Remember When America Was a Superpower?

[Ireadforpleasure]

Remember when the United States of America was a superpower?

From 1945 to 2016, America was seen as a powerhouse, a global economic leader, military leader and moral leader. Other nations around the planet looked to us for leadership when in came to dealing with the Nazi Germany, post war devastation, the Soviet Union, nuclear proliferation and other serious global issues.

Since Trump lumbered into the White House, America has given up its leadership position.

Whereas America was once seen as the indispensable leader of the NATO alliance, Trump had done everything he can to malign and cripple our 70-year-old alliance system. He’s chronically attacked NATO’s leaders, balked at upholding America’s NATO commitments and suggested that our NATO allies should be left to fight their own wars with shared adversaries.

Trump’s hostility towards NATO has been so relentless and damaging that U.S. allies in Asia and Europe now question the United States’ ability to restore itself as a credible security guarantor, even after a different president is in the White House.

To make matters even worse, Trump abandoned our Kurdish allies in Syria, getting many of them killed or captured and when he was denounced for abandoning our allies in the war against ISIS, he washed his hands of our slaughtered allies, saying, “They know how to fight,” and “By the way, they’re no angels.”

Trump has also abandoned our allies in Ukraine.

While America was once seen as a trusted and trustworthy world leader with plenty of loyal allies, America is now seen as a dysfunctional nation that abandons its allies and stabs them in the back. Adding to this image is the way that Trump has repeatedly leaked classified information to the Russians, and now our allies no longer trust us enough to share sensitive intelligence with us. Any intel they share with us could get leaked to Putin the very same day. Trump is just unpredictable and untrustworthy like that.

Faced with cyberattacks, terrorism, disinformation campaigns, pandemics, economic issues and other problems, America needs allies if they want to preserve order. But Trump just throws our allies away like they’re used tissues.

And now with poor and untrustworthy leadership in the Oval Office, America is disgraced. Once upon a time, world leaders would have looked to the United States for leadership in a global crisis like the one COVID-19 virus crisis that’s currently killing people all over the planet.

Today, absolutely NOBODY is looking to Washington for a solution to the COVID-19 crisis!

The rest of the world is bypassing America completely as they look for solutions to the current pandemic. We have no credibility anymore.

America’s lack of usefulness in world affairs was woefully on display at a recent world meeting where the main U.S. contribution was a childish effort get other world leaders to sign a statement referring to COVID-19 as the “Wuhan virus”, as part of a smear campaign to blame China for the pandemic.

American superpower status since World War Two has been largely rooted in America’s unique capacity to get things done internationally, either by diplomacy, economic incentives or by the threat of military force. But Trump’s bungling, childish and irresponsible response to Covid-19 shows that America is no longer a country that gets things done.

 

[Ziggins]

Empires fall as reliably as they rise. In their declining decades, the cost of maintaining and projecting power is more than the revenue in spoils from subdued nations. Winding down the imperial war machine and cutting our losses is exactly the job that Trump was hired to do. We are damn lucky we avoided another hawk president who was determined to use power the US doesn't have anymore.

 

[Leather_Lesbian]

Since Trump lumbered into the White House, America has given up its leadership position.

Whereas America was once seen as the indispensable leader of the NATO alliance, Trump had done everything he can to malign and cripple our 70-year-old alliance system. He’s chronically attacked NATO’s leaders, balked at upholding America’s NATO commitments and suggested that our NATO allies should be left to fight their own wars with shared adversaries.

It's not just our foreign allies. Trump has done the same thing to America's governors, America's schools, America's farms, America's hospitals etc.

Governors who want America to survive the COVID-10 pandemic have to work around Trump! Trump isn't a leader in fighting against the pandemic! Trump is an obstacle!!! He's constantly finding ways to get in the way and make the pandemic COVID-19 problem worse!!!

 

[Schlank]

It's very disconcerting, but as I watch Trump, it's obvious that he's trying to dismantle the government and remove any possibility of winning the COVID-19 battle.

Shockingly, Trump said he would stop funding the World Health Organization, the only global organization currently fighting to stamp out this virus.

Then he started complaining that his grossly unqualified judges weren't getting confirmed fast enough, so he threatened to adjourn congress.

The same congress which is passing legislation to keep businesses and individuals from starving.

