The US spent a lot of money on soft power, essentially bribing countries to go along with their agenda. Much of that money did actually improve people’s lives, whether it was food aid, vaccinations, or AIDS care. Sure, it was to further their own objectives. Sure, it’s mostly because it’s cheaper to buy compliance than to bomb people into compliance. Humanitarian aid with strings attached is still humanitarian aid, though, or the collapse of USAID wouldn’t be such a problem.
Comment on Has anyone else noticed the strong pro CCP and anti-west vibes here?
teyrnon@sh.itjust.works 3 days agoHa ha, no. The US never has, and never will, make the world a better place, in our lifetimes.
tburkhol@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
teyrnon@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Yet at the same time we were couping foreign countries’ democratically elected leaders to put genocidal strong men in power, sponsoring death squads in countries with leftist insurgencies in latin america and elsewhere, and making sure western corporations can get in and take their resources to no benefit and real harm to those countries, paying off and corrupting the aforementioned politicians we helped install because they are corrupt.
To say nothing of how we use sanctions, punishing entire countries to ostensibly create regime change, even though that has NEVER worked, and instead cements those regimes in power as people rally around the flag when attacked from without.
The US hasn’t been the good guy, since maybe world war II, and that was a one off.
I get your point, but the balance of US foreign policy is overwhelmingly bad.
Imperious_melange@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Do you think things would be better if they didn’t intervene in WWII? Initially they were staunchly isolationist.