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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 23, 2023

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Iraq is not a liberal democracy, as I said. Even the Atlantic Council agrees with me. It's a massive fragile mess of Iran-backed Shia militias, ex-ISIS militias and Kurdish militias.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-truth-about-iraq-s-democracy/

The US went into Afghanistan, got hundreds of thousands of people killed in the war, expanded Afghan drug production with their incompetence, subsidized bacha-bazi in the Afghan Army (also known as the rape of boys), squandered trillions of dollars in corruption. Then they left and obstructed famine relief, confiscating $7 billion from their national bank. The US really is not interested in the welfare of Afghans, otherwise this wouldn't have happened. It was a complete clusterfuck.

There’s no evidence we turned Ukraine west.

The Nuland phone call has a recording of them plotting out who will be in the new Ukrainian government. US-based NGOs like Open Society and government backed organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy have spent billions in Ukraine, funding NGOs and protest groups. This is well documented. That buys loyalty and influence.

Nuclear weapons aren’t protecting Estonia (part of nato in your view) if we aren’t willing to fight in Ukraine. Then we aren’t dropping a nuke on Moscow if they invade the Baltics.

Do you understand what an alliance is? Azerbaijan invaded Armenia - the US is not obliged to do anything because they're not allied. If China invades Nepal, the US is not obliged to do anything. But if Russia invades Estonia, they are obliged to fight because they are allied. It was a foolish idea to bring these small countries into the alliance, they contribute very little while creating risks. But now they're there we have to stick with them.

Not sure what you are accusing us of doing in 2014 - didn’t Russia invade a neighbor that year? Russia declaring war is suddenly something bad the US did? Makes no sense.

US and EU imposed sanctions on Russia that year because the Russians took Crimea. That's harassment. They didn't declare war, they still haven't declared war. Nobody has declared war.

Sometime next year their getting f-18.

There are discussions over sending F-16s to Ukraine, not F-18s.

The Russian threat is overrated? Haven’t they obliterated a few countries and some of Ukraine with artillery? Keyboard warriors can say that but not when Russian artillery is outside their town.

You don't understand what I'm saying. The conventional threat to the West is overrated, the nuclear threat is underrated. The US has wrecked a few countries in the last 20 years but that doesn't mean Belgium is threatened by the US in the same way Iran or Syria is. Threat is relative.

If the west got the guns then why not use them and kill some Russians? Fuck I pay a ton in taxes for the military and like Ukranians [sic] so we better give them whatever they need to kill Russians.

This is a really unsophisticated argument. Have you thought about what you're saying for more than 10 seconds? If the Ukrainians ask for your whole army, navy and airforce would you hand it over? Your nuclear arsenal? Foreign policy has consequences. These can include fuel shortages, inflation, making enemies, getting into wars, starting nuclear wars. It should be approached carefully.

You are literally ridiculous. Your first article that you cite said most of the election irregularities are just poor losers but should be investigated. By that definition America is NOT a liberal democracy. Did you even read the article - it supports a position that Iraq is a Democracy.

Sure we didn’t transform Afghanistan but we didn’t make it worse. There population grew on trend the entire time. No excess deaths.

We also signed treaties with Ukraine that we would protect their sovereignty. Baltics would be very hard to defend if Russia controlled Ukraine. And once you break one vow to defend then I’m not sure how you can assume we would keep a vow to defend Estonia. Come on man make some sense with your arguments.

Lol it’s harrassment that when a country invaded your friend you limit trade with them.

Dude if you haven’t been paying attention F-18 are when not if.

Don’t insult me for not being sophisticated. I’ve thought it thru and completely support giving Ukraine whatever weapons they want and support American boots on the ground. Nukes I wouldn’t give them. Russia literally has zero chance to win the war. Even if they get a breakthrough there would be a NATO counter probably polish boots. Again I pay taxes for military weapons. I want to use them to kill Russians.

Isn’t it the borders of our friends? Like Poland was conquored by Russia.

Iraq’s road to democracy is still long, and while this election could be seen as a step forward, it has also underlined the fragilities and setbacks that might result in further disillusionment

The article says that Iraq is not a liberal democracy. If it's on the road to democracy, it's not a democracy, let alone a liberal democracy! If a doctor gives a report about the state of someone's health, it doesn't mean that they're healthy.

Sure we didn’t transform Afghanistan but we didn’t make it worse. There population grew on trend the entire time. No excess deaths.

No excess deaths is not the sole standard for how benign a military operation is. Imagine if the US raped and impregnated all the women there. Population grows on trend! But that's still a bad thing.

We also signed treaties with Ukraine that we would protect their sovereignty.

No, you didn't promise to do anything.

https://www.whsv.com/2022/02/25/does-us-have-an-obligation-protect-ukraine/

Baltics would be very hard to defend if Russia controlled Ukraine.

Look at a map. Ukraine doesn't even border the Baltics. The Baltics are already hard to defend because of geography and Kaliningrad in conventional terms.

Lol it’s harrassment that when a country invaded your friend you limit trade with them.

Yes. They froze hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian banks, preventing them spending their own money. It's also harassment when a country organizes a coup in your friend as in 2014, or manipulates your elections, as in 1996.

Dude if you haven’t been paying attention F-18 are when not if.

There's no evidence for this. F-18s are much more advanced and expensive than F-16s and would be too hard for Ukraine to supply. That's why they asked for F-16s. That's why everyone is talking about F-16s, not F-18s.

Nukes I wouldn’t give them. Russia literally has zero chance to win the war. Even if they get a breakthrough there would be a NATO counter probably polish boots. Again I pay taxes for military weapons. I want to use them to kill Russians.

Great, then we get a nuclear war. That would kill a lot of Russians!

Your article literally says they are a democracy and had successful elections.

Excess deaths is a good measure of how brutal a war is. Being that we haven’t had reports and mass rapes in Iraq Im not even sure why your bringing it up.

There was no coup in Ukraine. There was massive protest involving a large percent of the Ukranian populace. Protest are not coups.

Freeze a countries money as a response to an invasion of a peaceful nation is an appropriate punishment.

May have mixed up F16 and 18. Bottom line Ukraine is getting fighter Jets sooner or later.

You are very tough to read. I feel like you are in an alternative universe where left is right and right is left with your own dictionary and meanings.

There’s no evidence to support nuclear war if nato boots go into Ukraine. Even Russias own military doctrine is only to use nukes if an army invades Russia.