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ossobuco | on: Trump wins presidency for second time
> we don't want to help other countries at our short term cost (even if it is a long term gain for us)

More like stop trying so hard to bring us closer to a WWIII. The USA's current foreign policy is the main cause of all the turmoil we're seeing in eastern Europe and the Middle East. Anything that can change it should be welcomed by anyone with a desire to live.

gmueckl | parent
The game theoretic irony is that peace can often only be achieved by building up the military strength to deter potential attackers. There are a few places in the world where US involvement can lead tonkore stability.

Faltering US support for the Ukraine will tempt Russia into more territorial expansion towards or even into NATO.

China will probably ramp up aggression against Taiwan and against the Philippines. It is a minor miracle that no lethal shots have yet been fired in the persistent and aggressive military incursions into Philippines territorial waters. Several navy vessels have already been damaged this year.

I believe that the best way to release tensions in the Middle East would be by improving relations with Iran - but Trump bombed the deal that would have enabled that. The relqtive economic stength of the US could have been a good motivatir. Now Iran is aligning itself with Russia.

hackinthebochs | root | parent | next
>The game theoretic irony is that peace can often only be achieved by building up the military strength to deter potential attackers.

But the utility of military build up is non-linear. There comes a point where further gains for your side are marginal while further losses for your adversary are existential. A neutral Ukraine represented a sufficiently balanced state of power that rendered war negative sum for Russia. We overextended ourselves in trying to peal Ukraine away from Russia's orbit. NATO in Ukraine would have been a strategic noose from which Russia would never escape. The Ukraine war is blowback for American policy towards Russia, i.e. expand NATO up to Russia's border, bait Ukraine and Georgia for NATO membership, foment anti-Russian movements in Ukraine that lead to the expulsion of the Russian-friendly president of Ukraine and install someone western-oriented.

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ossobuco | root | parent
> The game theoretic irony is that peace can often only be achieved by building up the military strength to deter potential attackers.

Nobody has attacked the USA since Pearl Harbor. Military strength has been used to impose hegemony over other parts of the world, not to protect the nation.

> There are a few places in the world where US involvement can lead tonkore stability.

How can you say that after the countless deaths, pain, and strife caused by the USA in the Middle East, Asia, and South America?

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