Stephen Walt: Uncle Sucker to the Rescue

[Pointedstick]

Here's one big lesson we might draw from our past follies: Most people don't like being told what to do and how to live by a well-armed and heavy-handed foreign invader, especially when that invader doesn't speak their language, doesn't understand their culture, and when its invasion has killed some of their relatives, disrupted their economy, and destroyed existing political institutions. Under these conditions, some of those angry people will organize resistance, and because it's their country, they are likely to fight both fiercely and effectively, even if they are badly outgunned.

What a shocker.

It's like... if the Philippines invaded the USA to topple Obama's administration, would the Republicans cheer them on, or take up arms against them?

[Pointedstick]

It's like... if the Philippines invaded the USA to topple Obama's administration, would the Republicans cheer them on, or take up arms against them?

Probably cheer them on, though I'm sure they'd figure out how to couch it in terms that are palatable for the base.

That said, if Republicans held the White House, Dems would be cheering.

Obviously, I don't "know" these things to be true.  However, after observing the events of the last 13 years, it seems clear to me that, for the most part, both major political parties view war as a means to consolidate power.  It is shameless.

I'm not so sure. They might do it themselves, but I don't think they would accept a foreign power trying to do it. That was my point. The Iraqis themselves might eventually have risen up and overthrown Saddam, but it wasn't our place to do it, when when we did, the indigenous population rose up against us.

[Coffee]

Here's one big lesson we might draw from our past follies: Most people don't like being told what to do and how to live by a well-armed and heavy-handed foreign invader, especially when that invader doesn't speak their language, doesn't understand their culture, and when its invasion has killed some of their relatives, disrupted their economy, and destroyed existing political institutions. Under these conditions, some of those angry people will organize resistance, and because it's their country, they are likely to fight both fiercely and effectively, even if they are badly outgunned.

What a shocker.

It's like... if the Philippines invaded the USA to topple Obama's administration, would the Republicans cheer them on, or take up arms against them?

No, it's not like that. Not at all. 

It would be as if a reincarnation of Hitler got elected President, abolished Congress, stacked the Supreme Court... and started sending all Texans who wear cowboy hats and drive pickup trucks to the concentration camps.  Would the rest of the South mind if the Philipines invaded the USA and toppled him?

I don't think so.  I think the South would volunteer to help the fight.

[Pointedstick]

No, it's not like that. Not at all. 

It would be as if a reincarnation of Hitler got elected President, abolished Congress, stacked the Supreme Court... and started sending all Texans who wear cowboy hats and drive pickup trucks to the concentration camps.  Would the rest of the South mind if the Philipines invaded the USA and toppled him?

I don't think so.  I think the South would volunteer to help the fight.

I agree,  but clearly most of the residents of the countries we've invaded recently haven't felt similarly about their own leaders. That's my point. We're toppling governments whose own subjects can't be bothered to try it themselves, and who apparently don't really like us trying to do it, judging by the resistance movements that have emerged in response.