American people are great people. When my birth country was ravaged by war in 1990, we received packages with "Donated by people of United States" written on them. I remember my grandfather telling me same, that he to as a child in 1945 also received packages with similar inscription. There are few nations that are so ready to help, as people of USA are.
That being said, please what I write now is not criticism on People of US, but on US politicians.
I disagree with large parts of this article. For last 30 years, US, trough its misguided foreign policy has been effectily running its self to the ground. And only thing exceptional in US seem to be its ever increasing debt that we will leave to our children.
And no US is not some special nation that its soly duty in the world is to "defend" our allies, that are in many cases very rich, and have for years underinvested in their own defense, because you know "crazy" Americans are spending more than enough and will defend Europe in necessary.
I have lived in EU for years, they have much higher social spending for their own population, free college, free healthcare, paid family leave and many more. At same time, healthcare in US is in crisis, we have opioid crisis, we have looming college debt crisis and many others.
EU itself has larger population and GDP than USA, why do our tax dollars need to defend them? I have a feeling that EU will defend itself to the last $ of US tax payers.
I currently live and work in China, but I am under no illusion, US main geopolitical rival in 21st century will be China. And while we are in process of bankrupting our self for defense of very rich EU, that same EU has absolutly no interest in supporting us when it comes to China. If you think that Germany is addicted to import of Russian gas, it is 10 times worse when it comes to their exports to China, same goes to Italy, France and many other EU nations.
Trough complely insane foreign policy, that is focused on NGOs and "spreading" of democracy, we have lost Africa and Asia to China. Good African friend of mine put it best:
"US shows up and wants to teach us some woke nonsense that is simply not applicable to our country and then actively meddles in our internal affairs, at same time China comes and build all infrastructure we need and don't meddle in our internal politics, what do you think, who do we like more?". I know the answer, because China plays same game in my birth country. And China is winning long game.
What US needs now, is not to focus on external affairs, especially not on those on continent rich as Europe. US needs to fix itself, especially issue with our ever ballooning debt that is spiraling out of control. Then we should finally deal with mounting internal crisis (healthcare, college debt, opioid, mental health, social security and others).
World needs US, but if US continues to destroy itself as we have been doing in last 30 years, who will help US?
US needs to be exceptional of its own people, to be shiny beacon for immigrants that come here, we are not worlds police, last 30 years has show that being world police only costs treasure with zero benefits to people of America. We cannot fix the world.
The reality is that the Left genuinely wants to destroy the United States. The 1619 Project is the perfect encapsulation of their beliefs: not only is this country evil, it always has been, and always will be as long as one Enlightenment philosophy (or *any* ideas of white men) remain in our culture. They've admitted that they want to "burn it to the ground."
Engaging in foreign policy that very probably ends with nuclear war makes a disturbing kind of sense when the destruction of your country is the end game. Perhaps they genuinely believe they can build their utopia on the ashes, no matter how insane that appears to the rest of us.
2016-2021: Donald Trump completely unleashed American energy and mining production along with imposing strategic tariffs which completely neutered Russia, China, and Iran. More importantly, he strategically engaged with regional partners for them to police their own regions engaging in business rather than war. And our world has never been more peaceful... until Biden/Obama just came in and made it 2015 again. Oh yeah, rather than fight a 20 year, $3T war enriching the worlds arms suppliers, he strategically took out Qasem Soleimani - the sole leader in terrorist technology for the last 40 years - with one missile strike. Peace. And $1.80/gallon gas...
Speaking with arab people during this time they totally respected Trump and his ways because they are reality; he treated them as adults, not as subjects to be given 'aid' and then ordered to do what US blackmailers wanted.
To think that my former cantor, who moved to Israel with his wife a few years ago, toasted with champagne when Biden was inaugurated. They will probably never admit that Biden's foreign policy choices may doom their lives and those of their family living in Israel.
"...“Our biggest problem is our allies,” Biden said in October 2014,..." Ah yes, those pesky allies, always so needy and selfish!
"Of course, the Israelis will always prove a ready scapegoat." This is where it inevitably ends, and that's terrifying to me. Worse, I think they know that, and that's their end goal anyway.
We've seen the "New World Order" before. We had to clean those messes up and we will have to clean this one up. Sharing nuclear capabilities with pariah states isn't my idea of shared prosperity.
It’s simple. The left hates America. Joey depends has always been a go along with to whatever guy. His overlords have put in leftists in every facet of government to complement the termites the Obama placed. And voila! The hate America band is back together again canoodling with our enemies.
They somehow think they won’t be purged by our enemies,
In my stack examining the failures of our covid response the common theme from our leadership has been to blame their followers for the failures of our leaders. Their is no Obama/Biden playbook other than “do something stupid and when it doesn’t work blame someone else for not being smart enough to appropriately follow.”
