Why does America always have an "enemy?"

[George_Stegmeir]

One can debate this topic all they want, but the answer really is quite simple:
The world is like a school in a tough neighborhood; and nobody likes the rich kid…and the rich kid’s parents have enough power in the school and its surroundings that no one dares to do anything to the rich kid.

 

[Augustine]

Because the Anglo-Saxon flavor of the nation-state was founded in xenophobia. Ever since Elizabeth I, there has to be a foreign rival power to be used as an excuse to exert total control of the population. If it weren’t for fear, no people would assent to such overreach of power.

 

[Augustine]

Who do you think should be blamed for King Davad’s wars (c1000 BC)? The Bushes? The human race has had wars for about as long as there has been around. :

Hmmm, no. Fabricated wars of choice is something quite modern.

And, no, the Bush dynasty is merely continuing the trend started by Eisenhauer.

Christus resurrexit!

 

[7_Sorrows]

One can debate this topic all they want, but the answer really is quite simple:
The world is like a school in a tough neighborhood; and nobody likes the rich kid…and the rich kid’s parents have enough power in the school and its surroundings that no one dares to do anything to the rich kid.

So you are saying you agree with Bush? They are jealous?

Your analogy might be a little too simplistic.

 

[Augustine]

They hate the West for many things including our freedoms…

You really believe that they ground their teeth at the Western freedoms? Or could it have to do with invading and occupying them?

I used to feel safe in my own country feeling we were for the common good of all.

Safe from what? The USSR? We now know that they bluffed and the US government knew about it, but kept it on for political gain. Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Granada, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, none of them represented the least threat to the security of Americans. Whose good were such wars for?

I don’t know anyone from North Korea or from Castro’s Cuba, but I will take America anyday over those 2 countries and the middle east.

Indeed, take a couple of cesspools and America is da best! Now, take a couple of countries where life is much less violent and free and America looks like Cuba compared to them, with a huge incarcerated population and a political prison (Guantanamo) to complete
the picture.

Christus resurrexit!

 

[meltzerboy]

Hmmm, no. Fabricated wars of choice is something quite modern.

And, no, the Bush dynasty is merely continuing the trend started by Eisenhauer.

Christus resurrexit!

How was the trend started by Eisenhower? True, at that time, we had the Cold War with the Soviet Union, or do you mean Vietnam, the seeds of which I believe really began under Truman. The Eisenhower administration is remembered for being a time of peace at home and abroad.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Hmmm, no. Fabricated wars of choice is something quite modern.

And, no, the Bush dynasty is merely continuing the trend started by Eisenhauer.

Christus resurrexit!

You mean Eisenhower? A great president!

 

[Augustine]

How was the trend started by Eisenhower? True, at that time, we had the Cold War with the Soviet Union, or do you mean Vietnam, the seeds of which I believe really began under Truman. The Eisenhower administration is remembered for being a time of peace at home and abroad.

You’re right. I meant the Korean War, which started under Truman. Eisenhower gave the US a breather in its perennial wars.

Christus resurrexit!

 

[JimG]

I always hate to see a fresh outbreak of pacifism—and that seems to be a current trend—because pacifism often portends surrender and tyranny.

Let’s look at the start of WW-II. Everybody was tired of war. Britain didn’t want another war. The U.S. didn’t want another war. It was awash in isolationism.

Hitler marched into the Rhineland, expecting to meet military opposition. He got none. He got what he wanted just by marching in and taking it. Next came the annexation of Austria. Then he marched into the Sudetenland. No opposition. This was pretty encouraging to him. Nobody wanted war. It was all easy takings. They just gave him what he wanted. Next came Czechoslovakia. Again, an easy conquest.

Churchill was making noise about Hitler wanting all of Europe, but he was out of office, and hey, Britain wasn’t under attack. Yet. Next, how about Poland? No problem, but he had to make a deal with Stalin first. Two dictators agreeing to invade Poland and not each other. Hitler sent one million troops on a blitzkrieg into Poland with Stalin opening a second front to help him out. Poland falls.

Hitler’s got an alliance with Italy and Japan, and the USSR (until he breaks that deal by invading the USSR.) But nobody wants to fight him. Next he takes Denmark and Norway. Now there are German troops massing on the French border. But by now, Churchill’s back in charge in Britain, and everybody knows that war is inevitable. He would like U.S. help, but the U.S. is shying away from involvement in “European wars.”