He refuses to sign anything that will help the postal service, which is essential to keep this country functioning.

Now he's obsessed with "opening the economy" but not funding any more testing. And he's whipping up his followers into a frenzy and encouraging them to gather in large groups and "liberate" states where the governors have put into place precautions against the pandemic such as "stay safe, stay home" orders.

It's like Trump is TRYING to get as many of us killed as possible!

 

[Jesus_Ateo]

It's not just our foreign allies. Trump has done the same thing to America's governors, America's schools, America's farms, America's hospitals etc.

Governors who want America to survive the COVID-10 pandemic have to work around Trump! Trump isn't a leader in fighting against the pandemic! Trump is an obstacle!!! He's constantly finding ways to get in the way and make the pandemic COVID-19 problem worse!!!

Trump has handled the coronavirus crisis so badly, he's created a leadership vacuum. Since Trump is of no use to this country when it comes to saving American lives, Democratic governors have had to step in and do the job that Trump is unable (or unwilling) to do.

New York's Governor Cuomo has displayed steady leadership and continues to give must-see daily briefings that provide not just solid information, but also, a welcome measure of comfort. Governors Jay Inslee of Washington and Gavin Newsom of California, both Democrats, reacted to COVID-19 with early stay-at-home orders that kept infections, hospitalizations and deaths in their states relatively low.

Trump has basically abandoned any sort of leadership role in combating this crisis. Governors like Cuomo, Inslee and Newsom have taken up the leadership responsibilities that Trump should be doing. Since Trump is worse than useless, the American people are turning to leaders like Andrew Cuomo to get us through this crisis.

 

[Perfectly_shaped_buttocks]

For over seven decades, the U.S. played a leading global role in fighting infectious diseases, including Ebola, tuberculosis, malaria, yellow fever, AIDS, avian influenza and Zika, as well as in developing the 67-member Global Health Security Agenda. Trump disgracefully abandoned that leadership role.

 

[allison22]

Sadness and Disbelief From a World Missing American Leadership

The coronavirus pandemic is shaking bedrock assumptions about U.S. exceptionalism. This is perhaps the first global crisis in more than a century where no one is even looking for Washington to lead.


America once told a story of hope, and not just to Americans. West Germans like Mr. Maas, who grew up on the front line of the Cold War, knew that story by heart, and like many others in the world, believed it.

But nearly three decades later, America’s story is in trouble.

The country that helped defeat fascism in Europe 75 years ago next month, and defended democracy on the continent in the decades that followed, is doing a worse job of protecting its own citizens than many autocracies and democracies.

There is a special irony: Germany and South Korea, both products of enlightened postwar American leadership, have become potent examples of best practices in the coronavirus crisis.

But critics now see America failing not only to lead the world’s response, but letting down its own people as well.

“There is not only no global leadership, there is no national and no federal leadership in the United States,” said Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Growth Lab at Harvard’s Center for International Development. “In some sense this is the failure of leadership of the U.S. in the U.S.”


Of course, some countries in Europe have also been overwhelmed by the virus, with the number of dead from Covid-19 much higher as a percentage of the population in Italy, Spain and France than in the United States. But they were struck sooner and had less time to prepare and react.

The contrast between how the United States and Germany responded to the virus is particularly striking.


While Chancellor Angela Merkel has been criticized for not taking a forceful enough leadership role in Europe, Germany is being praised for a near-textbook response to the pandemic, at least by Western standards. That is thanks to a robust public health care system, but also a strategy of mass testing and trusted and effective political leadership.

Ms. Merkel has done what Mr. Trump has not. She has been clear and honest about the risks with voters and swift in her response. She has rallied all 16 state governors behind her. A trained physicist, she has followed scientific advice and learned from best practice elsewhere.

Not long ago, Ms. Merkel was considered a spent force, having announced that this would be her last term. Now her approval ratings are at 80 percent.

“She has the mind of a scientist and the heart of a pastor’s daughter,” Mr. Garton Ash said.

Mr. Trump, in a hurry to restart the economy in an election year, has appointed a panel of business executives to chart a course out of the lockdown.