That said, I think the issue is much larger than identified in this piece. The issue is that Obama/Biden and the progressive “left,” don’t believe in the American idea. How can we use hard power when we don’t believe in what we’re supposed to be fighting for. The progressive left is really the modern alt-right - they don’t believe in freedom or liberty they believe in capitulation and state power. So how, then, could they go tell Iran or China that they are guilty for not believing the same? There is no new world order under this regime because they believe in an old world order - that power is all that matters but with a populace unwilling to follow that power will concentrate elsewhere. As we have multiple times our history (the civil war being the clearest but not the only) we will be asked again if we believe in freedom and democracy (the last 50 or so years have seen us sacrifice huge amounts of both) or if we will allow man, in the form of State, to take dominion over man once again and see the complete unraveling of the American Dream
“The Biden administration believes that soft power is smart and hard power is dumb. Our allies are paying the price.”
————————————————
It’s only going to get worse.
Maybe the reason SCOTUS is finally overturning Roe is because ever since Biden got elected everyone has mainly just been getting f***ed in the a** so pregnancy is a non-issue these days…..
For some reason, the left cannot handle the truth about human nature. As a result they're constantly surprised by graft, insolence, dissembling and blatant aggression. Get it through your heads folks: People are NOT good by nature, and the Ten Commandments exist for a reason. Doesn't mean all is lost by any means - just learn to deal with people as they ARE, rather than how you might wish them to be.
Mr. Doran’s column is provocative and worthy of consideration because it offers an explanation of an American foreign policy that appears growingly incoherent.
The author speaks as if American “hard power” is infinite, it’s just a matter of turning it on. But the United States is currently in a state of social division and financial collapse which is the consequence of two pointless losing wars that cost trillions of dollars and thousands of deaths. Those wars were started, not by Obama, but by Bush. In whose administration, the author served. The words “Bush”, “Iraq War” and “Afghanistan” do not appear in this essay even once. Special pleading, much?
Let’s get clear on the word “exceptional”. People think it means Americans see themselves as special. (well I believe that, but that’s beside the point). It’s original meaning was that America was the exception in the world. Other countries had monarchs, despotic systems of government. We formed a democratic republic where “we the people” were in charge. And we have shared that all over the world for the good.
I reject those below who say America is done. It is not. We just have to remember we aren’t perfect, but net-net, we have been the world’s best idea and a force for good. Right now the idiots on the left want us to forget that. REFUSE!
American people are great people. When my birth country was ravaged by war in 1990, we received packages with "Donated by people of United States" written on them. I remember my grandfather telling me same, that he to as a child in 1945 also received packages with similar inscription. There are few nations that are so ready to help, as people of USA are.
That being said, please what I write now is not criticism on People of US, but on US politicians.
I disagree with large parts of this article. For last 30 years, US, trough its misguided foreign policy has been effectily running its self to the ground. And only thing exceptional in US seem to be its ever increasing debt that we will leave to our children.
And no US is not some special nation that its soly duty in the world is to "defend" our allies, that are in many cases very rich, and have for years underinvested in their own defense, because you know "crazy" Americans are spending more than enough and will defend Europe in necessary.
I have lived in EU for years, they have much higher social spending for their own population, free college, free healthcare, paid family leave and many more. At same time, healthcare in US is in crisis, we have opioid crisis, we have looming college debt crisis and many others.
EU itself has larger population and GDP than USA, why do our tax dollars need to defend them? I have a feeling that EU will defend itself to the last $ of US tax payers.
I currently live and work in China, but I am under no illusion, US main geopolitical rival in 21st century will be China. And while we are in process of bankrupting our self for defense of very rich EU, that same EU has absolutly no interest in supporting us when it comes to China. If you think that Germany is addicted to import of Russian gas, it is 10 times worse when it comes to their exports to China, same goes to Italy, France and many other EU nations.
Trough complely insane foreign policy, that is focused on NGOs and "spreading" of democracy, we have lost Africa and Asia to China. Good African friend of mine put it best:
"US shows up and wants to teach us some woke nonsense that is simply not applicable to our country and then actively meddles in our internal affairs, at same time China comes and build all infrastructure we need and don't meddle in our internal politics, what do you think, who do we like more?". I know the answer, because China plays same game in my birth country. And China is winning long game.
What US needs now, is not to focus on external affairs, especially not on those on continent rich as Europe. US needs to fix itself, especially issue with our ever ballooning debt that is spiraling out of control. Then we should finally deal with mounting internal crisis (healthcare, college debt, opioid, mental health, social security and others).
World needs US, but if US continues to destroy itself as we have been doing in last 30 years, who will help US?
US needs to be exceptional of its own people, to be shiny beacon for immigrants that come here, we are not worlds police, last 30 years has show that being world police only costs treasure with zero benefits to people of America. We cannot fix the world.
The reality is that the Left genuinely wants to destroy the United States. The 1619 Project is the perfect encapsulation of their beliefs: not only is this country evil, it always has been, and always will be as long as one Enlightenment philosophy (or *any* ideas of white men) remain in our culture. They've admitted that they want to "burn it to the ground."