Hitler pushes into France with 4 million troops, taking the country in six weeks, and then grabs Belgium. There are German troops massed along the English Channel, 50 miles from England. But an invastion is still too risky. Instead, Hitler decides to terrorize London with massive bombing. London is 60% destroyed.

Churchill fights back with the RAF, downing thousands of Luftwaffe bombers over the Channel–the first significant defeat for Hitler. In the meantime comes Pearl Harbor. Finally the U.S. is in the war. Good.

But watch some of those documentaries of the liberation of the concentration camps. Thousands died. Thousands might have been saved had Hitler been opposed much earlier and aggressively.

He should have been met with military force in the Rhineland, in the Sudetenland, in Czechoslovakia. He should have been opposed massively by the allies in Czechoslovakia and Poland. He shouldn’t even hae been allowed to get that far. WW-II might have been short circuited, with thousands of lives saved if the allies including the U.S. and intervened earlier. That’s why I worry about pacificism and isolationism.

 

[7_Sorrows]

You really believe that they ground their teeth at the Western freedoms? Or could it have to do with invading and occupying them?

Safe from what? The USSR? We now know that they bluffed and the US government knew about it, but kept it on for political gain. Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Granada, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, none of them represented the least threat to the security of Americans. Whose good were such wars for?

Indeed, take a couple of cesspools and America is da best! Now, take a couple of countries where life is much less violent and free and America looks like Cuba compared to them, with a huge incarcerated population and a political prison (Guantanamo) to complete
the picture.

Christus resurrexit!

They have hated us a good 50 years or more before we went into Afghanistan. What would have happened in Kuwait if we had not helped to get Saddam out of there.

When I say I felt safe, I mean I was part of a country that wanted the best for its citizens - to have good schools, good jobs, to have dreams and be able to do for ourselves without a lot of government interference. We used to be proud of our country and proud to be Americans, but the agenda the past 8 years is to apologize for our country and try to do everything you can to transform America to be unrecognizable from what it used to be.

 

[JimG]

Remember it was Eisenhower who invented the idea of “massive retaliation.” The U.S. jointed NATO as a mutual defense pact—mainly against the Soviet Union. And yes, Europe did need such a pact, as the USSR would gladly of swallowed them up. (A feat which perhaps, Mr. Putin would like to try once again.)

But Ike knew that the U.S. could not possibly protect Europe against a massive Soviet invasion. We would arrive too late with too little. But we did have nuclear weapons, and we had the Strategic Air Command.

So Ike’s idea was this: His message to the USSR was—if you invade any NATO country, the U.S. will consider it an attack on our own nation, and we will retaliate with a massive nuclear strike. He kept those B-52 bombers in the air constantly, as a deterrent. And it worked.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I always hate to see a fresh outbreak of pacifism—and that seems to be a current trend—because pacifism often portends surrender and tyranny.

Let’s look at the start of WW-II. Everybody was tired of war. Britain didn’t want another war. The U.S. didn’t want another war. It was awash in isolationism.

Hitler marched into the Rhineland, expecting to meet military opposition. He got none. He got what he wanted just by marching in and taking it. Next came the annexation of Austria. Then he marched into the Sudetenland. No opposition. This was pretty encouraging to him. Nobody wanted war. It was all easy takings. They just gave him what he wanted. Next came Czechoslovakia. Again, an easy conquest.

Churchill was making noise about Hitler wanting all of Europe, but he was out of office, and hey, Britain wasn’t under attack. Yet. Next, how about Poland? No problem, but he had to make a deal with Stalin first. Two dictators agreeing to invade Poland and not each other. Hitler sent one million troops on a blitzkrieg into Poland with Stalin opening a second front to help him out. Poland falls.

Hitler’s got an alliance with Italy and Japan, and the USSR (until he breaks that deal by invading the USSR.) But nobody wants to fight him. Next he takes Denmark and Norway. Now there are German troops massing on the French border. But by now, Churchill’s back in charge in Britain, and everybody knows that war is inevitable. He would like U.S. help, but the U.S. is shying away from involvement in “European wars.”

Hitler pushes into France with 4 million troops, taking the country in six weeks, and then grabs Belgium. There are German troops massed along the English Channel, 50 miles from England. But an invastion is still too risky. Instead, Hitler decides to terrorize London with massive bombing. London is 60% destroyed.

