https://thebaffler.com/salvos/naughty-by-nato-burmila
Since we’ve been talking about NATO so much recently, the writer asks necessary, probing questions about the left’s foreign policy, or lack thereof.
Naughty by NATO: Why is left foreign policy such a shitshow?
Published
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Interesting read, not sure I agree with some of the observations, but it does demonstrate the mess that US foreign policy (?) has become and the need for a 21st century reboot.
Heck, anybody who can use Euler’s Method as a way to highlight trump’s level of ignorant stupidity gets props from me.
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The article was a good read.
Our foreign policy has since WW2 been mostly about military power. Bases all over the world, military presence in places we don’t have actual installations. Weaponry designed for most eventualities, even though there is a tendency to prepare for the last wars.
Not to forget the huge, I mean huge, amount of arms we sell and give as aid to almost anyone who smiles and says “America. Good country. We like Americans too”. (Insert heavy accent from your favorite region.)
Our military/industrial complex is very real and very influential. A cynic might say that the weapons manufacturers wow our politicians with super cool weapons systems to make winning battles seem easier than the long, hard slog of diplomacy. It worked for our invasion of Iraq. Rumsfeld was selling a quick win paid for by Iraqi oil. Of course, we know how that went. Or still goes. And the dumb SOB didn’t even bother to equip our troops with good armor. Or listen to his generals. He just had to show our might fast and furiously before Americans had a chance to question the invasion.
And, of course, the other selling point is jobs in the weapons industries. I believe the phrase is “political engineering”. The art of making sure each congressional district or state has a piece of the contractual action on big systems.
There could have been a bright spot if Trump were the negotiator he thought he was. But threatening missiles into Iran with a last minute change of heart is more of a cheap business trick than good hard diplomatic engagement.
So are the Democrats any better? Probably not as outlined in the article. They also have MIC jobs in their districts. And the Vietnam war was mostly their baby.
I think it is a quintessentially American thing that arose from us being the phoenix rising from WW2.
We just can’t contain ourselves.
IMHO
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