[newaccountman2]

Having angry expats exercise control over foreign policy is stupid.

The rest of us don't need to do anything that doesn't serve us just because they have an axe to grind.

There's a good Scott Horton and Dave Smith conversation about this, but it's so obvious really, when you look at rich Cubans and rich Persians. Those revolutions happened because of their parents and grandparents, and now they want to pretend like they somehow represent the country they left? lol

[daft_pink]

Because the US is a nation of expats, I find that US policy mostly aligns with how the people who moved here from there feel about the government they left.

Places like Canada and Europe, we are mostly friendly with and have slight disagreements. Ukrainians support their home country and we support Ukraine. Venezuelans, Cubans and Iranians hate the government and so do we. Chinese people have a so so view of the government and we have a so so relationship with China.

It doesn’t work perfectly, but it’s more the exception than the rule. I think it’s really a test of how compatible a society is with our society in how expats who live here view their home country and it’s more a correlation than a cause that expats views on their government mostly mirror our governments views on a country. It just very direct right now in regards to Cuba as Rubio has a lot of sway over the US policies.

Anyways, regardless this post was more a disagreement with the articles views than some sort of enforced doctrine.

[newaccountman2]

I have some small quibbles with what you're saying, but I think the main issue is that only Cubans and Persians really coerce our foreign policy into something different from what it would otherwise be.

I don't think Ukrainians in the US account for bipartisan US support for Ukraine. I think there are a host of geopolitical factors and basic inertia accounting for that.

But then, you look at Cuba, and see a bunch of Cubans donating to Republicans, and can easily tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans on what to do with Cuba. And it's not even like the Republican base really cares; it's just that one voting/money block that has its thumb on the scale.

edit: I guess with Iran, however, it's pretty clear who and what moved Trump on that, and it wasn't the expat community.