IS AMERICA A BULLY?

In some respects there are definite signs that America is too soft rather than being "bullies"!
For example when WW2 ended, Gen Patton said "Let's carry on and kick the russkis all the way back to Moscow, we've got the atom bomb and they haven't!" but he was shouted down by Truman and other Washington wimps and as a result, half of Europe was under the red heel for the next 50 years.
Same with the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the gutless Washington wimps pussy-footed around again.
"Washington locked me into a defensive strategy, thereby preventing me bringing the war to a swift conclusion"- Gen Westmoreland, overall Vietnam Commander
and more recently I couldn't believe my ears when i heard Obama say on TV- "Our aim in Afghanistan is not to defeat the Taliban, but to contain them and prevent them spreading their influence in the region".
There you have it folks, Oby doesn't want to defeat the Taliban, sheesh!

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Like I said, we've come to terms with our colonial past.

Empty rhetoric, in my opinion. Similar to Germany admitting that the Holocaust (aka, The Final Solution) was wrong to do. I do not believe many German nationals today have any "remorse," nor "shame" for that atrocity. Why? Simple, in my opinion. German Jews were "outsiders" in the European mentality of insiders and outsiders, and Jews were not descended from the Teutonic tribes that most German nationals identify with. So, admitting that something was wrong, yet having no remorse, nor shame, in my opinion is just empty rhetoric.

Britains "coming to terms," in my opinion, is analogous, since British national pride is alive and well relative to its glorious past Empire (i.e. no remorse, nor shame amongst many Brits).

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

One thing you and Frank seem to have avoided in your dirty talking is that if the British Empire was such an awful institution that was unremittingly evil, why is the Commonwealth such a thriving institution to today?

On one of the BBC monarchy documentaries it was suggested that many countries that were not ex-colonies are applying for Commonwealth membership. If I understood the reason, it is economic. Smaller nations can have trading partners?

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@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

Empty rhetoric, in my opinion. Similar to Germany admitting that the Holocaust (aka, The Final Solution) was wrong to do. I do not believe many German nationals today have any "remorse," nor "shame" for that atrocity. Why?

Because, with the exception of some very old men and women, they didn't do anything. Why should someone feel shame for something one of their ancestors may or may not have done? You can remember the past and respect the victims without going round in sackcloth and ashes all the time. Punishing the offspring down to the 7th generation is so backwards. What's important is to focus on the present. Germany is a very peaceful nation, and does not pose the slightest threat to any other nation's sovereignty, unlike some of those who like to wag fingers and pontificate.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Everyone is ignorant Frank, and that includes you, unless you claim to know it all (which would not surprise me). You should try really hard to get through a response without the name calling.

Jabba...I am not ignorant. If that bothers you enough to pretend you were simply suggesting that I do not know anything...

...I thank you for providing such a hearty laugh!!! Wink

Keep on truckin'.

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

Frank Apisa wrote:

At some point I hope the top dog stops the "I can kick anyone's ass here" mentality...and works to make the entire planet a better place in which to live. We all...the capable and the much less capable...deserve a hell of a lot better than we are getting right now.

Frankie baby, that's why Popes do not go on Crusades anymore and are concerned about the poor. However, that is just the job description of the Vatican. Protestants must achieve wealth to be sure of Salvation.

When you say "we all...deserve a hell of a lot better..." you are doing the Catholic thing again (aka, loving your enemies), in my opinion. The world is all not Catholic. Sorry, to inform you of such. Over 1600 years to get everyone on the bandwagon, and it hasn't achieved it objective. Perhaps, one should just care about one's own family/tribe/flock?

I realize the world is not all Catholic, Foof...in fact, I am not Catholic. And I certainly am not advocating for Catholicism.

I simply think that everyone...from the very capable though to the only marginally capable...deserve a hell of a lot better than we are getting right now.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

I simply think that everyone...from the very capable though to the only marginally capable...deserve a hell of a lot better than we are getting right now.

It's that word "deserve" that I find troublesome, since there are such ingrates in society, that deserve little, since they have such a great feeling of entitlement.

I could be wrong and everyone deserves everything; however, that's not the way I was raised, and I'd just prefer a world where only those that bring in their completed homework, metaphorically speaking, gets to play during recess, metaphorically speaking.

