Ambassadors to Washington warn that the GOP-Democratic divide is endangering America’s national security.
When I asked the European ambassador to talk to me about America’s deepening partisan divide, I expected a polite brushoff at best. Foreign diplomats are usually loath to discuss domestic U.S. politics.
Instead, the ambassador unloaded for an hour, warning that America’s poisonous politics are hurting its security, its economy, its friends and its standing as a pillar of democracy and global stability.
The U.S. is a “fat buffalo trying to take a nap” as hungry wolves approach, the envoy mused. “I can hear those Champagne bottle corks popping in Moscow — like it’s Christmas every fucking day.”
As voters cast ballots in the Iowa caucuses Monday, many in the United States see this year’s presidential election as a test of American democracy. But, in a series of conversations with a dozen current and former diplomats, I sensed that to many of our friends abroad, the U.S. is already failing that test.
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The whole world feels like losing a big brother to the agony of drug addiction, forced to watch all the stupid decisions that impact millions of lives across the globe.
It’s such a hurtful thing, as someone who experienced the optimism of the nineties, when the cold war appeared to be over. It’s been downwards from there, through Bush all the way up to Trump.
Get well big bro. Pull through, pls.
The whole world feels like losing a big brother to the agony of drug addiction, forced to watch all the stupid decisions that impact millions of lives across the globe.
No that’s just the west. There’s a large portion of the globe that is fine to see US decay and they’re not wrong to feel that way. Decades of global bullying, undermining democracies, letting corporations rape and pollute their countries, and proxy wars have left little sympathy for the US.
This is a chickens coming home to roost moment
Does the world really want a world where Putin is the undisputed heavyweight champion?
Russia is a has been. It’ll never be important again.
People said exactly the same thing after the Communist Party fell.
And they were mostly right. People thought Russia was a big deal because of their military. Turns out they are swinging way below expectations. Their economy was too reliant on fossil fuel exports and now countries are making them irrelevant.
Maybe we’re in a time where the rest of the world doesn’t want a country as the singular global authority?
And your plan is…?
What you’d like, and what you’ll get a two different things.
It’s not about what I’d like I’m just going off current trends. Countries are abandoning the dollar and forming coalitions with neighboring countries due to covid and the fatigue of being beholden to the US. The fact that a US election has that much influence over other countries is problematic in general.
Imagine a presidential election is Bulgaria having this much influence over your government and thinking that’s fine.
If you’re speaking specifically about BRICS, they can’t even agree upon being in a coalition together without dick measuring. Good luck trying to replace the dollar when the countries trying to do so can’t agree on which currency to replace it with. Let alone fighting over who should be in “charge.”
Maybe in twenty years things will be different. Right now, if America steps back, Putin steps up. I’m not trying to say that’s the best thing, I’m looking at what is.
It’s not about America stepping back or Russia and China stepping forward. It’s other countries learning that they should rely more on themselves and their immediate neighbors instead of foreign governments
It’s hilarious to me how every wonk in the US keeps warning everyone of Russian propaganda, and then unironically thinks Putin is powerful enough to fill a power vacum the size of the US of A.
Ah yes, because a world dictated by Russia or China is a much better alternative.
Or you’ll start seeing more strong man fighting over for regional supremacy. lol.
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If you think the only country stopping Russia from taking over the world is America, your opinions are about 50 years outdated lol.
Except that’s not at all what I said.
I mean it is for many people. Russia and China aren’t really the global imperialism types.
That’s fucking hilarious. I.e. see Ukraine and Taiwan.
I mean yeah those aren’t global.
Lmfao. What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?
It’s idiotic speak
I meant: They try to expand their borders. That’s also really bad. But they don’t have much interest in land or resources half a world away.
I mean it is for many people. Russia and China aren’t really the global imperialism types.
Literally posted 2 hours ago:
South China Sea? Ask Filipino fishermen what they think about China “not being imperialistic”.
No that’s just the west. There’s a large portion of the globe that is fine to see US decay and they’re not wrong to feel that way. Decades of global bullying, undermining democracies, letting corporations rape and pollute their countries, and proxy wars have left little sympathy for the US.
This is an insane claim that’s simply not backed up by evidence. Pro-US sentiment remains widespread in the world, despite the claims and desires of self-hating Westerners.
These findings come from a new Pew Research Center survey conducted from Feb. 20 to May 22, 2023, among 27,285 people in 23 countries, many of which are key U.S. allies
23 countries made up mainly of US allies is not the whole world…
Also no one is saying the whole world hates the US but the idea that the majority of the world feels sorry for what’s happening in the US is nonsense
23 countries made up mainly of US allies is not the whole world…
https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-State-of-SEA-2021-v2.pdf
Decades of global bullying, undermining democracies, letting corporations rape and pollute their countries, and proxy wars have left little sympathy for the US.
The USA has things to answer for as far as interfering with other nations based upon our (or our corporation’s) interests.
However, I’d caution the enthusiasm about the downfall of the USA. I’m betting you’ll find the alternatives worse.
The USA has made mistakes but I doubt the alternate reality where China, Russia or India were the only super power would be better.
The problem is the alternative is worse, prime example Russia in Sudan.
I mean Sudan is in a horrible situation in Sudan, but let’s not forget that ISIS was funded by the CIA. The US has its fair share of skeletons in its closet.
Crazy that the red scare happened in America but now, now they’re just playing into foreign takeovers. I guess hollowing out education and starving the population worked.
Idiots, absolute idiots.
Conservatives, absolute conservatives.
Yeah it seems like every time a decision on education comes up THIS party is all “more money for education and teachers, better working condi-” and the OTHER party is all “fuck that we want a make-believe jet fighter, and new coal plants - money taken!”
