Nothing to stop them really. If they want to send a drone to Pineville to kill you there is nothing you can do about it. I'm pretty confident they won't. As long as they are targeting muslim terrorists in foreign countries I don't give a shit if they are American citizens or not. When you join a terrorist organization you forfeit the right to a fair trail. You become an enemy combatant.
Yeah but if you aren't with terrorists, and you aren't a terrorist but you are an enemy to the administration?
Russia does not do the same thing. Russia takes territory in eastern Ukraine with Russian soldiers on the ground, denies it, then keeps that territory and gives it a fake name the people's republic of Donetsk or whatever, but it's really just little pockets of Russia. And they do it to prevent and scare Ukraine from becoming more modern and western and eventually joining nato. This is nothing like what the United States does. In my infinite travels, in December I went to Ukraine and the baltics. I even went to Chernobyl, it was amazing. Anyways the people there, in the baltics and Ukraine and Poland as well, would never compare American to Russian foreign policy. thats absurd.
They have always had the ability to find you and kill you if they wanted to. Even before drones. George Washington might have had people assassinated. They could have made it look like an accident. A runaway horse and buggy.
Dude, in this short century alone we have invaded, conquered, and occupied 2 countries, participated in the overthrow of 3 others, armed insurgents in 6 countries, and bombed 10 countries. And we supported a dozen other countries to kill on our behalf. You don't know what you are talking about. I am quite sure that you an Anthony Bourdain know the best little coffeeshop in Budapest and I would like to hear an anecdote. But your grasp of geopolitics is poor.
Being the world police is a hard job. Liberating countries at our own expense is a hassle for sure. You should not act like motivations are not important. If we overthrow the taliban because they allow al Qaeda and al Qaeda murders Americans, it's not the same as sending troops into eastern Ukraine and shooting down Malaysian 777s. You can't pretend these situations are the same. The us is sending troops to Africa now, to help stabilize things vs boko haram, etc. this is purely motivated by the goodness of America. Purely. There are no other motivations. NATO and the us are unique this way. You can't compare us foreign policy to anyone else in history. It's why South Korea is so great and North Korea is not. It's why east Germany is still poorer that west Germany, even today. It's why Western Europe is loaded with riches and Eastern Europe is not. Russia is pals with Assad. Assad poison gassed his own children. The United States doesn't ally with the assays of the world. Worst case scenario is the United States mismanages an impossibly complicated leader or whatever. If you live in a shitty oppressive country, the best possible thing that can happen to you is that your country loses a war to the United States. I have been to Budapest but I don't drink coffee.
I tell you it is exactly the same. They are protecting their national interests with military action and so are we . . . only we do it better, overtly, and on a vastly larger scale. Amigo, Russia will give the Crimea back to the Ukraine when we give South Dakota back to the Sioux and California back to Mexico. Understand? You really must get past this egocentric Captain America fantasy. The only motivation of any country is to act in its own best interests. Just because we are the biggest, the richest, the free-est, the smartest, and the most noble does not mean we aren't also the most powerful, ruthless, self-serving, defensive, offensive, overbearing, arrogant, and self-righteous country in the world. It's good to be the superpower I can and I do and I will destroy this silly notion with facts. We have and we do. The Saudis are brutal dictators who chop off hands and stage public executions. The Emperor of Japan was a war criminal and a US ally for 40 years. The Shah of Iran, too. Neither can hold a candle to our great World War Ii ally, Joseph Stalin, a genocidal maniac. It made for a funny Peter Sellers movie, but in fact there is no country that wants to lose its sovereignty to any foreign nation. The smart ones want to be our friends. The foolish ones want to be our enemies. The self-serving ones blow with the wind. We support strong men and dictators all over the middle east. Think Vietnam feels that its American invasion experience was the best thing that happened to them? Not even Japan and Germany think that. The CIA has staged and supported more coups than they can count to replace strongmen we didn't like with strongmen we like. Theres your problem, lack of caffeine.
Curious, if Isis makes its way to turkey, and American troops, as nato, at turkeys request and as part of the obligation of the NATO rules, would you consider this just another American imperialist manuever? As far as your question about Vietnam goes, it depends on who you ask. And yes, I have been there and asked. Got different answers in Hanoi and Saigon. You could make an incredibly powerful argument that Vietnam would be better off if the Americans had simply taken it over. They would be rich like South Korea, one of the coolest places on earth. You should also note that I said a country is better off when the United States beats them in a war, not like Vietnam, like Germany/Japan. The only problems that can arise are that the United States will let you free again, often to your own detriment, when you would be better off as the the 51st state. Haiti, for example, would vastly improve itself it bombed Miami until a US takeover and a vote for statehood. The us is always led by leaders that are significantly less corrupt and more competent than basically every other country except like 5 others, Scandinavia, Japan and a few others. And among superpowers, no one is even close to as benevolent and well meaning and stability creating as the us. Again, ask the baltics how glad they are to have Americans there now.