Ms. Merkel, like everyone, would like to find a way out, too, but this week she warned Germans to remain cautious. She is listening to the advice of a multidisciplinary panel of 26 academics from Germany’s national academy of science. The panel includes not just medical experts and economists but also behavioral psychologists, education experts, sociologists, philosophers and constitutional experts.

“You need a holistic approach to this crisis,” said Gerald Haug, the academy’s president, who chairs the German panel. “Our politicians get that.”


A climatologist, Mr. Haug used to do research at Columbia University in New York.

The United States has some of the world’s best and brightest minds in science, he said. “The difference is, they’re not being listened to.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/world/europe/coronavirus-american-exceptionalism.html

 

[hogjack]

At this rate the United States of America will not exist in 2022. We originally predicted it for 2030 but the timetable has changed.

It is very likely that the US Dollar will become a worthless currency and all property ownershiip will be dubbed null-and-void. Pax Americana is almost over.

Yes, "survivalists" get made fun of all the time. Those of us who are prepared get used to the barbs. But sometime soon others will be begging to join us. Unless you bring a lot of assets (food, water, weapons) or capabilities (doctors, nurses, scientists, carpenters, engineers, big tits) it is not going to happen.

 

[hogjack]

Trump has handled the coronavirus crisis so badly, he's created a leadership vacuum. Since Trump is of no use to this country when it comes to saving American lives, Democratic governors have had to step in and do the job that Trump is unable (or unwilling) to do.

New York's Governor Cuomo has displayed steady leadership and continues to give must-see daily briefings that provide not just solid information, but also, a welcome measure of comfort. Governors Jay Inslee of Washington and Gavin Newsom of California, both Democrats, reacted to COVID-19 with early stay-at-home orders that kept infections, hospitalizations and deaths in their states relatively low.

Trump has basically abandoned any sort of leadership role in combating this crisis. Governors like Cuomo, Inslee and Newsom have taken up the leadership responsibilities that Trump should be doing. Since Trump is worse than useless, the American people are turning to leaders like Andrew Cuomo to get us through this crisis.

You, Jesus, are a hero. Your insight needs to be shared around the world. Will you do webcam seminars from the basement? Would your parents care? Please set this up.

 

[Articulate_and_Analytical]

We have lost 50,243 American lives while Trump makes a mockery of the seriousness of the virus.

 

[Stephen_Coyle]

While other leaders have responded with mass-testing, effective political leadership and followed scientific advice, Trump has called the virus a "hoax", ridiculed scientific advice and suggested that people should inject themselves with disinfectants.

 

[hogjack]

There is a conspiracy theory that President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are colluding together to destabilize the country so that their billionaire friends can go on an asset buying spree.

At first, this didn't seem possible but they are both around the same age and there is - yes, I say it and others have observed it, too - some sexual tension between them. You can see the tention in the rare moments they are together in public. WHO KNOWS what goes on behind closed doors.

Trump is controlled by Russia. Pelosi is controlled by China (that's why she fought so hard to get people to visit Chinatown). Their masters are calling the shots.

 

[Schlank]

While other leaders have responded with mass-testing, effective political leadership and followed scientific advice, Trump has called the virus a "hoax", ridiculed scientific advice and suggested that people should inject themselves with disinfectants.

Trump’s musings about treating COVID-19 by injecting people with disinfectants are now making headlines overseas.

Appearing on the television show “Good Morning Britain,” Dr. Hilary Jones found himself utterly aghast by Trump’s scientific illiteracy.

“I’ve heard some crazy things in my life, but this is probably one of the craziest,” he said. “To inject a disinfectant into the human body is not only toxic and highly poisonous, but would do no good whatsoever. It would cause inflammation of human tissues and not touch the virus… he’s completely and utterly crazy to suggest this.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/wa...rd-catastrophe/?utm_source=push_notifications

 

[hogjack]

The latest Superpower rankings are a wake up call:

1. People's Republic of China
2. India
3. United States of America
4. South Korea
5. United Kingdom
6. Australia
7. Singapore
8. France

 

[nowisthetime]

It's becoming quite a shithole.

Even South Korea sent hygiene kits to their people.

US would NEVAH! Deplorables would bitch about "free stuff" going to "those lazy people". I've always felt that if the US was a racially homogeneous country, there would be virtually none of these whiners crying about people getting free stuff. The whole premise of a Deplorable is aiming to make life miserable for "certain members of their nation" wink wink.

