’t run afoul of the regime or provided the regime didn’t think you did (no court of appeal, no independent judiciary, torture and murder are common - you can be the most loyal Baathist and still just be unlucky), provided you didn’t have a pretty daughter (or were one) in a place where Saddam’s son were looking for girls to rape, torture and murder, provided you weren’t a member of a persecuted ethnic group, provided you didn’t own something Saddam or his sons wanted from you, etc. The usual caveats of living under autocratic rule, with the added “insane son of dictator” factor (see also: what Kim Jong Il was up to in his younger days).

              • queermunist she/her
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                10 months ago

                Iraq can only finally start to recover now that it is asking the US military to leave.

                Oh, but the US won’t leave. You okay with that too?

                • PutangInaMo@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  Yeah I am. Have you been there? They’re not ready… exhibit a: every article about US bombings this week…

                  • queermunist she/her
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                    10 months ago

                    They don’t want us there! What right do we have to decide if they are “ready”?

                    That’s some white man’s burden bullshit.