I call it tough love.

Only if those without, get the humility to admit that they are "challenged," should they be offered "charity," in my opinion. Why must we pretend that everyone has equal ability? Ahh yes, the civil unrest card; know it well. [Foofie enjoys emulating W.C. Fields.]

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

In fact, this thread is by far the best argument for International Socialism on A2K.

No. You deserve more than others, in my opinion, since you have suffered more. Today I feel generous.

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

When you say "we all...deserve a hell of a lot better..." you are doing the Catholic thing again (aka, loving your enemies), in my opinion. The world is all not Catholic.

Sanctum sanctorum cacas, to say it Catholic. I'dthought, it had been an old Jewish principle, from the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.

2 Replies

@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

Similar to Germany admitting that the Holocaust (aka, The Final Solution) was wrong to do.

You can't take opinions of neo-Nazis as those of Germany.

But that's what you like to do, isn't it? Besides bashing Catholics, other Europeans ...

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

So i see that you can't give up the name-calling, and how childish it shows you to be. I also see you must think that that you do know it all. As i said, that does not surprise me. You also use that feeble kind of straw man when you try to claim that i've said you do not know anything. Can you link that post for me? Or are you a liar?

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

You defend this particular guess quite vigorously, my friend.

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Foofie wrote:

Today I feel generous.

You should me more concerned with how you sound, because you sound ridiculous.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

So i see that you can't give up the name-calling, and how childish it shows you to be. I also see you must think that that you do know it all. As i said, that does not surprise me. You also use that feeble kind of straw man when you try to claim that i've said you do not know anything. Can you link that post for me? Or are you a liar?

Hey, Jabba...

...you said that I was ignorant...and if I am claiming I am not ignorant, then I must know everything.

But don't even deal with that...because I love you, Jabba, for actually trying to pretty up the "ignorant" remark.

And no...I am not a liar, Jabba. Not at all.

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@neologist,

neologist wrote:

You defend this particular guess quite vigorously, my friend.

I defend lots of my guesses...or opinions. But, as I did in this case, I freely acknowledge that many reasonable, well-intentioned, intelligent people can be very much in disagreement with my opinion.

So...just how unvigorous would I have to get to meet whatever standard you are trying to establish for me?

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

So...just how unvigorous would I have to get to meet whatever standard you are trying to establish for me?

Just pulling your chain, Frank. The Anglo American influence on our modern world is without equal.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

I'dthought, [love your enemies] had been an old Jewish principle, from the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.

That Patriarch Testaments is an apocryph of uncertain origin and date, but certainly heavily redacted by Christians. The "love your enemies" has no antecedents that I know of in Jewish literature. It's part of the "original JC message".

1 Reply

@Olivier5,

My bad. It's a different but still Jewsih source:

Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself

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@Walter Hinteler,

Emphasis on "your people". Leviticus says nothing of loving enemies.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Foofie wrote:
Similar to Germany admitting that the Holocaust (aka, The Final Solution) was wrong to do.

You can't take opinions of neo-Nazis as those of Germany.

But that's what you like to do, isn't it? Besides bashing Catholics, other Europeans ...

Bashing? You mean like those that "bash" Israel? Or, basing Jews for supposed inherent traits? Let's have an even playing field. If some can criticize Israel for its manner of protecting its citizens from terrorists, then what is wrong with my criticisms, especially if there is more than a grain of truth in those criticisms.

Do you mean Catholicism was not the original author of Christ killer anti-Semitism? Or, that Europeans have not been jousting for political position in a Europe one-third the size of the U.S.?

When did Catholicism, Europeans or Germany become above reproach?

Do you expect me to believe that I was wrong in saying that Germany and its population do say that the Final Solution was wrong to do; however, the average citizen feels no remorse, nor shame for the genocide of its own Jewish population that had been in Germany since the Middle Ages? Do you think I am a naive person?

Germany has little anti-Semitism today, in my opinion, since Germans are not COMPETING against German Jews that were educated and spoke high German, and were often more successful than Teutonic Germans. The ex-Soviet citizens that make up today's German Jewish community are the poor cousins, so to speak, of Jewry. No competition there.

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IS AMERICA A BULLY?

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