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by tokai 1590 days ago
Definitely USA. My government doesn't drone strike people based on communication patterns or disappear them to black sites without ever being put in front of a judge.
2 comments

I'm sorry, but are we both talking about france here? The "coup d'etat and murder anyone in Africa that goes against my wannabe reboot of a colonial empire," or is it the "bomb Greenpeace ships in foreign countries" France? If we are being honest, the intelligence services of France have proved to be much less accountable and much, much less constrained by pretty much anyone. It's also completely willing to do the bidding of any corporation the French government's "dirigisme" deems worthy enough to assassinate a few Africans for.

The big difference between France and the USA is that the French people usually either passively or actively support them and do not see any problem with what they are doing and would much rather look at the evil Americans. It's not even a political issue, it's almost seen as a divine right.

That's literally one of the main reason macron has been popular: his wannabe bonapartist "great France" mindset (and even those who dislike him don't usually criticize him on that front) that involves crushing the ennemies of France, and a whole lot of illusions of grandeur.

It's also a country where the literal neonazi FN still gets 40% of the votes, but people still laugh about dumb Americans because they voted for trump. Keep in mind, the only reason we don't see more french droning in Africa is because they lack the ability to do so.

And I'm not American or French, but I've had a lot of first hand experience with the damage France is causing in Africa and I'm very familiar with French culture. Yet I'm almost always amazed by the extent of French grandstanding online.

Are you afraid USA would drone strike or disappear you if they get to your private data? Do you think that is a valid concern for most people?
It's by far much more likely than my own government doing anything close to it yes.
Most people in the world do not live under your government.
I think it's a valid concern for everyone, yes.
Then you should get out more and talk to some real people.
You are aware that there was a number of completely innocent people who were disappeared int US black sites, because of some name mismatch, something they said somewhere or because their neighbor didn't like them. Now you might be white and have an English name so chances of that happening to you might be slim.

However if you do not believe that this is an issue that we have to work against i suggest you get out and develop some principles. You seem to only have issues with these things if done by communist governments.

I am aware. Those cases number in what - single digits?! Statistically speaking I am much more likely to die of the flu.

However, communist governments have done that to millions. If you don't see the difference, I suggest you reexamine your principles.

You framed the question. Don't push the goal posts around by pointing to past autocracies. It might be a very small risk, but it is infinitely bigger than the risk from my own govenment - where the risk is zero.
Single digits is still single digits too many. Specially if all involved aren't punished by harshest possible means.
> Then you should get out more and talk to some real people.

There's a difference between it being a concern for everyone and everyone being concerned by it.

I'm not worried about most people, I'm worried about the people that the USA does go after, because the USA usually goes after good people who rightfully criticized what they're doing.
> USA usually goes after good people who rightfully criticized what they're doing

With drone strikes and disappearings?! Wow! Do you have an example?

The USA does drone strikes all the time, not only against minor targets, but with egregious collateral damage. Listing examples isn't even worth the energy because this is common knowledge and a simple google search would reveal hundreds if not thousands of these killings.

It was US Military leaks via WikiLeaks that first got Julian Assange onto the USA's hit list, and if and when they get their hands on him, they will make him disappear into a gruesome privatized prison system where he will have no right to be heard, because he published things the government didn't want people to know about.

I don't care if I, personally, will fall victim to this. Trusting the USA is a stupid thing to do, and you have to accept that they are capable of doing a great deal of harm to anyone they want to, regardless of nationality.

Julian Assange wasn't drone striked nor disappeared. (Although I do not approve of US's treatment of him either)

Again, do you have an actual example of "good people" being drone striked or disappeared by the US?