Georgie Boy: "They hate our freedom."
Moron. And morons ate it up.
The freedom has to be extracted from the crude oil in these countries, so that it can be shipped to its rightful place stateside in the Strategic Freedom Reserves
“You’ll never destroy our way of life!” “FOR DEMOCRACYYYYYYYYY” “How about a nice cup of Liber-TEA” “Freedom never sleeps!” “How do you like the taste of freedom?”
Almost everything about modern American life is based on oil. If we didn't "liberate" countries on top of fossil reserves we'd send ourselves back to 1800. So in a fucked up way, the things many of us consider "freedom", i.e. the "freedom to drive where I want", the freedom to grow crops, etc is in the Middle East.
Even if we used 100% electric cars and buses
- Tires are made from oil
- We can only make enough food because we can make fertilizer out of oil, and use oil to mine for phosphorus and potassium
- Plastic is made from oil and most of our stuff is made out of plastic
Without oil, only nuclear power has the energy density to even come close to supporting modern American life, but of course, nuclear could only cover the energy side of the equation, not the materials side. You can't make tires out of nuclear power.
Hum... So that makes it's ok for one to just go there and take it?
Anyway, last I checked the US produced enough oil for their needs. Besides, ammonia and urea are made with natural gas, not oil. Plastic is also mostly made of natural gas, but it's a general name for lots and lots of different things, so it varies.
Hum… So that makes it’s ok for one to just go there and take it?
No, I suppose the agenda of my comment was unclear. I was implying that modern American "freedom" is inherently unsustainable and only possible due to oil, no alternatives suffice. The answer isn't more oil, it's changing how we live.
Anyway, last I checked the US produced enough oil for their needs. Besides, ammonia and urea are made with natural gas, not oil. Plastic is also mostly made of natural gas, but it’s a general name for lots and lots of different things, so it varies.
I sometimes use "oil" to refer to fossil resources in general.
Don't think we even got enough oil to justify the cost. More likely it was to dump money into the MIC, and generally distract from the erosion of privacy.
Why not both?
But 9/11!!/s
We didn't even go to war with the right country.
Okay, like two/thirds of this post are just fucking brain-dead. (Not an American btw.)
Afghanistan and Gulf War were the most straightforward of all conflicts US has been involved in in the 21st century.
Afghanistan - that's where the Taliban were, and the Taliban did 9/11 (kinda, Al Qaeda did, but they had ties, and bin Laden was there for a time). The only problem was that the US didn't consider the regional politics and allied with Pakistan, which was funding the Taliban, since stable Afghanistan was bad for Pakistan.
Gulf War - he, y'know, INVADED KUWAIT! What the fuck is so difficult to understand about "Invading sovereign states is bad actually"!?
Iraq War was bad though 100%
IDK man it kind of feels like you’re the one being obtuse, not engaging with the critique of imperialism.
to respond,: Afghanistan. Taliban. Did 911. US invaded over it. …Okay. And then…And uh.then., Lost. Lost, rather badly, as I heard it. Oh and they gave Lockheed Martin and Raytheon 50 trillion dollars.
My issue with Kuwait is like, the US is still there. And it has been the entire time.
Kuwait isn't really the same situation as other countries the US has/had a presence in. The relationship is fundamentally different. The US is still in Kuwait in the same sense that they are still in Germany. Kuwait wasn't invaded by the US like Iraq and Afghanistan were. Kuwait was already a US ally before the war, and remained one afterwards. They allow the US to have bases in Kuwait, but the US isn't in control of the country, again, same as in Germany. Hell, after some quick Googling, I came across a statistic that said that in 2003, public opinion regarding the US was more favourable in Kuwait than in the US's western allies (something like 64% favourable in Kuwait vs <50% in Europe).
My issue with Kuwait is like, the US is still there. And it has been the entire time.
The USA is still there to ensure reliable global delivery of petroleum as a larger geopolitical play to strengthen global trade which is in the USA's interests. I've not heard the Kuwait ask the USA to leave.
What is your concern that the USA has military bases in Kuwait?
Hm yeah and the Taliban just sort of materialized out of thin air with a deep vendetta against the US because they were jealous... or for their religion... or. uh. something...
Definitely not the product of any covert CIA operations that undermined democracy and autonomy in the region or anything... no no the US just forgot to consider the regional politics in which they were also funding the guerilla fighters that Pakistan was funding to prevent the people of Afghanistan from adopting socialism and being allied with the USSR.
Yeah, I definitely feel like the Afghanistan war gets a way worse rep than it deserves since Iraq happened right after.
Sure, we left the country and the Taliban regained power, but Al-Queda is basically a non-threat these days. Osama is dead, most of their leadership is dead, their training and infrastructure is mostly gone, etc. etc.
Freedoms like to travel, what is it to you?
