Starker on 6/2/2020 at 07:51
Are you kidding me? Did you forget the assassination of an Iranian general? Putting troops in Syria? The escalation of the drone warfare? Over the last two years, the US has dropped more bombs on Afghanistan than at any point in history.
Renzatic on 6/2/2020 at 08:02
Obama was far from being a peacenik, and hardly disengaged us from the Middle East like we all hoped he would, but a lot of his actions have been overhyped by the conservatives and Libertarians to serve as a counterpoint to Bush, usually in an attempt to illustrate some "inherent hypocrisy among the leftists."
The most commonly used refrain is that Obama bombed more countries than Bush did. Technically, it's true. Obama bombed, what, 5 nations? It's something like that. What they fail to mention is that all these bombings were against ISIS targets, and, barring a couple of exceptions, were launched at the behest of the governments of these countries. ISIS was scary, and no one particularly liked them much, so no harm, no foul.
In the meanwhile, Trump has escalated our involvement in the Middle East again, having our military assist in the Syria clusterfuck, and increasing drone strikes and bombings in the region, like Starker mentioned, and having unilaterally ordered the assassination of a scumbag of a Iranian general, which brings up a ton of other concerns. Conservatives call him The Great Peacemaker, because for the last three years, he's been JUST ABOUT READY to bring our troops home, and end our involvement in the Middle East.
...and that's US politics. They are dumb.
Starker on 6/2/2020 at 08:06
As for the economy, depends on who you are. If you own stock, yes, must be nice. If you're a corporation, even better. Growing the deficit just to give large corporations a handout is not really a sign of a good economy, though.
Also, it's not really clear what Lord Dampnut has done for the economy that isn't a part of the Obama recovery.
But yes, he has not completely screwed up the economy, though his disastrous trade wars haven't done it any favours either. Farm bankruptcies jumped 20% last year, for example, even with all the government subsidies.
nemyax on 6/2/2020 at 08:08
Quote Posted by Starker
Putting troops in Syria?
But they were already there by 2016, and proxy warfare was also going full steam.
Quote Posted by Starker
The escalation of the drone warfare? Over the last two years, the US has dropped more bombs on Afghanistan than at any point in history.
Don't know about that. If it's true, I stand corrected.
Quote Posted by Starker
Did you forget the assassination of an Iranian general?
Good riddance.
Starker on 6/2/2020 at 08:17
No, the troops were not in Syria. Lord Dampnut sent them there. The US was training fighters to take on ISIS, but this did not take in place in Syria and, far from going full steam, the training program was a failure.
Starker on 6/2/2020 at 08:29
As for the assassination, no matter what you think of the guy, if that isn't warmongering in your book, I'm not sure what is. Iran is sure to seek retribution for it. And even before that, Lord Dampnut unilaterally tore up the Iran deal (that Iran was following), needlessly escalating things.
Renzatic on 6/2/2020 at 08:31
Quote Posted by nemyax
Good riddance.
No tears shed for the guy. The only issue is how this will sneak up and bite us in the ass later, which it probably will, and the next step will be full escalation into war.
I'm pretty sure back in the 50's, no one expected Operation Ajax to have repercussions 70 years later, yet here we are, still dealing with the fallout from helping the British secure their oil line within some dirt poor no-name 3rd world country.
demagogue on 6/2/2020 at 10:08
The guy was planning strikes against western targets so I didn't have a problem with the military logic of a strike per se, it's just that it stirred up a hornet's nest without any proportional return for it. We've completely and needlessly alienated both the Iraqi establishment and the Iranian resistance groups by it, which were among the few alliances or potential ones the west even has in the region. Trump also managed to piss on the Kurds and Syrian opposition while he was at it. We handed influence in the region over to Russia on a silver platter.
Quote Posted by nemyax
What did Trump do to deserve all the hate? Isn't the US faring better than 4 years ago?
:laff: :laff: :laff: Brilliant. Next level trolling.
Honestly Trump doesn't deserve hate. His own hand-picked staff openly ignores most of his instructions, and we should all do the same.
The oval office is empty, and he doesn't really exist except in incoherent word salad soundbites that mean and do nothing.
It's been like that since the early days.
I'm pretty sure he still hasn't even fully staffed a lot of federal positions, which most presidents do with the first few weeks in office.
Starker on 6/2/2020 at 10:25
Inaction and neglect also have real consequences. Again, I plug The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis -- an excellent take on this.
And yeah, pity is more appropriate here.
nemyax on 6/2/2020 at 12:30
Quote Posted by demagogue
We handed influence in the region over to Russia on a silver platter.
Russia is only the poorer and more backward for that. So again, good riddance. And either way, Turkey and Israel keep doing anything they want, Russia or no Russia.
Quote Posted by demagogue
Brilliant. Next level trolling.
I'm genuinely interested, since I'm not American. Whatever unappetising things are happening in the US, honestly they don't look that horrible from over here.
