Comment on What's it going to take to truly stop the US?
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I think losing an aircraft carrier would give the US serious pause. Outside that, no idea. Maybe we finally pull the trigger and nuke someone, and that scares the rest of the world enough to start actively sanctioning us. Maybe not, though.
It does seem like most of Europe, Canada, and East Asia are happy to be in the pocket of US financial interests. Even folks who don’t like Trump haven’t bothered to break away from JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs.
Nobody wants to risk fucking with the money of the global hegemon.
China is going to flip the script very soon. They have already overtaken the USA on some economic metrics, their industrial power is growing while the petro-dollar is in its death throes and American trade power is collapsing on every front.
America’s only real power remaining is the military, which is incredibly strong, but maybe not enough to exert power over a world united behind China’s Belts and Roads diplomacy while simultaneously dealing with a divided populous at home.
If America has to go full warmonger those over seas will be fine if they can last the initial onslaught.
It’s more Canada and Mexico that will just get absolutely fucked.
China is going to flip the script very soon.
They’re one of the few rapidly developing economies left, following the post Soviet stagnation.
But that just introduces another superpower on the world stage. It doesn’t eliminate the US in any material capacity.
America’s only real power remaining is the military
America’s biggest card to play is the Petrodollar. The military has facilitated destruction of competition. But our ability to dictate currency flow and command global trade via a monetary system our federal bank controls is so much more important.
Everyone keeps saying Europe and Asia will go their own way. Let me know when they finally do. Because I’m still waiting.
The Petrodollar is dying fast though, with some saying it’s already dead.
It is absolutely not. The USD has enormous international buying power today, after coming off a bull running dating back to the '08 crash.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 days ago
I think the answer to your question is contained within the question. Americans are greedy people and a coordinated effort by China, Japan, and the UK could sink the US economy.
But I doubt that would even be necessary. Why kill someone intent on suicide? The US economy will likely collapse on it’s own if it continues on the path it’s on. I’m not talking about some recession like in 2008, I’m talking a collapse you’ve never experienced. Something similar to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Also if you were going down the military strike route, an aircraft carrier would be stupid. Trump has broadcast to the entire world what the achilles heal of the US is and it isn’t the aircraft carriers. It’s something that’s dug up from the ground and needs to be processed by refineries.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 days ago
These three countries aren’t aligned, much less in alignment ideologically. Hell, they aren’t even aligned internally. The US isn’t the only county that reverses directions every four to eight years.
Bo Xilai was very nearly China’s Premier and would have taken the country in a radically different direction absent his expulsion in 2013.
The county cycles through recessions every 10 years or so. If anything, we’re overdue. It doesn’t end after a bad business cycle.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 days ago
Kinda like how the US, UK, and the Soviet Union were not aligned before the 1940s?
Alignments can change when there’s a common enemy. Sure those alignment changes may be temporary but they can last long enough to see a country bombed flat and the leaders dead in a bunker.
You’re obsessed over ideology but that’s mostly irrelevant in geopolitics. If it’s in the best interests of a bunch of countries to work together to destroy the US economy, those countries will work together regardless of ideology or internal politics. In WWII the UK had a government of national unity with both the Labour and Conservative in a coalition. Perhaps the US is incapable of having political parties working together for the common good of the country, but not every country has the same weaknesses the US has.
And countries can always go back to being adversaries for bullshit ideological reasons after the enemy is destroyed like the US and Soviet Union did after WWII. So animosity between countries can be put aside temporarily.
If Trump thinks he can be an existential threat to a large number of countries in the world, it’s a FAFO situation.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 days ago
The US and the UK were flush with anti-communists who actively courted war with the Soviet Union even in the midst of WW2. Truman pivoted into the Cold War before the Pacific Theater was secured, in no small part because he didn’t want to risk Japan being divided North/South like Europe had been divided East/West.
Trump isn’t the only perceived threat.