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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   24798 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026

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Oh, I think Iran and Russia are just as much enemies of the American people as Al Qaeda is.

Regardless, can we do the math on how many people was Assad killing? I think it was more.

There's no great option here.

Oh, I think Iran and Russia are just as much enemies of the American people as Al Qaeda is.

Sorry, could you remind me when Russia or Iran killed thousands of Americans on American soil? I seem to have forgotten.

Regardless, can we do the math on how many people was Assad killing? I think it was more.

Assad was fighting a civil war against hardened Salafis backed by half of the Middle East and the CIA whereas Al-Jolani is sending death squads to slaughter civilians protected by lightly armed militias to sell their families into slavery. If the death toll is even comparable it would indicate that the Al Qaeda terrorist is far worse than the secular dictator.

There's no great option here.

There is, actually; stay out of it entirely! Don't fund or provide air support for Al Qaeda!

For the overwhelming majority of American history, the US stayed out of Middle Eastern conflicts and miraculously during that time never had to fear the risk of conflict with Iran or Syria. It's only after the decision was made to support a certain new country that suddenly America found itself obligated to support head chopping Al Qaeda terrorists.

I love that you had to specify "thousands" and "on American soil" to exempt Iran and Russia killing or facilitating the deaths of thousands of Americans other places. And confusing willingness with capability.

Here's a funny twist you might not be aware of: There were allegations before 2003 that Saddam had supported Al Qaeda. That wasn't true.

But it is true that Iran has been hosting Al Qaeda in Iran for years at this point.

For the overwhelming majority of American history, the US stayed out of Middle Eastern conflicts and miraculously during that time never had to fear the risk of conflict with Iran or Syria.

Ever heard of WWII? The Cold War? We stopped being isolationist a long time ago. The Islamic regime chose to make us an enemy.

I love that you had to specify "thousands" and "on American soil" to exempt Iran and Russia killing or facilitating the deaths of thousands of Americans other places. And confusing willingness with capability.

Yes, because there is categorical difference between killing occupying soldiers in combat and killing civilians in a terrorist attack.

Ever heard of WWII? The Cold War? We stopped being isolationist a long time ago.

You're proving my point; before the Cold War America had no problems with the Middle East. From the perspective of the average American as opposed to a Lockheed executive or a lobbyist for a foreign country it has been all cost for no benefit. Isolationism produced superior results to imperialism.

Were the Marines in Lebanon in combat?

I suppose you believe we should have stayed out of WWII as well. Should we have resisted global communism? If you're a committed isolationist then I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise.

Should we have resisted global communism?

Communism is a completely dysfunctional, unworkable system. America could resist global communism the same way it resisted European imperialism, by providing an example of a successful alternative instead of beating the communists by copying them. Or as John Quincy Adams put it,

Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence, has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign Independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brow would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of Freedom and Independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an Imperial Diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.

The past century of American imperial domination have proven Adams right.

That was not gonna keep Soviet tanks from crushing all that they could.

Or Chinese.

Sorry, the USSR managed to industrialize and become a major military power despite the dysfunctional system.

FFS, just look at what a shithole North Korea is. Guess what though? They have a massive military and even nukes.

Except the Soviet tanks couldn't even handle their neighbors and wound up bogged down in Afghanistan whereas the Chinese tanks similarly couldn't make it past Vietnam. A massive military and nukes are worthless without the massive economy to back it up; the Communists never figured out economics and were perpetually gimped in that respect. The Soviets only achieved significant conquests when they were fueled by American lend lease.

The real growth in Communism didn't come from Soviet tanks imposing it by force, it came from anti-imperialist movements adopting it pragmatically after America chose to back the European imperial powers after WW2 for some reason. Ho Chi Minh famously was a fan of the American system until they turned him away.

You do realize we were funding and backing a lot of the resistance the Soviets faced in Afghanistan, right?

The real growth in Communism didn't come from Soviet tanks imposing it by force, it came from anti-imperialist movements adopting it pragmatically after America chose to back the European imperial powers after WW2 for some reason.

That is not a great reading of history, particularly concerning Eastern Europe following WWII.

Also it's pretty funny because of how much pressure the US put on the imperial powers it "backed" to give up their holdings.

The anti-interventionist take against the US facing down global communism is one I'm used to arguing with leftists about. Good job taking a new line.

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