Snip:

"On February 28, Kim took to Reddit to share photos of the box that he had received that day from the dictrict's public health officials. The box contained food, water, masks, toothbrushes, a thermometer, hand-sanitising gel, a bag for dirty tissues and even a guide for how to self-quarantine with instructions for accessing emergency funds from the government. This financial aid is provided to people in quarantine who can’t work. In total, the box is supposed to contain everything you need to live in quarantine in your home for two weeks."

https://scd.observers.france24.com/files/imagecache/1024x576/rfi_multimedia_element_image/box_quarantaine.jpg

Source: https://observers.france24.com/en/20200305-south-korea-coronavirus-COVID-19-kits-masks

 

[Leather_Lesbian]

Republican columnist Jennifer Rubin shredded President Donald Trump’s failed response to the COVID-19 crisis, saying that if the United States makes it through, it will be as a result of the diligent dedication of American governors and in spite of Trump.

“There is no guidebook,” wrote Rubin on Monday. She noted that the Trump administration had a guidebook from the previous administration, but threw it out. The president has appeared a stark contrast to governors, as “narcissistic, ignorant, devoid of empathy, resistant to reason and never, ever willing to admit error.”

The governors that have been the most successful in fighting the crisis are the ones who listened to the warnings and the science.

“The fact of the matter is, we have to listen to the epidemiologists and our public health experts … By following their advice we have seen our curve get pushed down. We have saved lives in the process. And we have to keep listening to the epidemiologists and experts, and not listen to the partisan rhetoric or these political rallies, or tweets, for that matter,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI).

 

[dan_c00000]

Will you do webcam seminars from the basement?

Planning on some furious masturbation to your fellow Litster? Or is the fact that Trump has a had a major hand in killing more Americans than the Vietnam War enough for you today?

 

[Articulate_and_Analytical]

Trump’s hostility towards NATO has been so relentless and damaging that U.S. allies in Asia and Europe now question the United States’ ability to restore itself as a credible security guarantor, even after a different president is in the White House.

To make matters even worse, Trump abandoned our Kurdish allies in Syria, getting many of them killed or captured and when he was denounced for abandoning our allies in the war against ISIS, he washed his hands of our slaughtered allies, saying, “They know how to fight,” and “By the way, they’re no angels.”

Trump has also abandoned our allies in Ukraine.

While America was once seen as a trusted and trustworthy world leader with plenty of loyal allies, America is now seen as a dysfunctional nation that abandons its allies and stabs them in the back. Adding to this image is the way that Trump has repeatedly leaked classified information to the Russians, and now our allies no longer trust us enough to share sensitive intelligence with us. Any intel they share with us could get leaked to Putin the very same day. Trump is just unpredictable and untrustworthy like that.

Faced with cyberattacks, terrorism, disinformation campaigns, pandemics, economic issues and other problems, America needs allies if they want to preserve order. But Trump just throws our allies away like they’re used tissues.

It’s tempting to look at Trump’s intellectually lazy and dangerously irresponsible style of leadership and blame everything on him. He’s childish, ignorant and disdains learning and expertise. He makes for a very convenient target when it comes to assigning blame.

Nevertheless, America’s problems on the world stage began before Trump was ever sworn into office.

I’m old enough to remember the Bush/Cheney Administration and their ruinous response to the terror attacks of 9/11. While most nations around the world were ready to work with the U.S. to punish the perpetrators of that horrible slaughter of innocents, the Bush Administration, chose a “go it alone” approach, that included the illegal invasion of Iraq, the embracing of torture as official U.S. policy, public attacks on the U.N. Weapon Inspectors, the bombing of hospitals, the shooting up of ambulances, the use of depleted uranium weapons, kidnappings, “indefinite detentions” and other violations of international law.

Bush and Cheney wiped their asses with the Geneva Conventions, somehow thinking that committing war crimes and human rights abuses would make them look like action heroes and make people forget how they used connections and trickery to avoid military service. However, it didn’t work that way. The kidnappings, the torture and the killing of civilians resulted in an America that was weaker, less respected, and more isolated than at any other time in our modern history.

Bush and Cheney caused the U.S. to lose a great deal in terms of trust, respect, diplomatic influence, military influence, and military readiness.

