01-02-2020, 07:56 PM
(01-01-2020, 10:44 AM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: ** 01-Jan-2020 World View: America's Manifest Destiny
(12-31-2019, 03:03 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: > From the post above this one...
> ** 31-Dec-19 World View -- American airstrikes on Iraq's Kataib
> Hezbollah provoke international fury
> Uh, sounds like some sort of Shiite payback to me. Btw, I think
> the 1979 hostage situation was due to the US./UK coup in 1953.
> The US should just fucking leave the Mideast. We've trashed the
> place enough already and I'd reckon lots of folks there just
> totally hate us.
As I described in my book on Iran, Iran's 1979 civil war was triggered
generationally by the 1890 Tobacco Revolt, the 1905-09 Constitutional
Revolution, and the 1963 White Revolution in which Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini was exiled. During all this time, the UK, Russia and later
America were bogeymen that various Iranian politicians blamed for
their own failures. If the 1953 CIA coup played any part in that, it
was a small part of a large tableau.
It's laughable that you blame the US for trashing the Mideast. As I
showed in my book on Iran, the Mideast has been trashing itself, over
and over and over, for millennia.
One thing I've discovered in 15+ years of developing Generational
Dynamics is that there are very few people in the world who hate us --
maybe some Palestinian groups, maybe some African black liberation
groups, maybe some anti-American hate politicians within the
Democratic party, maybe a couple of other groups -- despite the "ugly
American" stuff you read in American media. Most people in the world
admire America and Americans, and many would love to come to America
and become Americans themselves. Most of the vitriolic criticism of
America, and lately of Trump, is from politicians who are using it for
their own domestic political goals. It's always easy to blame America
for any problem in the world, when a politician doesn't want to admit
his own stupidity.
As for withdrawing from the Mideast, or from the world, I do get
asked this question reasonably frequently, and in fact was just
asked a similar question in the Generational Dynamics forum.
There are practical reasons why this is impossible. One is that
Israel is an important ally. So is Egypt. And we're committed to
providing security to Saudi Arabia so that the Saudis can provide the
world with oil. Those commitments cannot simply be abandoned.
And the news today is that Trump is sending 700 more troops into Iraq
to protect the American embassy. So withdrawing from the Mideast is
little more than a fantasy.
But it's more than that. As I've written in the past, there are a lot
of people, in America and in the world, who believe in American
Exceptionalism, and who truly believe that America has a moral
obligation, or even a Christian obligation, or even an obligation
dictated by God, to fulfill American's Manifest Destiny, and to do the
right thing, and they would not consider withdrawing from the Mideast
or the world as the way to do the right thing.
In fact, you can see this dynamic in the Mideast today. Trump said he
wants to withdraw troops from the Mideast and he's gotten howls of
outrage and criticism from pretty much everyone -- Democrats,
Republicans, liberals, conservatives. He's still being criticized
constantly for reducing the number of troops in Syria after ISIS was
defeated. There are many people, like yourself, who would like to see
America withdraw from the Mideast and just let them "trash" each other
without American involvement, but withdrawing from the Mideast is just
impossible, as it would be inconsistent with America's Manifest Destiny.
1. Yup, I think American Exceptionalism is stupid, arrogant and delusional. This is because whatever happy talk the MSM is up to, the US has deep, structural problems. I can name some of them. The US healthcare system is a nothing but a worthless grifting scheme. Little wonder lifespans are falling. The US workplace is a hellhole. That is one reason folks are turning on to mind altering chemicals. If I had to work at Amazon for example, meth might be the only to keep up with their pace.
Now let's take a look at sacrifice zones. There are polluted or ruined places due to extreme weather and neoliberal policies. Among these are not cleaned up superfund sights, places like Flint, Appalachia, Baltimore, almost any inner city, fire ravaged / blackout places in California, the rustbelt, etc.And of course climate change is gonna be the threat multiplier threat from hell. Just look at Australia now. Wow, man it gives a whole new meaning to burn! baby! burn.
Of course you're right John. I despise globalism and the US empire.
https://youtu.be/ni9rncx8ceA
---Value Added 
