Okay, modern day colonialism. :2razz: But seriously we use our military to influence world politics and to open the way to exploit other countries economically.
Oh yes, we have made so much money from our actions overseas in the last 70 years.
*yawn*
I don't think we should act as the world's police force
Think of it this way.
Would you rather fight them overseas, or in our own country?
In the 1980's, we did a lot to fight the "budding jihadist movement" overseas, and had very few attacks in the US. Striking nations that supported them and training camps.
We stopped doing that around 20 years ago, and since then we have had problems with them in our own country.
Not equating one with the other, or saying that was right or wrong. But I would rather strike a camp in Yemen that was training people, then have them trained unmolested and coming to our country to carry on their jihad.
=/= Colonialism. At most you could say that we exercise Soft Imperialism through influence rather than coercion.
Actually, it is so simple that most just do not get it.
We have always been a mercantile nation. And primarily all our nation has wanted is open trade. Trade and deal fairly with us, we have no problem. In fact, colonialism is against such a concept, since it reduces the number of trading partners available to us (and increases administration). If anybody actually notices, we have tried to divest of ourselves with "colonies" as quickly as we could.
We have traded with pretty much everybody, even nations who were technically "enemies", like the UK after the revolution and even the USSR and Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. If we wanted to we could have hurt the USSR badly by withholding things like grain during their times of short harvests, but we did not. Why? Because it made sense in so many ways to keep them friendly. plus they also bought from us, which makes the money go round.
The difference there is that one group is actively seeking to kill people, and the other was a peaceful movement at the time. Obviously, one cannot effectively fight ideas, something immaterial, with the military, something material. To clarify, what I was getting at was using military force against groups such as ISIS, Hamas, etc.
Actually, you can. It all depends upon the amount of effort you are willing to put into it.
Think of this. half a century ago, Fascism and Genocide were "ideals", and "immaterial". Does anybody think that the Imperial Aid Society and NAZI Party still exist?
And yes, the Ba'ath Party was a National Socialist movement, does anybody dispute that they are dead and gone? That that idea has been crushed and destroyed?
Groups like ISIS and HAMAS and others can indeed be destroyed. And with proper follow-up they can be prevented from rising again. All that is needed is the will to do it right.
And in the current age, we tend to lack that will. So it is will much more than power that prevents this from happening.