All of these conflicts; Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, etc.; are  happening because the USA will accept nothing less than total global hegemony. We're not the least bit interested in a multipolar world that relies on cooperation and decentralization. Either we're at the top of a strict hierarchy of power or we'll set the world on fire and bring it all crashing down with us.

We've forced the rest of the planet to find ways to circumvent and avoid us (think BRICS, as an example) like you'd avoid a rabid animal wandering around your neighborhood. We've literally sown the seeds for our own collapse and all that remains to be seen is how much shit we'll petulantly fuck up on our way out.

Play stoopid games; win stoopid prizes.

The US instigated the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Quote from: Brent on November 22, 2025, 12:09:27 PMThe US instigated the war between Ukraine and Russia.

I don't think too many would disagree that the NATO expansion was a large part of what triggered Russia's aggression towards Ukraine, however the US is not the only country that decided that NATO should be expanded right up to Russia's border.

As the only person on this forum who is an Eastern Slav and can speak Ukrainian, I am pissed off with all the American meddling in the country of my parents birth.

The eastern-most portion of Ukraine where most people speak Russian as their first language. In early 2014, civil war broke out in the Donbass after a US-backed coup d'état had ousted the Russian-leaning government in Kiev. The coup was clearly orchestrated by Biden's nominee for undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, who was then assistant secretary of state for European affairs; she probably had the CIA's assistance. Someone, likely the Russians, intercepted and leaked Nuland's phone call to the then-US ambassador Jeffrey Pyatt. Their discussion was to decide who was to be the next prime minister of Ukraine. Nuland's choice was Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a rabidly anti-Russian politician. Nuland famously said: 'I think Yats is the guy.' When Pyatt warned Nuland that the Europeans might not support Yatsenyuk, Nuland diplomatically replied: 'Fuck the EU.' Yats ended up as prime minister.

Neoconservative revisionist historians like to point to Russia's invasion of Crimea as the origin of the recent Ukrainian crisis. This account of history is, quite frankly, ludicrous. Nuland's meddling in the internal politics of Russia's neighbor is the equivalent of Putin orchestrating a coup in Canada to install a pro-Russian prime minister. American diplomats should not be arrogantly choosing the prime ministers of countries in the backyards of other great powers. The US's blockheaded diplomats instigated the crisis.

FUCK THE NORTH ATLANTIC TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

The Warsaw Pact is gone and that archaic organization is not only still around they are creating Hitlers and annexing new stooge countries. Remember when Slobadan Milosevic was going to start WW3?

The US has broken every security assurance made to Russia since the dissolution of the USSR.

I agree with Garraty on US foreign policy. It is controlled by the military-industrial complex. They need enemies or they are out of business.

Quote from: Shen Li on November 22, 2025, 10:20:22 PMFUCK THE NORTH ATLANTIC TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

The Warsaw Pact is gone and that archaic organization is not only still around they are creating Hitlers and annexing new stooge countries. Remember when Slobadan Milosevic was going to start WW3?

The US has broken every security assurance made to Russia since the dissolution of the USSR.

I agree with Garraty on US foreign policy. It is controlled by the military-industrial complex. They need enemies or they are out of business.

It is just like in ancient Rome where mothers would yell out to their unruly children "Hannibal ad portas!" (Hannibal is at the gates!) to scare them into good behavior.

Now, in this post-9/11 world, the same thing is played out on a global scale.  Create false narratives of national security issues and defense contractors get a nice slice of pie.

The media is also complicit in this by not doing the legwork of a deep analysis of things as they happen.  Even OAN, which I trust the most, is sloppy in looking in depth of foreign/defense policy issues.