Oh, I'm not saying anyone should listen to the US when it comes to wars; if a politician is clamoring for war, tell them to sod off. If the US is going to war, you can guarantee that even if the war is justified the whole thing will probably be a mess that leaves the place worse than before, and half the time the goals could've been achieved without bloodshed. E.g, Vietnam was so pointless that after millions dead Vietnam is practically an ally ANYWAY. There are a few exceptions but they've become increasingly rare over time.
The US has no followthrough either; promise the Kurds some support, ignore them when Saddam gasses them, promise them more support, abandon them to their fate in Iraq, promise them support in Syria, then abandon them again the moment Turkey throws a hissy-fit. Much of US policy has been containment against both Russia and China, all 3 powers operate by having knives at each others' throats. The US effectively controls every island group surrounding China so in the event of a war China is entirely cut off, but China produces too much cheap garbage that it even could be cut off for a war. The US controls the Bosporous (thus Turkey calls the shots), but the moment a direct dispute happens Russia cuts off the entire Black Sea which is a huge problem since half of European commerce flows down the Danube. In the meantime, Turkey is about to open up the Black Sea to the US (it's a bizarre story involving Russia abusing an old treaty that never included the possibility of a giant canal being built), which is part of why Russia is so desperate to invade Ukraine NOW.
In terms of historical stuff like imperialism/colonialism, the US has an extremely bizarre history where there's a strange form of non-interfering interference that somehow ends up going very wrong. It's pretty much the only country to ever colonize a country for the specific purpose of creating an independent country; Liberia, which was one of only two Black-run countries during the scramble for Africa. The purpose was mostly to have an answer to the problem of slavery; send all them uppity Freedman back to Africa. Africa is a big place; was it actually their ancestral homeland? Haha no. And the Freedman basically ran the place as dictators for a century or so, oh well. France and Britain made a small fortune from the Opium War, let's invade Japan! Oh, turns out Japan doesn't actually have resources worth seizing. Meh, they can do what they want. Wait, they end up industrializing and go on a genocidal rampage against ALL of East-Asia? Whoopsie! Hmm, Britain made a fuqton of money screwing over the Persians, can the US do the same with the Saudis? Sure can! Also, no need to interfere with the Saudis, whatever happens internally is Not Our Problem. Oops!
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@Paladin
Oh, I'm not saying anyone should listen to the US when it comes to wars; if a politician is clamoring for war, tell them to sod off. If the US is going to war, you can guarantee that even if the war is justified the whole thing will probably be a mess that leaves the place worse than before, and half the time the goals could've been achieved without bloodshed. E.g, Vietnam was so pointless that after millions dead Vietnam is practically an ally ANYWAY. There are a few exceptions but they've become increasingly rare over time.
The US has no followthrough either; promise the Kurds some support, ignore them when Saddam gasses them, promise them more support, abandon them to their fate in Iraq, promise them support in Syria, then abandon them again the moment Turkey throws a hissy-fit. Much of US policy has been containment against both Russia and China, all 3 powers operate by having knives at each others' throats. The US effectively controls every island group surrounding China so in the event of a war China is entirely cut off, but China produces too much cheap garbage that it even could be cut off for a war. The US controls the Bosporous (thus Turkey calls the shots), but the moment a direct dispute happens Russia cuts off the entire Black Sea which is a huge problem since half of European commerce flows down the Danube. In the meantime, Turkey is about to open up the Black Sea to the US (it's a bizarre story involving Russia abusing an old treaty that never included the possibility of a giant canal being built), which is part of why Russia is so desperate to invade Ukraine NOW.
In terms of historical stuff like imperialism/colonialism, the US has an extremely bizarre history where there's a strange form of non-interfering interference that somehow ends up going very wrong. It's pretty much the only country to ever colonize a country for the specific purpose of creating an independent country; Liberia, which was one of only two Black-run countries during the scramble for Africa. The purpose was mostly to have an answer to the problem of slavery; send all them uppity Freedman back to Africa. Africa is a big place; was it actually their ancestral homeland? Haha no. And the Freedman basically ran the place as dictators for a century or so, oh well. France and Britain made a small fortune from the Opium War, let's invade Japan! Oh, turns out Japan doesn't actually have resources worth seizing. Meh, they can do what they want. Wait, they end up industrializing and go on a genocidal rampage against ALL of East-Asia? Whoopsie! Hmm, Britain made a fuqton of money screwing over the Persians, can the US do the same with the Saudis? Sure can! Also, no need to interfere with the Saudis, whatever happens internally is Not Our Problem. Oops!