• Lemmygradwontallowme [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      Kissinger’s more of an egoist of image than a realist about it

      Word should be gotten to Nixon that if Thieu meets the same fate as Diem, the word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.

    • Flyberius [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      Henry Kissinger

      How I’m missing yer

      You’re the Doctor of my dreams

      With your crinkly hair and your glassy stare

      And your machiavellian schemes

      I know they say that you are very vain

      And short and fat and pushy but at least you’re not insane

      Henry Kissinger

      How I’m missing yer

      And wishing you were here

      Henry Kissinger

      How I’m missing yer

      You’re so chubby and so neat

      With your funny clothes and your squishy nose

      You’re like a German parakeet

      All right so people say that you don’t care

      But you’ve got nicer legs than Hitler

      And bigger tits than Cher

      Henry Kissinger

      How I’m missing yer

      And wishing you were here

  • Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    Of all the things libs think is a sales pitch to vote for Biden “you have to vote for Biden or America’s global influence will decrease and other countries will realize were an unreliable and antagonistic ally” is probably their worst

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    I mean under Biden the US bombed Nordstream and is attempting to vassalise the EU through the Ukraine war. I don’t think the president matters that much, the US will continue to act in its own interests regardless of who the president is

    • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      11 months ago

      I think U.S. allies had long since internalized that they would occasionally have to eat shit from the U.S. The bargain was a place as a vassal state instead of a target, and if those are your choices being a vassal state has a lot of appeal. The occasional overt screwjob is much less damaging than a constant destabilization effort.

      The deal will continue to get worse under any U.S. president, but what they seem to be getting at here is the possibility of it getting torn up altogether, opening the door for more direct U.S. hostility. As long as they support NATO they aren’t likely to be the target of a coup like the 2014 one in Ukraine, but what if NATO is gone?

      Trump isn’t going to be allowed to unilaterally withdraw from NATO on a whim, but he could do a lot of damage to it, and he can rile up the reactionary hogs against it, which would at least lay the groundwork for a still more impactful change.

        • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          11 months ago

          There is no harm reduction candidate. They’re both far past the point of any reason to support them, they’d probably do different bad things, though.

          • Exocrinous@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            If y’all vote for Biden, I’ll have another 4 years to get my partner out of the US and save it from the Republican holocaust. Please?

    • freebee@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Europe has been a vassal since 1945. How do you vassalise your vassal?

      EU suggested forming an EU army as early as the 1950s! USA was against the EU forming its own integrated military. So was, not a member yet, Britain, historically always scared of a too united continental neighbour. Instead, the Anglo-Saxons basically forced the young EU-predecessors to rely on NATO instead of forming their own big military defence force. How the tables turn.

  • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    Oh it doesn’t matter man, Trump, Biden’s draugr, Kamala, not important. This goose is cooked and you’re all cooked with it if you don’t sever ties. We saw what happened to Europe’s oil, energy and manufacturing sector with just a couple well-placed underwater bombs. The American bourgeois state will eat all of it’s “allies” like Saturn and his children if it means staving off profit collapse for one more quarter .

  • FuckyWucky [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    The first Trump administration stress-tested the bonds between the U.S. and its allies, particularly in Europe. Trump derided the leaders of some friendly nations, including Germany’s Angela Merkel and Britain’s Theresa May, while praising authoritarians such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. He has called China’s Xi Jinping “brilliant” and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán “a great leader.”

    This is so stupid. Trump was the one who started a trade war with China. Him praising Xi doesn’t mean shit.

    Secondly, despite claiming to be anti-west, Erdogan and Orban are both pro-West allies and will fall in line under pressure. Both countries are NATO members too btw. Why is such a democratic organization like NATO having “authoritarian” countries as members?

    Also why is there no mention of Modi? Both Biden and Trump have been more than friendly with him.

    Trump’s Israel policy is no different. He is more belligerent towards Iran.

    In campaign speeches, Trump remains skeptical of organizations such as NATO, often lamenting the billions the U.S. spends on the military alliance whose support has been critical to Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

    Rhetoric and actions are entirely different. Trump knows very well that Ukraine War is ultimately beneficial for the U.S. and the MIC.

    Another thing to keep in mind, U.S. is NATO, without the U.S there is no NATO.

    He warned: “We must realize that the EU cannot be an economic and civilizational giant and a dwarf when it comes to defense, because the world has changed.”

    That has been the status of Europe since end of cold war, a puppet of American capitalism, nothing more. And nothing will change unless there is a socialist revolution or something.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Why the heck and when was the United States considered reliable?

    Reliable in what context?

    Oh I see defensively reliable.

    It might not make a lot of sense to overwhelmingly rely your national defense on a partner separated by an ocean.