Engaging in foreign policy that very probably ends with nuclear war makes a disturbing kind of sense when the destruction of your country is the end game. Perhaps they genuinely believe they can build their utopia on the ashes, no matter how insane that appears to the rest of us.
2016-2021: Donald Trump completely unleashed American energy and mining production along with imposing strategic tariffs which completely neutered Russia, China, and Iran. More importantly, he strategically engaged with regional partners for them to police their own regions engaging in business rather than war. And our world has never been more peaceful... until Biden/Obama just came in and made it 2015 again. Oh yeah, rather than fight a 20 year, $3T war enriching the worlds arms suppliers, he strategically took out Qasem Soleimani - the sole leader in terrorist technology for the last 40 years - with one missile strike. Peace. And $1.80/gallon gas...
Speaking with arab people during this time they totally respected Trump and his ways because they are reality; he treated them as adults, not as subjects to be given 'aid' and then ordered to do what US blackmailers wanted.
“Eager to get the deal done, President Biden began to consider complying with Tehran’s demand”
————————————————-
I still have not heard an explanation for the Democrat obsession with helping Iran that doesn’t involve satanic possession.
To think that my former cantor, who moved to Israel with his wife a few years ago, toasted with champagne when Biden was inaugurated. They will probably never admit that Biden's foreign policy choices may doom their lives and those of their family living in Israel.
"...“Our biggest problem is our allies,” Biden said in October 2014,..." Ah yes, those pesky allies, always so needy and selfish!
"Of course, the Israelis will always prove a ready scapegoat." This is where it inevitably ends, and that's terrifying to me. Worse, I think they know that, and that's their end goal anyway.
We've seen the "New World Order" before. We had to clean those messes up and we will have to clean this one up. Sharing nuclear capabilities with pariah states isn't my idea of shared prosperity.
It’s simple. The left hates America. Joey depends has always been a go along with to whatever guy. His overlords have put in leftists in every facet of government to complement the termites the Obama placed. And voila! The hate America band is back together again canoodling with our enemies.
They somehow think they won’t be purged by our enemies,
This article alone is worth the price of a subscription to Common Sense. Wow.
In my stack examining the failures of our covid response the common theme from our leadership has been to blame their followers for the failures of our leaders. Their is no Obama/Biden playbook other than “do something stupid and when it doesn’t work blame someone else for not being smart enough to appropriately follow.”
That said, I think the issue is much larger than identified in this piece. The issue is that Obama/Biden and the progressive “left,” don’t believe in the American idea. How can we use hard power when we don’t believe in what we’re supposed to be fighting for. The progressive left is really the modern alt-right - they don’t believe in freedom or liberty they believe in capitulation and state power. So how, then, could they go tell Iran or China that they are guilty for not believing the same? There is no new world order under this regime because they believe in an old world order - that power is all that matters but with a populace unwilling to follow that power will concentrate elsewhere. As we have multiple times our history (the civil war being the clearest but not the only) we will be asked again if we believe in freedom and democracy (the last 50 or so years have seen us sacrifice huge amounts of both) or if we will allow man, in the form of State, to take dominion over man once again and see the complete unraveling of the American Dream
“The Biden administration believes that soft power is smart and hard power is dumb. Our allies are paying the price.”
————————————————
It’s only going to get worse.
Maybe the reason SCOTUS is finally overturning Roe is because ever since Biden got elected everyone has mainly just been getting f***ed in the a** so pregnancy is a non-issue these days…..
For some reason, the left cannot handle the truth about human nature. As a result they're constantly surprised by graft, insolence, dissembling and blatant aggression. Get it through your heads folks: People are NOT good by nature, and the Ten Commandments exist for a reason. Doesn't mean all is lost by any means - just learn to deal with people as they ARE, rather than how you might wish them to be.
I like these pro Western pro American policy analyses. Douglas Murray's War on the West nails it too.
Mr. Doran’s column is provocative and worthy of consideration because it offers an explanation of an American foreign policy that appears growingly incoherent.
The author speaks as if American “hard power” is infinite, it’s just a matter of turning it on. But the United States is currently in a state of social division and financial collapse which is the consequence of two pointless losing wars that cost trillions of dollars and thousands of deaths. Those wars were started, not by Obama, but by Bush. In whose administration, the author served. The words “Bush”, “Iraq War” and “Afghanistan” do not appear in this essay even once. Special pleading, much?
Let’s get clear on the word “exceptional”. People think it means Americans see themselves as special. (well I believe that, but that’s beside the point). It’s original meaning was that America was the exception in the world. Other countries had monarchs, despotic systems of government. We formed a democratic republic where “we the people” were in charge. And we have shared that all over the world for the good.
I reject those below who say America is done. It is not. We just have to remember we aren’t perfect, but net-net, we have been the world’s best idea and a force for good. Right now the idiots on the left want us to forget that. REFUSE!