And as the U.S. lost so much in terms of influence, trust and respect, other nations saw opportunities to assert themselves both regionally and globally.

President Barack Obama attempted to restore America’s global reputation and global influence, however, he was severely hindered by Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, John Boehner and other hyper-partisan Republicans who embraced a childish and reckless “If Obama is for it, we have to be against it” attitude.

Republicans accused President Obama of “betraying” America by condemning torture. They even defiantly swore that his nominee for attorney general would never be confirmed unless he swore not to prosecute anyone from the Bush/Cheney administration for their roles in the government’s torture program.

The main architects and culprits of the shameful Bush/Cheney torture program have never been arrested or put on trial for their crimes. That caused America to lose a lot more respect and influence than most Americans are willing to admit. We kidnapped civilians and tortured them (in some instances torturing them to death), in gross violations of International Law and the official legal record in the United States of America shows that NOBODY IS AT FAULT for any of it!

Obama attempted to improve America’s global reputation and network of global cooperation with some degree of success.

Obama was able to negotiate agreements to deal with climate change, to rein in China’s growing influence in Asia, and to limit Iran’s nuclear program. These were accomplishments that put America on the right track towards becoming a respected and influential world leader again.

Yeah, but sadly, the “If Obama is for it, we have to be against it” Republicans opposed all three of Obama’s diplomatic accomplishments, and attacked all of them repeatedly, weakening all three international agreements. Obama is still respected around the world, but America is more than just Barack Obama. The Republicans did everything they could to make America look chaotic, childish, reckless, irresponsible, unpredictable, and untrustworthy.


So, the world was already wary of American leadership before Trump came along.

America’s reputation had already been severely damaged before Trump came along, but there was some hope that America might recover and regain its leadership footing. Hillary Clinton had once been America’s secretary of state and had developed exceptional working relationships with our foreign allies, especially our NATO allies.

Our foreign allies appreciated Hillary Clinton’s stance on investing in renewable energy as a means to address climate change. They appreciated the way that Hillary Clinton understood international issues and was willing to engage with our allies around the word and planned to address world problems multilaterally, instead of “going it alone”.

And then Trump was installed as the person in charge of America’s foreign policy and fucked up all hope of America having a leadership role in world affairs.

Trump ran on a campaign of racism and xenophobia, and once he was sworn in, Trump walked away from all of the international agreements negotiated by President Obama. Trump turned his back on NATO, on our Kurdish allies, on many of the U.S.’s European allies, and he refused to enforce sanctions against Russia, and welcomed Vladimir Putin with open arms.

Trump said that he would “make America great”, but instead he has turned America into a chaotic mess that none of our foreign allies can trust. They look at us and see a reckless, unpredictable rogue state, driven by cronyism, racism, xenophobia, and childish temper tantrums.

Hell, forget about leading the world! America is failing to protect even its own people! While thousands die, Trump is out there telling people to go back to work and inject themselves with bleach!

And Republicans are out there in the background, saying things like, “Grandma and Grandpa won’t mind dying for the economy!”

Yeah, if we want to regain our world leadership status, getting rid of Trump won’t be enough. We need to get rid of the “go it alone” Republicans who are totally cool with torture, war crimes, betraying our foreign allies, pissing on the Kurds, pissing on NATO and leaking secrets to the Russians.

 

[PrincepsCyberius]

We still have lots of these:

http://www.military-today.com/navy/nimitz_class.jpg

And lots of these:

https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/171013_vod_orig_nucleararsenal_16x9_992.jpg

As long as that's the case, we're a superpower.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

We still have lots of these:

http://www.military-today.com/navy/nimitz_class.jpg

And lots of these:

https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/171013_vod_orig_nucleararsenal_16x9_992.jpg

As long as that's the case, we're a superpower.

So what is the US going to do? Declare war on those who disagree with it?

 

[KeithD]

Having stood in numerous embassy cocktail parties overseas and having to endure Third World country people telling me what the United States' responsibilities as a superpower were to them personally, I think it would be just fine for the United States not to be a superpower anymore. A full, responsible member of the international community would be nice, but Trump has stomped on that now--at least for power.

