oski003 said:
Big C said:
bear2034 said:
The Ghoul said:
"If you look at the history of American foreign policy, it's very hard to make the case that our principal goal has been to protect freedom and democracy. The U.S. has a rich history of overthrowing democracies around the world and we have a rich history of siding with some of the world's biggest dictators. This idea that we're out there protecting freedom and democracy as our principal goal doesn't mesh with reality."
I largely agree with Mearsheimer here, except to add that what U.S. foreign policy protects is U.S. interests. Sometimes that is freedom and democracy, but a lot of times it is military security or just plain $$$. That is not necessarily a bad thing though: Most of us appreciate military security and $$$!
I agree. Hopefully, we are funding Ukraine in a losing two plus year war with Russia because of U.S. interests, as opposed to lining the pockets of government officials and their buddies. How do wars like these affect global warming? Haven't 100 million tonnes of carbon been released into the atmosphere, as well as the sabotage to the two Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022, which led to the biggest ever point source release of methane? They are also fighting around nuclear reactors.
Why it might be in US interests to do exactly what we've been doing:
+ show Russia and China (and more!) that they don't get to take over whatever area they want without paying a price
+ get a good look at Russia's military capabilities, as we revamp our own for future possible wars
+ maybe Ukraine isn't "the good guys", but Putin and Russia seem like badder bad guys. I will say one thing for Ukraine: they aren't the aggressors in this. It's probably the right thing to do.
Why it might
not be in US interests:
- always the threat of the war spreading or maybe even going nuclear
- expensive af
- though it may be in our interests to support Ukraine, it's not in our
vital interests... Putin ain't Hitler trying to take over Europe
