why does the usa hate fidel

[Baruch]

Love and Hate are two sides of the same coin.  I both love and hate the US.  I choose ideologically to lean toward cautious optimism and positive outcomes.  I feel the same way, though less strong, for all other countries.  I neither hated nor feared the USSR during the Cold War.  I respected them  I believe that the US and Nato has lost respect for Russia since the fall of the USSR.  This is a very bad attitude.  Russians have been US allies, and will be again.  They are no more or less demons than we are.  I hope that the new administration, and Congress ... respects Russia ... and every other country no matter how small.  We need to end the real world version of America Hell Yeah.  We are not the world's moralist nor its policemen.

[Mike Cl]

Love and Hate are two sides of the same coin.  I both love and hate the US.  I choose ideologically to lean toward cautious optimism and positive outcomes.  I feel the same way, though less strong, for all other countries.  I neither hated nor feared the USSR during the Cold War.  I respected them  I believe that the US and Nato has lost respect for Russia since the fall of the USSR.  This is a very bad attitude.  Russians have been US allies, and will be again.  They are no more or less demons than we are.  I hope that the new administration, and Congress ... respects Russia ... and every other country no matter how small.  We need to end the real world version of America Hell Yeah.  We are not the world's moralist nor its policemen.

Yeah, this!^

It would be really nice if we could whittle down the number of countries we have out troops in--over 150 is a bit much.  I love and hate my country.  I see it's clay feet; and those should be acknowledged so that (no, not do it again) we can recognize when my country is doing it again.  Maybe then we could stop some of it.

[Baruch]

Yeah, this!^

It would be really nice if we could whittle down the number of countries we have out troops in--over 150 is a bit much.  I love and hate my country.  I see it's clay feet; and those should be acknowledged so that (no, not do it again) we can recognize when my country is doing it again.  Maybe then we could stop some of it.

Yes, we are way too aggressive for our own good.  If you don't recognize the warts, you won't put on any wart remover.  Jingos and warmongers aren't patriots, they are psychopaths.

[Cavebear]

The US today may be the Great Britain of 1930..

[Unbeliever]

After a war starts ... then win it.  But the only way to really win, is to not start any wars to begin with.  And that usually requires diplomacy.  Failed diplomacy leads to wars ... so how is that winning?  Or is winning, just Americans, and not other people, feeling temporarily good about themselves?

I consider wars to be less-than-zero sum games, since even the winners are often greatly damaged in the process of winning, or dealing with the post-war peace.

[Cavebear]

I consider wars to be less-than-zero sum games, since even the winners are often greatly damaged in the process of winning, or dealing with the post-war peace.

WWII worked out rather well for the US...  Not saying it was in any way good overall, but your less-than-zero sum arguments fails there.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

WWII worked out rather well for the US...  Not saying it was in any way good overall, but your less-than-zero sum arguments fails there.

Why not?

[Baruch]

WWII worked out rather well for the US...  Not saying it was in any way good overall, but your less-than-zero sum arguments fails there.

Different times.  Hitler with nukes, wouldn't have worked out so well.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Different times.  Hitler with nukes, wouldn't have worked out so well.

And, as I have asked the anti-nuke folks more than once, would the Japanese have hesitated to use a nuke on Pearl Harbor in 1941? Midget subs penetrated the harbor during the actual attack. Snuggle up next to Battleship Row and BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!

[Baruch]

And, as I have asked the anti-nuke folks more than once, would the Japanese have hesitated to use a nuke on Pearl Harbor in 1941? Midget subs penetrated the harbor during the actual attack. Snuggle up next to Battleship Row and BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!

Pacifists are not unbiased observers.  The Japanese Empire intended to release a radiological bomb (isotope bomb) over San Francisco ... Aug 1945.  It was stopped because the Nazi submarine bringing the necessary supplies from Germany was intercepted and sunk by the US.  Japan was not only developing biological weapons in Korea (and testing it on humans) but also had as many wonder weapons on the black board as the Germans had, including a parallel nuclear program with the assistance of Germany (which had its own nuclear program).  If Hitler had delayed starting the war, so that his technology was even better, he would have won.  The Allies were still asleep at the wheel, and could have been encouraged to continue asleep, if he had stayed out of Poland.  Neville Chamberlain would have had more "peace in our time".

Any suggestion, that world war is necessary to stimulate the economy ... is a crime of the worst sort.  Yes, labor costs would go up, and wages would go up ... if there were billions fewer people.  Labor got a bigger part of the economic benefits, because of the Black Death.  But I don't consider that pro-economy.  Besides we can't exist without slave labor.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And another Baruch DAFUQ moment.

[Baruch]

And another Baruch DAFUQ moment.

A lot of people still think that without WW II, FDR wouldn't have had any effective way to end the Great Depression.  We have the Axis to think for our temporary prosperity (until 1971 anyway).  66 million lives ended prematurely was a small price to pay ;-((

[Gawdzilla Sama]

All we can really say there is that FDR hadn't come up with a way to end it, mostly because the whole world, effectively, was also in the same fix. I smile a bit when someone castigates the President for not doing something nobody else could do.

[Unbeliever]

WWII worked out rather well for the US...  Not saying it was in any way good overall, but your less-than-zero sum arguments fails there.

Perhaps, which is why I waffled by using the word "often."

Part of the reason the U.S. did so well after that insanity is that most of the world's manufacturing capabilities were lost, leaving the U.S. as almost the sole nation able to make things the world needed, with something like (I think) 50% of the capacity of the world. Hence the Golden Age we went through after the war. Those were not normal times, however, and now we're going back to being just one more manufacturing nation, as we were before the war.

[Shiranu]

And, as I have asked the anti-nuke folks more than once, would the Japanese have hesitated to use a nuke on Pearl Harbor in 1941? Midget subs penetrated the harbor during the actual attack. Snuggle up next to Battleship Row and BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure how that is relevant to nuking a country that was about to surrender, but alright.