We had our Chance in the 1990s

[Art]

This article is accurate in every detail and I can confirm that from people I know who were on the ground at the time who can testify to the misery our incompetence caused, from oil executives to missionaries.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...HITCHENS-blame arrogant-foolish-West-Ukraine-crisis.html

[togor]

Alas the people running things in the 1990s inherited rather than built America's place in the world then. And because they inherited it, they understood neither the sacrifices that it took or the dangers that had to be surmounted.

That class then proceeded to let 9/11 happen and to derail the response to that with a side trip to Iraq.

Count me among those who would like to see us refocus on the core mission. It will be hard for some educated urban liberals to accept that the future they anticipated won't come to pass, just as the right has those who must come to terms with their prayers going unanswered. But it's the only way forward for the country as a whole.

[dogtag]

Stupid people never learn. And this time around we could have easily avoided
this pointless confrontation with Russia by just giving assurances that Ukraine
would not be joining NATO. They won't be in any case so why not say so.
With that guarantee Putin would not have had an excuse to invade. Now all we
have done is draw Russia and China more closely allied because China will offset
any sanctions we impose. In the age of nukes it would be wise to avoid these
kinds of confrontations especially when it's easy to do so.
My previous thread worrying that China would invade Taiwan at rhe same time
as Putin moves on Ukraine has come back to haunt me.

[oscars]

I am old enough to remember when a dictatorship invaded another country, the Republicans did not take the side of the dictatorship.

[togor]

I am old enough to remember when a dictatorship invaded another country, the Republicans did not take the side of the dictatorship.

No kidding.

They say "we have to keep our powder dry for China." And how exactly does that work when they can't retreat fast enough from the world at large?

Read an article recently, the younger generation in the ROK is taking a dimmer view of China, no longer seen as the politically neutral commercial entity. In fact China now seen in a more negative light than Japan.

Point being that lots of people worldwide are taking an increasingly dim view of Chinese mercantilism. There's a leadership opportunity for America that the Trump/Carlson lemmings can't see.

[barretcreek]

We did and let greed overwhelm good sense.