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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I actually agreed with Trump in killing Assad because Russia would not go to war over him. And the stalemate was nothing more than an ongoing humanitarian crisis otherwise.
Since his own military wouldn't obey that assassination order, there's no point in continuing.
Mind you, the cynical part of me assumes this is Trump's payoff to Putin since he couldn't get the sanctions on the RF lifted.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 20th 2018 at 6:25:34 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Deposing an autocratic leader almost never works well, because the power structure that leader has assembled still exists. One of the reasons why Iraq was such a clusterfuck was that we anticipated that there would be political leadership that could fill the vacuum, but Saddam Hussein had done an enormously effective job of destroying all institutions that didn't report directly to him.
"Fixing" Syria would require a sustained and enormously expensive campaign: first to eliminate military opposition, then to take down Assad's government, and then years and years of rebuilding to try to establish some kind of stable governing body, all while Russia and Turkey (and Iran?) poke around trying to shift things in their own favor.
I don't know that I'd trust the most competent Democratic administration with such a task, never mind what we've got. Certainly, Republicans have proven themselves incapable of doing it.
Edited by Fighteer on Dec 20th 2018 at 9:35:00 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"History has a large collection of deposed tyrants and aftermaths both good a well as bad. Leaving them in power is almost never the right option. The thing about Saddam is that the United States did just about every possible thing wrong they could have done.
If you feel like there's a scientific experiment that could be done or needs to be to justify such a statement, I point to WW2 Germany.
More or less everything done in Germany and to Germany, the opposite was done in Iraq.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 20th 2018 at 6:39:23 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.![]()
Germany had an existing infrastructure for democratic government that the Nazis subverted and abjured. They had an elected legislature since like the 1870s, opposition political parties, a welfare state, an industrialized economy, etc. They weren't building a new Germany out of nothing. These types of things take time to happen, and there's no blueprint for their development.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Dec 20th 2018 at 10:49:17 AM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."About US and Nazism, is not about finding all the 1:1 but whatever Trump does fith the authoritariam spectrum and damn he does.
Trump isnt going to conduct a large genocidal campain or create death camps but it dosent need it, there a lack of contextualization for what trump is doing.
In term of history one can maybe said the war of terror and crisis 2008 serve as analogue to what happen in germany: a war that was lost(or seen pointless) and a huge economic crisis radicalized huge population into it, what is more you have Obama which was a poit and apart in cuture politic by making clear progresim was here to stay whcih in turn make some people chose the oposite....trump.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"The thing is Trump has basically failed to centralize institutional power underneath him. He's a figure head, with essentially no real power the Reps in Congress or the Fed Court system dosnt let him have. He's a blowhard no one takes seriously, not even his own staff. When he leaves office, he will be shunned, and quickly forgotten. If he strives for authoritarian power, he has failed.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.![]()
Actually, I wouldn't bet on it. The Nazis weren't unique, you know. And while Trump personally might not order something like this, he totally would allow people who think along those lines do it as long as they cheer for him. What is protecting the US is that so far, at least SOME of its institutions held up - and that at least for some Republicans the notion that Russia manipulated the US election is more difficult to stomach.
Trump doesn't refuse to toe the Republican line that much, actually. See the judiciary nominations as an example. I suspect that a careful analysis of the relations between Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump some years down the road - or perhaps in the miracle case that the Mueller investigation or some other investigation steps on dodgy deals in that triangle - will show that the first two have had a lot of influence on Trump's executive and judiciary nominations; notice how Elaine Chao ( Secretary of Transportation) is McConnell's wife.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman/"he totally would allow people who think along those lines do it as long as they cheer for him"
Yes and no, in order to carry something like the nazis you need the organizative power of the state and being dedicated toward it, I will said so far what ICE is doing is what trump can do.
And the Marquis is right to a extend, Trump blowhard personality have stop him to make everyone is minions meaning he have more dificult curse to enact is awfull shit, the fact the dems retake the house is a sign of it.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"Note also that his 2020 Campaign is subsuming the RNC into itself. So any GO Per who's not kissing the ring is probably gonna get shafted. I'd call that centralized.
"You can reply to this Message!"![]()
Quite apropos, and completely right. American fascists who use the symbols of foreign movements were never going to be successful, the only ones who were ever going to be effective are the ones who have no problem appropriating domestic symbols, the ones like Trump.

It’s worth noting that while there are similarities, there are massive differences as well. The chaos of the interwar period and the intense pressure placed on Weimar Germany were critical to the rise of Nazism, and neither have a parallel in the US today.
They should have sent a poet.