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Why should we not care about Americans attacked abroad? To me this reads like a kind of nihilism, it's ok if part of the world is made ugly and dangerous because it's not my responsibility. So, retreat? Americans bombed in Israel are fair game because neighboring Iran is unstable. What's the logical next step? Americans in Europe are fair game because neighboring Middle East is unstable? Americans in London are fair game because neighboring Europe is unstable?
I don't want to suggest infinite responsibility here either, but it's not compelling to say that we have no responsibility anywhere. The Founders went to war in Tripoli over this kind of stuff.
"To me it's like going on the bus, I feel bad for you but it's still your fault if someone assaults you, not our responsibility." How is this different in principle?
If we should care about what happens to people for their own choices to travel into dangerous parts of the world, honestly where does it end? Do we start bombing if a tourist gets pickpocketed in Spain? If a US citizen in singapore gets a lashing for chewing gum?
We are not the world's police.
Why should the US be responsible for defending London? The British should be able to defend themselves. I'm all for alliances, defense agreements, etc but if a country can't handle themselves then we should be able to tell them to fuck off.
A bus in the US should have the people following our laws. Criminals will still exist, but we have police for that. Or at least are suppose to have police for it.
If you leave the US and travel to Assaultistan and get assaulted, well too bad. We aren't the world's police.
Who patrols the sea lanes? Who keeps the oil flowing? When Russia invades Georgia or Ukraine, which country does the world turn to do something?
This is just words, it doesn't mean anything. You're for alliances that help British defense but they "should be able to defend themselves". Well which is it, should we help them or should they help themselves? This is the question I posed in the first place. You have to actually draw a line somewhere.
The example was Americans traveling to Israel getting assaulted by Iran.
It sure seems it was flowing until war started. As for Ukraine and Georgia, what much have we done? We've provided financial aid and sold Ukraine weapons, but that's not being the world's police. I'm fine with charity or trade. It should make sense and be efficient, like PEPFAR saving individuals lives in poor countries makes more sense as a charity than giving money to Israel's military so they don't have to divert from their universal healthcare and free upper education.
But being charitable to victims isn't the same as rushing in guns blazing.
Alliances like this are supposed to be mutual. We get help when we are attacked and they get help when they are attacked. But they still need to be pretty sufficient on their own. If Britain is slacking, I think we would be perfectly in the right to tell them to do better or we quit our end.
Then Israel should do better, or Americans should wisen up to the risk and not take it instead of expecting everyone else to spend billions and billions to bail them out for their dumb choices. Once you leave the country, you've given up most of our responsibility to you (unless you're like an official representative or something).
The idea that we should go to war for Americans abroad because we are responsible for them but not get them out of war zones because we aren't responsible for them is a pretty major contradiction here too. If anything, the latter is something we're more responsible for given the whole we started it part of the war.
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