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by _djo_ 738 days ago
US-centric doesn’t mean that you like the US, it means you speak and act like the US is the sole or primary cause of everything that happens in the world, is the only country with grand plans, and that other countries have no agency and can merely react to it. It’s a refusal to believe that much of the time the US is reacting to plans set in motion by other countries.

Ukraine is a key example: The US (and the rest of the West) clearly didn’t want Russia to invade. They used every diplomatic means at their disposal to convince it not to. But once Russia did, and once Ukraine’s resistance was successful, they reacted by supporting it.

So, no, the idea that only the US has agency is patently absurd. Do yourself a favour and go read some autobiographies, biographies, and history books that focus on the leadership of other major powers and how they acted and thought during various crises. It’ll open your mind as to how the world actually works.

1 comments

Thanks for the high brow dismissal (hey, it's better than low brow). I do quite a lot of reading; I also know that Americans like telling everyone how they are the only ones with the truth and their world view is gospel. I think you guys believe in your own version of history so deeply yourselves that not only do you never question it, you are very effective preachers.

And there, there. You are smarter than anyone foreign. You read more, your mind is more open, and you are always right.

I’ll save you from taking that attempted profiling any further: I’m not American.

I’m from a rather boring part of the world, from where it’s clear to see the meddling and machinations of all the world’s powers, big and small, if you want to pay attention to it.

Funny enough, it’s your view that promotes American exceptionalism and the idea of Americans as smarter and more knowing than anyone else. My view treats them as just another power, often as incompetent and reactive as any other.