Permanently Deleted
US foreign (and to a certain extent, domestic) policy since WW2 has always needed a great enemy to oppose. It allowed the US to exercise the foreign policy of imperialism while selling it as defensive to the voters.
“We have to coup country X because they elected communists” turned into “we have to bomb country Y because they’re harboring terrorists”. Soon it will become “We have to Sanction country Z because it signed up to China’s BRI”.
Domestically, the US is also incredibly divided with no resolution in sight. Nothing unites people like an external common enemy.
Oh, and racism. Never forget racism.
US foreign (and to a certain extent, domestic) policy since WW2 has always needed a great enemy to oppose.
It’s older than that. Before WW2, it was the savage Indian that needed to be defeated.
Yeah, I agree. One could very easily argue that Manifest Destiny, the Monroe Doctrine, and Jingoism towards Spain were all manifestations of this phenomenon.
I only picked WW2 because the relatively isolationist period leading up to the war were kind of an exception to the trend.
Oh you weren’t wrong to start WW2, I just wanted to point out that racism is baked into this countries bones.
They could go to war. Dying empires aren’t exact the most rational actors.
Extremely surprised to see Leftists who don’t seem to understand how dangerous a falling Hegemonic power is.
I can’t think of a time that hasn’t led to a war in history.
Rome, maybe? mostly civil war and getting their ass kicked in their faraway posts, not so far from what the us is currently going through to be fair
I think war with China can’t be put off the table, these ghouls are certainly prepping people for something like that. I also think though Europeans are VERY primed to want to go to war with Russia though. There’s lots of potential for global conflict, and it seems the us and it allies think they have the advantage currently in any such scenarios.
So we can get into a proxy war with one of China’s allies, bomb all of the infrastructure in that country, then open said country up for foreign investment. Literally gunboat diplomacy, but we can’t directly attack China without getting shrekt.
There are at least 3 factions at war over what to do with China from an elite, capitalistic perspective.
For those in the war machine, a conflict with China is the forever war you could only dream about. Enough said.
For those who collect wealth from the lop-sided service hell we live in, blaming China allows these types of elitists top cover from having to acknowledge the system, for them, works just fine, as-is. It’s the Shark Tank assholes who gladly have all their “inventions” manufactured in China and sold at WalMart, and then complain how we don’t make anything anymore because too much regulation and competition. The anti-China sentiment here is pretty much on par with the rich who say, “the Mexicans took our jobs” with no mention of the companies who exploit the illegal immigrant workforce and how that benefits the 1%. Shit like that.
And then exist some who economically realize how China is dominating the west, fully understand why, and wish to somehow reverse our decision to hand over industry for short term profits. These types are often the Libertarian populist types, I’ve noticed. Smart enough to realize the west is culpable in China’s manufacturing ascent; too stupid to realize it’s by capitalistic design to do so.
These are the three competing bourgeois forces I see messaging about China. They are rarely in agreement with each other, and will make allies with another faction if it allows them to get ahead with how their world is carved out.
Edited to add: I should say, all 3 factions benefit by criticizing/harassing/threatening China - but since their goals are far different, they’ll never totally agree on an actual course of action . Like, Mark Cuban and Walmart sure as fuck don’t want Lockheed Martin blowing China the fuck up. But the weird little man who sits next to Krystal Ball might not be so against a China war because he knows as a nation full of consumers we would have to find a new place to make consumables and Libertarians nut themselves at the idea that we could start building factories on American soil full of slave-workers (with of course the abolishment of minimum wage and collective bargaining). However, most Libertarians are sort of “War Bad” when it comes to foreign policy. So it’s not the ideal outcome they would like (they’d prefer we make our own slaves here and out compete China the good old fashioned way).
So the carousel of stupid continues.
