[Steer]

I feel this is a straw man. I'm Swedish, but have always loved the US for some strange reason. I still do, but that doesn't mean that the US is perfect in any way, shape or form. It is a fantastic country with many flaws. You are obviously right in much of what you write, but that does not excuse a lot of the things that NSA et. al. does in the name of freedom. My point is just that we should not hold ourselves to the lowest of standards ("We're better than <non-democratic country" is not a good excuse).

[kobayashi]

Au contraire, it is actually you who is creating a Straw Man. rrggrr doesn't write that the US is perfect, but rather, s/he writes that the US is a "generally benevolent hegemonic power".

[ionised]

> generally benevolent

It's not benevolent, that's pure propaganda at work. It's a nation that acts in its own interests like any other. It just disguises them extremely well.