the_dunk_tank

Iraq wasn't annexed into the 51st state

the only way for the US to act imperialistically is to turn places into states. Puerto Rico becoming a state? that's imperialism. the occupation of Puerto Rico without voting rights? democracy. anti-imperialism.

He doesn't even says the word Ukraine, all he says is that, like all countries, the US does things for economic reasons rather than for vague platitudes.

"Haven't we sown the seeds of this with our own arrogance and cavalier approach to a lot of these foreign policy conflicts? A) we always frame these things as 'this is a battle between democracy and the free world and liberation and authoritarianism', but the truth is we're fighting for trade channels and resources. Like, this is all a function of competing capitalist powers and aren't we the ones- I mean, we've invaded more countries than Russia and China combined. So how do we give ourselves somehow the passes to be the white hat guys when a lot of our policies have created a lot of the chaos that they're taking advantage of." [Audience starts clapping]

Jon Stewart believes the US is to blame for Russia invading Ukraine.

That's a very generous interpretation of what he said.

Which is worse:

1. Starting a war to take territory that results in the deaths of 10s of thousands (yes, I know, I'm deliberately meeting liberals on their terms here)

2. Starting a war to install a puppet government that results in the deaths of over 4 million

I will never understand the liberal fascination with lines on a map. Since mentioning the history of US intervention in the region is mostly viewed as "conspiracy", I've started to ask liberals: will life be meaningfully worse under Russian occupation for the people living in the region they've seized, or will it be about the same? If there's no difference, why should we support sending thousands of conscripts to their deaths?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and PRC threats of a Taiwan invasion are not about US foreign policy, they are a response to internal Russian and PRC pressures.

Yeah NATO expansion has nothing to do with Russian aggression towards Ukraine, it’s all because Russians are genetically predisposed to invade and conquer. Absolute child takes.

The world does not revolve around the US, people in the Kremlin have agency.

I hear this kind of line so often to dismiss the influence the US has globally. It completely misses the point. The US is effectively still the most powerful country on earth, meaning they're a major part of the broader geopolitical landscape that everybody else must respond to.

Notice also that this "well people in the Kremlin have agency, we didn't literally force them to invade smol ukraini" reasoning goes away when they want to talk about Chinese loans in Africa, or how Georgia's foreign influence bill is some sort of Russian plot.

Except we did that. We did it to Mexico. We started a war with our neighbor and took their land. Just because it was the era of stuffing bullets down barrels and dying of consumption doesn't mean it happened a million years ago or has had no bearing on policy and attitude since!

I mean, I'm kinda surprised Jon doesn't even point out the obvious provocation of the prospect of Ukraine joining a hostile anti-Russian military alliance that would put ~~hypersonic~~ nuclear missiles 5 minutes from Moscow. Like, literally right on the Russian border.

Uh -- let's entertain a hypothetical in which one of the US's neighboring countries decided to join a hostile military alliance that put nukes 5 minutes off the US coast. Oh right, that happened! We responded by invading, trying to assassinate their democratically elected president, and then we blockeded, sanctioned and starved them for generations.

Why not point out that Putin is literally doing what any US president would do, except, like... not nearly as barbaric?

Is there anyone with as big a mainstream audience as Stewart expressing even a little bit of this rhetoric?

If the US actually annexed its targets it would then face serious pressure to pay for their reconstruction and pay them as well as any other US citizen, i.e. maintain a common baseline. This runs counter to the whole point of imperialism and its functionary, systems of marginalization.

please post this on .world; they could REALLY use a dose of reality.

i'm ready for the libs-cancelling-jon-stewart-for-being-a-tankie arc

:::spoiler Tankie Jon Stewart (Chat-GPT)

"Alright, folks, let's talk about Stalin and his grand tour of Europe. Now, I know what you're thinking – Stalin, really? But hear me out. The guy had a vision, and he wasn't afraid to make some bold moves to see it through. I mean, sure, he stopped at Berlin, but why stop there? Why not keep on truckin' and spread the revolution like wildfire across the continent? Think about it – a communist Europe, from Lisbon to Moscow. It's like the Red Wedding, but without all the backstabbing and betrayal. Sure, there would've been some logistical challenges along the way, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. And think of the perks – no more Cold War, no more NATO, just one big happy socialist family. So yeah, maybe Stalin missed a golden opportunity to shake things up a bit, but hey, hindsight's 20/20, right? So let's raise a glass to what could've been, and who knows, maybe one day, someone else will pick up where he left off. Cheers to the road not taken, comrades."

The world does not revolve around the US, people in the Kremlin have agency.

People living in Donetsk don’t have agency though in fact they aren’t even real, they were all “little green men” sent by Putin.

i didnt know this guy is based, he just seemed like a lib to me from the admittedly little i know about his takes.

Oh god these types are gonna drift right and become Neocons 2, aren't they