 

[bodysong]

PBS airs a reminder, of a time when American people stepped forward onto the world stage to oppose a tyrant

Survivors of Malmedy: December 1944

About Survivors of Malmedy: December 1944

The film tells the story of the World War II massacre of American soldiers in Belgium
during the opening days of the Battle of the Bulge. Some soldiers still alive after the
initial shooting by the German SS played dead, ran, and escaped to nearby houses.
In the end, more than 50 Americans did escape the infamous Malmedy Massacre.

On December 17, 1944, during day two of the famous Battle of the Bulge, the worst
single massacre of American troops in World War II was unfolding in a frozen field
south of Malmedy, Belgium.

March 30, 2018

The killing of 84 unarmed U.S. GIs is known throughout the world as The Malmedy
Massacre. The Americans were executed by one of Adolf Hitler’s most infamous and
violent armored divisions.

It was a chance meeting on December 17, 1944, between one of Germany's most brutal
units and the small group of lightly-armed American soldiers of the 285th Field Artillery
Observation Battalion. One that turned historically deadly in just a matter of seconds
beginning with a single pistol shot from the side of the road.

Many of those GIs still alive after the initial firing from German tanks and vehicles
were then executed at point blank range by German SS soldiers. Those who survived
played dead for hours in the frozen field, located at the crossroads of the village of
Baugnez. They held their breath in the cold as their friends were shot. Some 50
Americans were able to escape the mass killing and later several testified against
their German killers in war crimes trials. The last 3 survivors have died- 2019

 

[allison22]

In the past, America would have led a worldwide effort in cooperation with other countries to find a cure and provide assistance.

Now, with an intellectually-lazy, emotionally-needy CHILD in charge, America has withdrawn our financial assistance to the most vulnerable, we've declared a war on medical doctors, nurses and paramedics and our infection and death rates exceed every other country on the planet!

 

[Schlank]

And now with poor and untrustworthy leadership in the Oval Office, America is disgraced. Once upon a time, world leaders would have looked to the United States for leadership in a global crisis like the one COVID-19 virus crisis that’s currently killing people all over the planet.

Today, absolutely NOBODY is looking to Washington for a solution to the COVID-19 crisis!

The rest of the world is bypassing America completely as they look for solutions to the current pandemic. We have no credibility anymore.

America’s lack of usefulness in world affairs was woefully on display at a recent world meeting where the main U.S. contribution was a childish effort get other world leaders to sign a statement referring to COVID-19 as the “Wuhan virus”, as part of a smear campaign to blame China for the pandemic.

American superpower status since World War Two has been largely rooted in America’s unique capacity to get things done internationally, either by diplomacy, economic incentives or by the threat of military force. But Trump’s bungling, childish and irresponsible response to Covid-19 shows that America is no longer a country that gets things done.

Europe is abandoning Trump on the world stage as it turns away from the US toward China


President Donald Trump is presiding over the deterioration of the US's position on the world stage as European countries increasingly look toward China as a future global leader.

https://news.yahoo.com/europe-abandoning-trump-world-stage-122742176.html

 

[Fuzzy1975]

Remember when the United States of America was a superpower?










American superpower status since World War Two has been largely rooted in America’s unique capacity to get things done internationally, either by diplomacy, economic incentives or by the threat of military force. But Trump’s bungling, childish and irresponsible response to Covid-19 shows that America is no longer a country that gets things done.

Europe is abandoning Trump on the world stage as it turns away from the US toward China


President Donald Trump is presiding over the deterioration of the US's position on the world stage as European countries increasingly look toward China as a future global leader.

https://news.yahoo.com/europe-abandoning-trump-world-stage-122742176.html

While America has abdicated it's position as the world leader, Trump has sold this to his supporters as "Making America Great Again". Nothing could be further from the truth, when it comes to world Politics.

I don't see Americans allies now looking to China for leadership, what I see is the countries that used to line up with, and in support of the US, now realizing the US will not lead. In such a vacuum others will then lead, and America will be left out of the decision on the direction.

In this particular case, placing blame on China for the COVID-19 virus is a Trump administration goal, where as the rest of the world see's no need to support this American position. As such they have not.

What we do see is a need for a Global Plan to deal with the Virus. If the US is not going to be part of that solution, then it becomes part of the problem, and will eventually be left on its own, with no influence over the Plans direction.