And I’m not talking about the last ten or twenty or thirty years. I mean the last fifty at the very least.
This is why the “both sides bad” and “baby Dems big mad @ Biden lolz” is classic russian troll meat. It’s really. that. simple. Democratic supermajorities across the country, we’ll fix this shit. Or, y’know, stay the course.
Can’t describe how stupid it is Russian Propaganda is just repackaged conservative media.
There’s a middle ground where we can easily achieve a decent public education, effective healthcare, UBI and investment in military technology.
This isn’t a situation where it’s one or the other, and it rarely ever is a situation where it’s one or the other.
There’s a growing sense among foreign diplomats that moral or national security arguments — about defending a country unjustly invaded, deterring Russia, preventing a bigger war in Europe and safeguarding democracy — don’t work on the American far-right.
50 years ago the far right fought the “Red Menace “, today they embrace it. /smh
GOP in 2016 = We need to elect Trump because the world is laughing at us.
GOP in 2024 = Who cares what the rest of the world thinks about us?
They stopped caring the second Trump got elected and the whole world turned against us except for Putin and his cronies.
They quite obviously never cared. Obama was more respected among America’s allies than any president since JFK or some shit. Meanwhile their candidate was globally treated as a fucking joke.
Not even a funny joke - one of those racist sexist jokes your drunk stepfather tells. And the Kremlin were the only ones laughing.
Remember when they muddied the waters claiming Hilary was a pedophile because their guy hung out with the dude who ran a pedo ring.
Both sides, tho.
I always took it as a given that any American pol was in favor of the US being ‘leader of the Free World.’
On the other hand, I always thought that the American voter would turn away from a guy who constantly spoke ill of America’s veterans.
A core aspect of the fascist playbook is to undermine everyone’s trust in everything. By sowing chaos and distrust, you can create an environment sufficiently uncomfortable that people clamor for someone to come in and simplify things, at any cost.
It’s worked before, and it can again. Nothing stands in its way except us, and our ability to explain to people that might, possibly trust us and be reachable.
It’s funny how few people understand how fragile democracy really is, just because our American version has proven fairly robust. Education is a tool for preventing its decline, but treatment options once decline is established are far more limited, and rely on grassroots civic engagement.
Nazi Germany had agents working across Europe to undermine the will of the locals to fight.
MAGoos are doing it here for free.
I was thinking about this in terms of messaging, and one idea we can try is to take a page from the Ross Perot playbook. One weakness we tend to have as more humanities-trained thinkers is we don’t really try to communicate numerically.
Numbers and mathematics are harder to fudge than words, and that can work in our favor, for anyone involved with communicating to an actual audience. Particularly with regards to economic messaging though. It’s one thing to say companies are profiteering, it’s another to take the time to provide graphs, figures and historical data as evidence of your claims.
imho, it’s not about the presentation. The MAGoos saw Herman Cain and thousands of others die and they brushed it off.
Just convince people to vote Blue. At this point, it’s the only alternative. Voting for a 3rd Party is a vote for Trump.
I don’t think anything can crack a die hard MAGA repub. But different strategies can work on different subsets of on-the-fence repubs who might just be semi-bubbled, but not totally insulated.
Frankly, not everyone has a problem with fascism, and you can’t necessarily make them, either. Let’s not kid ourselves. An economic argument provided with evidence of corrupt behavior might convince some, and would be well worth trying in certain situations.
You can either claim to be leader of the free world or you can say you want to get rid of NATO.
It can’t be both.
The first is still bullshit, but it definitely can’t be both.
This is the analogy I’ve been using for years.
Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy gave the base beer. Ronald Reagan gave them grain alcohol punch, and Bush Jr. gave them straight moonshine. Trump gave them meth.
The past decade of American politics has convinced the world there is merit in reducing reliance on the US and the next decade will reinforce that. The US economy is nothing if it cannot remain a competitive investment option for foreign dollars. Id wager the majority of the reason the fed jacked rates was to keep the dollar as a great investment for those foreign investors. The unemployment boost they said they were looking for didn’t happen but they say they’re done raising rates, so they did get something they wanted it seems.
And since American loves to import necessities, should those foreign investments halt and stop helping to keep the dollar competitive internationally, America will go from a third world country with shiny commodites, to a third world country with nothing but the largest military on earth.
Conditions like that give rise to even more authoritarian right wing populists who would end up assuming control of a country with a poor economy but immense military might. What do you think is going to happen? Because my guess is exactly what Russia is doing now. That is what is at risk for the future of a US that doesn’t get it’s shit together. If you think stopping Russias military is hard, Imagine the USA decides it’s time to leverage military might for economic gain.
Imagine the USA decides it’s time to leverage military might for economic gain.
I see what you mean in general, but it’s a bit funny to assume the US hasn’t been leveraging its military for economic gain (see: the whole Mmiddle East).
A less controversial example is that the USA provides security for many shipping lanes. Few countries are in a position to do that currently.
Fair enough, but as it stands the US is tolerable as a security guarantor because they use that force “fairly” enough to other powerful states. Without other states invested in the US econ theres much less to lose and instead of protecting them, the US could easily use their existing global reach to extort anyone who needs that security, pay up or you’re on your own. And that money would go right to the presumably despotic government, not even routed through multinationals that buy the government representatives. Neither is preferable, but if the government becomes nothing but a military, more money directly to them would likely cause more bad things.
fed jacked rates … they did get something they wanted
Fewer loans issued by member banks means less new money entering the economy via private spending, which means the federal government can spend that much more money without impacting inflation. And there is plenty that needs to be bought, from pandemic related expenses, to scaling up weapons production in anticipation of WWIII, infrastructure modernization and other measures to encourage manufacturing to return from China to the American continent, and social programs to treat the worst mass poverty seen since the Great Depression.
