Quote:
Originally Posted by yotlyolqualli
We, the USA, are in a very precarious position. We are damned if we do, and damned if we dont. If we don't address atrocities against human kind, then we MUST agree with it, or at least are seen as turning a blind eye to it. But when we DO address it, then we are "policing" and "forcing" our political and ethical and moral views on other sovereign nations.
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Actually, in my opinion, this touches on why there's an antagonism towards the USA across many parts of the world. It's incredibly arrogant for the USA to view itself as the world's policeman (or policewoman for that matter). No nation or collection of nations should think that they have the carte blanche right to interfere in the internal affairs of other parts of the world. Values are not absolute.
Added to this, where the US interferes overseas, whilst it may be under the rhetoric of human rights interests, there's invariably an underlying selfish strategic and / or economic motivation. Those parts of the world where USA interferes militarily represent only a small proportion of territories where human rights abuses are the norm. The USA picks and chooses not on the basis of the human rights abuses in the foreign parts but, rather, on the basis of its own short-term interests.
Why else would the USA be in such a close alliance with the despotic Saudi Arabia and why else is the US government now willing to bend over backwards to reach a settlement with the Taliban whilst, at the same time, allowing continued numbers of US men and women to be slaughtered in a hostile, foreign land. The US military funerals are impressive, as is the rhetoric of the importance of servicemen and servicewoman. The reality appears very different to me.
I should add that, if anyone things I'm coming out with some sort of deliberate anti-USA stance, nothing could be further from the case. I think the same way about my own beloved United Kingdom (and I am a strong British nationalist) whose approach to foreign affairs is along similar lines, just on a smaller scale these days.