Report Card for Donald Trump

[SomeGuy]

(01-28-2017, 04:21 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(01-28-2017, 07:41 AM)Mikebert Wrote:

(01-27-2017, 07:11 PM)SomeGuy Wrote: I dunno, Mike, why did we invade Vietnam?  Iraq?  Why did the British intervene on the Continent at the outset of WWI? 

For WW I, because they thought they could win.  The British ended up winning the war. 

For WWI, because they thought that the Germans could win otherwise.  At the time, the British were still playing balance of power politics for Europe.  By coming in on the French side, they prevented a hegemon from taking over the continent.

The US needs to learn balance of power politics, because that is the game we need to play throughout Eurasia.

Exactly.  The rapprochement with Russia (vis China, just as we had a rapprochement with China vis the USSR), Iran and Saudi Arabia, Japan and China, the pieces are in place: It remains to be seen if our politicians can manage it.

Quote:Agreed.  We left a big power vacuum on the high seas for half a decade; we need to avoid another half decade of that if we're to retain our preeminent global position.

It's worse than that.  The post-Cold War draw-down in the 90s, and the distraction of the GWoT during the 2000s, ended up shedding a lot of capabilities we used to train regularly, that are needed for great power politics as opposed to police actions.