Socialism is when uhhhhj damn how dat s*** go

yo this article is wild

wsj.com/articles/SB1002585224185071200

America has no alternative but to wage war against states that habitually aid terrorists. President Bush warns the war may be long but he has not, perhaps, yet grasped that America may have to accept long-term political obligations too. For the nearest historical parallel -- the war against piracy in the 19th century -- was an important element in the expansion of colonialism. It could be that a new form of colony, the Western-administered former terrorist state, is only just over the horizon.

America and her allies may find themselves, temporarily at least, not just occupying with troops but administering obdurate terrorist states. These may eventually include not only Afghanistan but Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Iran and Syria. Democratic regimes willing to abide by international law will be implanted where possible, but a Western political presence seems unavoidable in some cases.

I suspect the best medium-term solution will be to revive the old League of Nations mandate system, which served well as a "respectable" form of colonialism between the wars. Syria and Iraq were once highly successful mandates. Sudan, Libya and Iran have likewise been placed under special regimes by international treaty.

Countries that cannot live at peace with their neighbors and wage covert war against the international community cannot expect total independence. With all the permanent members of the Security Council now backing, in varying degrees, the American-led initiative, it should not be difficult to devise a new form of United Nations mandate that places terrorist states under responsible supervision.

Lmao yooo wtf

wsj.com/articles/SB1002054923975847800

Alexander's legacy in Afghanistan lasted for over 500 years -- first under the Seleucid Empire, named after his top general Seleucus Nicator; then under the Indian Mauryan Empire, named after his contemporary and friend Chandra Gupta Maurya; and then under the Kushan Dynasty. As good corporate managers and politicians know, the right place to begin thinking about any endeavor is the kind of legacy one wishes to leave behind. In today's endeavor against Afghanistan we also have a chance to bring it out of the dark ages. Do we have Alexander's resolve -- and his cunning?

By Partha P. Bose. Mr. Bose is a partner in the Monitor Group, an international management consulting firm. He is writing a book on the strategy and tactics of Alexander the Great.

@cloud_rap

goddam welfare queens

ah yes the The Risk

THE RISK THEORY OF VALUE

In theory, there should have been a reduction in American interventions after the Cold War ended in 1989. This study demonstrates that in the 190 years preceding the end of the Cold War, American troops were deployed a total of 216 times, or 1.1 times per year on average. However, in the 25 years after the end of the Cold war, America increased its military interventions sharply and used its armed forces 152 times, or 6.1 times per year.Footnote 4

The challenge posed by the USSR forced the US to be more rational because overplaying their cards would have more consequences, there's no reason nowadays for détente because there's no country really challenging the US like the USSR was politically, China only does so economically. After the fall of the USSR all rationality in US militarism has been lost and it's evident in how realist IR theory has been completely discarded.

American imperialist ideology depends a lot more on idealistic beliefs now that there's no true ideological threat

The Democratic Kingdom of Bhutan

The Democratic Kingdom of Morocco

6 interventions a year is crayz

Bhutan was the first nation in the world to ban tobacco. It was illegal to smoke in public or sell tobacco, according to Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan 2010. Violators are fined the equivalent of $232—a month's salary in Bhutan. In 2021, this was reversed with the new Tobacco Control Act 2021 to allow for the import and sale of tobacco products to stamp out cross-border smuggling of tobacco products during the pandemic

ktt2.com/why-is-nicotine-so-demonized-32525927

Bhutan is a parliamentary democracy now, it's not at different than the UK (although given how bad the UK is i don't know if that's a compliment lol). The country is weird and doesn't fit into modern political frameworks really. They actually tried to recant their monarchy a few decades ago completely but people actually rioted and were legitimately upset at the king stepping down so they brought him back; like they actually wanted a full monarchy, they basically "settled" for a constitutional/parliamentary one. Anarcho-monarchism in action

boomers will talk in circles for hours about Israel but Morocco is the actual closest ally of the US unironically

Why so

well first it's the oldest sovereign ally of the US, and the impact of the diplomatic relationship is underdiscussed. a lot of the early US was heavily influenced by Morocco culturally; one example of this is actually the prevalence of sugar in american culture, sugar was a huge industry and cultural tenet (oldest sugar factory in the world is in morocco)

besides this though Morocco actually played a massive role in the early development of the US. It's unlikely that without Morocco the US would have been as successful as an experiment in sovereign mercantilism. Morocco basically ensured the US's trade routes in a region otherwise dominated by european powers and pirates. Keep in mind the US didn't have a real navy at the time - Morocco basically provided the navy for the US's trade which allowed the early rapid expansion of (again early) global mercantilism while also allowing the US to develop its navy separately while on good terms over time. During the American Civil War, Morocco also prevented the Confederacy from overseas diplomacy; it detained abroad leaders and refused Confederate ships from using any ports or entering foreign waters. This was a huge influence on breaking structural aspects of the Confederacy which is under-discussed. there's a few other important points but those are the big ones

in terms of modern history, Morocco is arguably more substanial than Israel in terms of the US's MENA policy. Morocco (Moroccan Intelligence specifically) basically does everything people think Mossad does. Morocco is essentially a major NATO ally in everything except name; the country's secret service was instrumental in getting the US information it would then use for destabilizing MENA countries. On multiple different occasions, Morocco essentially feigned joining diplomatic partnerships with MENA countries then gave information from joint sessions to the US & Israel. Morocco's cooperation with Israel goes back to the beginning of Israel itself basically; as early as the 1965 Arab League, Morocco was collaborating with the US & Mossad and allowed Israel to bug the meetings in Casablanca, which is essentially the reason why Israel won the Six Day War

The US actually returned the favor to Morocco several times too, the first several being when the US actively defended Morocco against European Colonization during the Madrid Conference & Algiers Conference and the 2nd major time being during the Protectorate Era around WW1 when the US threatened to cut ties with Spain & France if they interfered with the country's native culture or prevented national autonomy. The King of Morocco thanking the US was literally the only reasons Colonial Morocco didn't join the Axis Powers because they felt they owed a debt to the US. The idea of the US fighting against colonialism for an ally is such a strange figment of history it really stands out as almost anachronistic

the best form of government

idk the UK kinda sucks ass wouldn't want to live there

I knew about them having relations very early on but didn't know about the US being against their colonization, or that it almost joined the axis powers, could they have even done that as a French and Spanish protectorate

Also didn't know about their role in the six day war do you have more on that