I mean…both points of view are valid for sure. I’m positive we’re in the situation we’re in due to collusion and influence from foreign adversaries, but it’s because people are so easily led and dumb that it’s possible.
I’m just saying like all things American, it’s a very, very Amerocentric view of the world, where we’re the most important and need to be destabilized.
We wrecked our own soft power with the Iraq War and Snowden leaks. No foreign actors forced our hands. Iraq War was just plain stupid and Snowden leaked because his big boss was lying to congress (and has never been punished for it).
Foreign influence kicked up after that because we created an opening with our own fucking hubris by destroying international credibility as well as credibility at home with our own citizens.
Cops were already practicing Killology and being a violent problem in US communities long before the Iraq War and the death of US soft power. (EDIT: In point of fact, the Iraq War was when the cops started to get all that disused military equipment, too. No foreign entity forced that, Bush did. Cops generally didn’t have APCs at local departments in the '90’s)
where we’re the most important and need to be destabilized
I’m far from US-centric, but the US is the most powerful nation in the world right now.
We wrecked our own soft power with the Iraq War and Snowden leaks.
The first Iraq war increased our soft power, the second war pissed all that away, and more, as did the debacle in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the Snowden leaks were largely ignored by most of the world except a few people interested in secure communications and the surveillance state. But no nation-state would be alienated by those revelations, since they all do it.
As for cops, their continuing militarization also has to do with some other Bush-era brain-farts like bringing in the Israelis to train Homeland Security and local cops. It’s a miracle we haven’t had more 12-year-olds on the casualty lists after that. Colonialist occupiers sure as shit aren’t the best people to teach policing by consent. And without community buy-in, cops behave very much like hostile occupying forces.
I mean…both points of view are valid for sure. I’m positive we’re in the situation we’re in due to collusion and influence from foreign adversaries, but it’s because people are so easily led and dumb that it’s possible.
I’m just saying like all things American, it’s a very, very Amerocentric view of the world, where we’re the most important and need to be destabilized.
We wrecked our own soft power with the Iraq War and Snowden leaks. No foreign actors forced our hands. Iraq War was just plain stupid and Snowden leaked because his big boss was lying to congress (and has never been punished for it).
Foreign influence kicked up after that because we created an opening with our own fucking hubris by destroying international credibility as well as credibility at home with our own citizens.
Cops were already practicing Killology and being a violent problem in US communities long before the Iraq War and the death of US soft power. (EDIT: In point of fact, the Iraq War was when the cops started to get all that disused military equipment, too. No foreign entity forced that, Bush did. Cops generally didn’t have APCs at local departments in the '90’s)
I’m far from US-centric, but the US is the most powerful nation in the world right now.
The first Iraq war increased our soft power, the second war pissed all that away, and more, as did the debacle in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the Snowden leaks were largely ignored by most of the world except a few people interested in secure communications and the surveillance state. But no nation-state would be alienated by those revelations, since they all do it.
As for cops, their continuing militarization also has to do with some other Bush-era brain-farts like bringing in the Israelis to train Homeland Security and local cops. It’s a miracle we haven’t had more 12-year-olds on the casualty lists after that. Colonialist occupiers sure as shit aren’t the best people to teach policing by consent. And without community buy-in, cops behave very much like hostile occupying forces.