    I’m glad the EU is taking more responsibility for their own defense, and I’m also surprised to see so many European leaders acting surprised that they should have to, or the idea of a European defense as a novel idea.

    • regul@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      The US was considered reliable because, until Trump, both parties had identical foreign policy.

      • Gigan@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Which is actually a bad thing, because it doesn’t give voters a choice.

          • r00ty@kbin.life
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            11 months ago

            There’s more than two parties to choose from. There’s only two realistic choices because as a population you all choose to make it that way.

            Don’t get me wrong, the US isn’t alone here. We have the same problem here in the UK. I usually vote for a third party that more aligns with my own views, not one of the main two, and people tell me I “wasted my vote”. My response is: Did I waste my vote, or did you?

            Simpsons of course parodied the situation best when the two aliens both ran for president.

            • Syndic@feddit.de
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              11 months ago

              There’s more than two parties to choose from.

              Technically true, but there is no real choice. The US doesn’t have a proportional voting system but uses first past the post voting. This by default will result in a two party system. If one party splits up or loses voter to a third party, the remaining party will utterly dominate the politics until one of the other party comes up on top again.

              Sane countries do have a proportional voting system which allows several parties to flourish.

              • r00ty@kbin.life
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                11 months ago

                That’s the point I (and the simpsons) is making though. If people didn’t vote for one of the two parties because “anything else is a wasted vote”. Even with FPTP you’d get a more varies result, at the very least in the upper/lower houses.

                But that doesn’t happen, and that’s how they have us all by the balls.

                • Syndic@feddit.de
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                  11 months ago

                  But that doesn’t happen, and that’s how they have us all by the balls.

                  Well that’s very easy when one party openly is working to destroy the whole democratic system.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        No they didn’t.

        At least, I can’t think of examples of democrats and Republicans having similar foreign policy, outlook strategy or execution.

        You mean specifically in the interests of defending Europe?

        • Orygin@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          As an outsider, the US was always very reliable for exporting unfettered liberal capitalism, and exporting “democracy”, whatever the party in power.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            I can see how the broader export of capitalism could make the us political scene look homogeneous from outside the fish bowl, thanks

            • Orygin@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              Not sure if that’s sarcasm or ppl down voted you for nothing 🤷‍♂️

              Ofc outside of the USA, internal politics is not our focus, even though we see regressive policies hurting the population (eg. Abortion). How the us handles foreign policy (not just war and conflicts), it pretty obviously only has its capitalist overlords best interest in mind.

              • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                11 months ago

                That was a genuine response.

                Down votes or upvotes whatever votes.

                I’m trying to relate and understand.

                I don’t agree with the simplified absolutist perspective you’ve put forth, but I understand how you could come to that conclusion and how it would circumstantially appear to be a uniquely American endeavor.

                • Orygin@sh.itjust.works
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                  11 months ago

                  I agree that’s not a full view of America, but for the general population that only hears about the USA through conventional media, I’d say that’s what most people will see and remember.

                  And of course this is only my perspective from my country and my neighbors may very well have a different outlook.

          • porcariasagrada@slrpnk.net
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            11 months ago

            the worse political export the us has is the bi-party system. it does way more damage to any political system than the liberal capitalism. lobbying comes a close second.

    • freebee@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      EU was basically following US orders to be a vassal under the big military umbrella of the USA and join NATO instead of forming their own strong military. It only started shifting after 9/11. The 2% rule was only introduced in 2014. The 60 years before, USA and Britain were rather pleased certain EU members were not building big armies, it implied promise of peace within…

  • BustinJiber@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    It’s going to be this way every election, ain’t it? Basically two year election cycle of Trump once again running, all the fears of him winning, then he looses, and we get next 4 years of him talking shit and “raising concerns”.

    • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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      11 months ago

      It’s not about Trump (the dude may not even live much longer, he looks awful).

      It’s about all the people who support his values and way of thinking and use him as a distraction while they erode democratic rights and processes. America is undergoing a tremendous divide which may lead to the federation coming apart and individual states breaking away. That’s what’s worrying the rest of us, not the POTUS making a fool of himself on TV.

    • Jackcooper@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I really don’t see him running in 2028. I don’t think his health/Republican money would both line up and support that

  • Vampire [any]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    The world’s been a scary place for people under Biden.

    I’m not saying correlation is causation but it can feel that way, people might long for the more secure past time under Trump.

  • Geobloke@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    When can I, an international with an interest in the US election, commit money to a political party? Or do I need to be a corporation?

  • ULS@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    Citizens think it’s becoming unreliable regardless of who’s president.

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    10 months ago

    Welp, time for Europe to start making nukes again. What could possibly go wrong?