miamizsun wrote:

Absolutely.   Americans should spend more time comparing their country to emerging market economies (EMEs) and poor, developing nations, many if not most  with authoritarian tendencies on top of security issues.

“Each American embassy comes with two permanent features – a giant anti-American demonstration and a giant line for American visas. Most demonstrators spend half their time burning Old Glory and the other half waiting for green cards.”

— P.J. O'Rourke

 Steely_D wrote:
And isn't it ironic?

It's the good advice that you just didn't take

 Steely_D wrote:

isn't it ironic.... don'tcha think... a little toooo ironic

 R_P wrote:

A song where none of the “ironies” really are.

The World’s Democracies Ask: Why Can’t America Fix Itself?
Conversations across continents reveal alarm over the United States’ direction, as it slides away from ideals it once pressed other nations to adopt.

Jennifer McCoy, a political scientist at Georgia State University who co-wrote a recent report on how polarized countries have depolarized in the past, said partisan divisions have kept the United States stuck in place, but so has myopia: Americans rarely look abroad for ideas.

“We have such a myth around our Constitution and American exceptionalism,” she said. “First it makes people very complacent, and second, it takes leaders a very long time to recognize the risk we’re facing. It means it’s very hard to adapt.”

‘The Big One Is Coming’ and the U.S. Military Isn’t Ready
A U.S. flag officer talks candidly about the fading U.S. deterrent.
By The Editorial Board 

Rules-Based-Order vs. Alt-Rules-Based-Order

‘US has no plans to withdraw from Syria or end sanctions’: Official
Despite claiming its presence in Syria is solely to fight ISIS, US forces instead maintain regime change policies against Damascus and illegally loot the country’s oil

Pentagon’s Strategy Says China and Russia Pose More Dangerous Challenges
A new document describes the military’s response to a new era in broad terms and guides Pentagon policy and budget decisions, but it lacks details.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: I am not a fan of Poo Tin.
Somebody needs to take him out.

Tough guy values?
Maybe tougher than some.
But I'm a push over really. 

We Are Suddenly Taking On China and Russia at the Same Time (NYT, Friedman)

In case you haven’t noticed, let me alert you to a bracing turn of events: The U.S. is now in conflict with Russia and China at the same time. Grandma always said, “Never fight Russia and China at the same time.” So did Henry Kissinger. Doing so may be necessary to secure our national interests. But have no doubt: We are in uncharted waters. I just hope that these are not our new “forever wars.”

The struggle with Russia is indirect, but obvious, escalating and violent. We are arming the Ukrainians with smart missiles and intelligence to force the Russians to withdraw from Ukraine. While taking nothing away from the bravery of the Ukrainians, the U.S. and NATO’s support has played a huge role in Ukraine’s battlefield successes. Just ask the Russians. But how does this war end? No one can tell you.

Today, though, I want to focus on the struggle with China, which is less visible and involves no shooting, because it is being fought mostly with transistors that toggle between digital 1s and 0s. But it will have as big, if not bigger, an impact on the global balance of power as the outcome of the combat between Russia and Ukraine. And it has little to do with Taiwan. (...)

 haresfur wrote:

Clairvoyance?  

 sirdroseph wrote:
Yes, Russia destroyed them… as obvious as the nose on my face.

 R_P wrote: 
Most of the time the most obvious answer is the answer.

 haresfur wrote:
+1

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

For you Putin might just be a guy who shares some of your tough-guy values, but for a lot of Eastern Europeans the damage the totalitarian experiment has caused (and Putin is merely the latest iteration of it) is a lot more visceral.  

 haresfur wrote: That darn Putin.
If it wasn't for him... we'd all be in San Francisco growing flowers in our hair.

 R_P wrote:

Yah, nah. The US has nothing to gain from destroying the pipelines at this point and a lot to lose as they try to hold a shaky coalition behind supporting Ukraine. The pipeline wasn't being used when the explosion occurred. My money is on Putin saying he can create a lot of other infrastructure disruption for Western Europe.