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Yakk · 11-10-2006, 11:07 AM

Do you want allies? Nations that want to trade with you, and believe that supporting the USA is in their best interests?

Or do you want a congress of nations, all of whom have in the back of their minds "The USA is trying to screw us. Let's undermine the USA at every step."

For decades, the USA has had the ability to claim "we are actually trying to make the world a better place". Now every single action of the American government is presumed to be some machination to boost the power of the American Empire. Mainly because the US foriegn policy is actually behaving that way.

So now the USA is has a huge manpower commitment -- boots on the ground -- locking down a large amount of it's ability to project threat in Iraq. I've seen arguements within the nations that are currently supplying troops in Afghanistan to pull out, in order to tie down more American troops -- because they don't trust what the USA will do if it wasn't tied down.

The USA might be able to sustain it's Imperlialist ambitions, take on Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and probably some revolt in the Latin American client states, if it shifted to a full-scale war footing. You know, the draft, tax levels above 50%, rationing, hyper-inflation to deal with the debt, etc.

Of course, there are alternatives. Like convincing the world that the USA isn't a wild cannon, using other nation's troops as "boots on the ground" to help with occupations and reconstruction (peacekeeping), and generally realizing that "resolve and fortitude" won't do it alone.

Don't get me wrong -- scorched earth policies, making deserts and calling it peace can be used to avoid the "boots on the ground" problem. It worked for Germany and England for quite a while.

11-10-2006, 11:07 AM	#20 (permalink)
Yakk Wehret Den Anfängen! Location: Ontario, Canada	Do you want allies? Nations that want to trade with you, and believe that supporting the USA is in their best interests? Or do you want a congress of nations, all of whom have in the back of their minds "The USA is trying to screw us. Let's undermine the USA at every step." For decades, the USA has had the ability to claim "we are actually trying to make the world a better place". Now every single action of the American government is presumed to be some machination to boost the power of the American Empire. Mainly because the US foriegn policy is actually behaving that way. So now the USA is has a huge manpower commitment -- boots on the ground -- locking down a large amount of it's ability to project threat in Iraq. I've seen arguements within the nations that are currently supplying troops in Afghanistan to pull out, in order to tie down more American troops -- because they don't trust what the USA will do if it wasn't tied down. The USA might be able to sustain it's Imperlialist ambitions, take on Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and probably some revolt in the Latin American client states, if it shifted to a full-scale war footing. You know, the draft, tax levels above 50%, rationing, hyper-inflation to deal with the debt, etc. Of course, there are alternatives. Like convincing the world that the USA isn't a wild cannon, using other nation's troops as "boots on the ground" to help with occupations and reconstruction (peacekeeping), and generally realizing that "resolve and fortitude" won't do it alone. Don't get me wrong -- scorched earth policies, making deserts and calling it peace can be used to avoid the "boots on the ground" problem. It worked for Germany and England for quite a while. __________________ Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.