Hi paul_philp; Re: "The rest of the players are engaged in a giant game of realpolitik chess and the US is bumbling around like an idiot."
(1) This isn't the first time the US has done something like this, so why are you surprised?
(2) Americans are very insular. In most of the country you can drive 2000km without a passport, or a change in language. A very large percentage of the population has never even been to Canada or Mexico, never reads any foreign news at all (and forgets whatever is spoon fed to them on TV). What do you expect when you give them the right to vote and then let politicians manipulate their fears for political advantage, LOL.
(3) Every major country on the planet gets involved in stupid things every now and then. We're lucky that this one appears to be blowing over without a war. It doesn't always happen that way:
Germany got painfully crushed in two world wars.
Russia fell for Communism and destroyed their economy for 3/4 of a century, and got bled white twice against Germany.
China couldn't defeat Japan or even Vietnam(!).
Japan got itself crushed in a world war.
France went through a stupid revolution in the late 18th century, got crushed (twice) supporting Napoleon, and got crushed again in 1870, bled white in 1914-18, got crushed once again in 1940, and then lost two expensive colonial conflicts in Vietnam and Algeria.
Britain had the life sucked out of it in two world wars, and let Ireland fester for 500 years. But overall, I think Britain has done pretty well. They've had the advantage of a certaint amount of democracy, but without the insularity, which is odd, given that they live on an island, LOL.
Italy got itself crushed in a world war, and got itself involved in various stupid colonial adventures.
Australia and Canada got bled white fighting for Britain.
-- Carl |