Churchill fights back with the RAF, downing thousands of Luftwaffe bombers over the Channel–the first significant defeat for Hitler. In the meantime comes Pearl Harbor. Finally the U.S. is in the war. Good.

But watch some of those documentaries of the liberation of the concentration camps. Thousands died. Thousands might have been saved had Hitler been opposed much earlier and aggressively.

He should have been met with military force in the Rhineland, in the Sudetenland, in Czechoslovakia. He should have been opposed massively by the allies in Czechoslovakia and Poland. He shouldn’t even hae been allowed to get that far. WW-II might have been short circuited, with thousands of lives saved if the allies including the U.S. and intervened earlier. That’s why I worry about pacificism and isolationism.

Very good post!! Yes if Hitler had been opposed earlier he wouldn’t have had time to round people up in ghettos and build the concentratiion camps. His soldiers would have been too busy fighting. Hitler got the green light every step of the way. Thank goodness for Churchill!!!
I see the same thing happening now with ISIS.

 

[atassina]

Why?
We are the biggest target?

 

[Robert_Sock]

Very good post!! Yes if Hitler had been opposed earlier he wouldn’t have had time to round people up in ghettos and build the concentratiion camps. His soldiers would have been too busy fighting. Hitler got the green light every step of the way. Thank goodness for Churchill!!!
I see the same thing happening now with ISIS.

Similar to the way the hippies just seemed to all of a sudden disappear, so too will Muslim extremest.

 

[tabycat]

Hmmm, no. Fabricated wars of choice is something quite modern.

And, no, the Bush dynasty is merely continuing the trend started by Eisenhauer.

Christus resurrexit!

You mean that the murder of over thirty million people (between Nezi Germany and the USSR) was all Eisenhauer’s fauilt? As for the ‘Bush dynasty’, how about the ‘Adems dynasty’? Or the ‘Roosavelte dynasty’? Both of those families had two in the White House and Clentons are trying to get noumber two in now.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Remember it was Eisenhower who invented the idea of “massive retaliation.” The U.S. jointed NATO as a mutual defense pact—mainly against the Soviet Union. And yes, Europe did need such a pact, as the USSR would gladly of swallowed them up. (A feat which perhaps, Mr. Putin would like to try once again.)

But Ike knew that the U.S. could not possibly protect Europe against a massive Soviet invasion. We would arrive too late with too little. But we did have nuclear weapons, and we had the Strategic Air Command.

So Ike’s idea was this: His message to the USSR was—if you invade any NATO country, the U.S. will consider it an attack on our own nation, and we will retaliate with a massive nuclear strike. He kept those B-52 bombers in the air constantly, as a deterrent. And it worked.

He really wanted to protect the United States. Then after Eisenhower we had Kennedy and the Cuban Missile crisis. I remember having to have drills at school and the yellow markers where bomb shelters were.

 

[7_Sorrows]

You mean that the murder of over thirty million people (between Nezi Germany and the USSR) was all Eisenhauer’s fauilt? As for the ‘Bush dynasty’, how about the ‘Adems dynasty’? Or the ‘Roosavelte dynasty’? Both of those families had two in the White House and Clentons are trying to get noumber two in now.

Do you mean Nazi, Adams, Roosevelt, and Clintons? Just checking the spelling to make sure.

 

[tabycat]

You really believe that they ground their teeth at the Western freedoms? Or could it have to do with invading and occupying them?

Safe from what? The USSR? We now know that they bluffed and the US government knew about it, but kept it on for political gain. Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Granada, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, none of them represented the least threat to the security of Americans. Whose good were such wars for?

Indeed, take a couple of cesspools and America is da best! Now, take a couple of countries where life is much less violent and free and America looks like Cuba compared to them, with a huge incarcerated population and a political prison (Guantanamo) to complete
the picture.

Christus resurrexit!

I have not forgoten two jet planes flying into the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001. We were attacked that day on our own soil. If you can find a better place that the US maybe they just might be glad to use you for their own perposes.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I have not forgoten two jet planes flying into the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001. We were attacked that day on our own soil. If you can find a better place that the US maybe they just might be glad to use you for their own perposes.

 

[tabycat]

Similar to the way the hippies just seemed to all of a sudden disappear, so too will Muslim extremest.

The only difference between the KKK and the Nazis in the US and the Muslim extermest both here and the Middle East is the words that that they use, but all three groups want us dead.