[OGinparadise]

Short answer: As bad as US is, you should see the other countries.

If a US cope beats you, you most likely hit the lottery, in other countries if they didn't beat you, you hit the lottery. The rest of your examples are oversimplifications. What if US didn't exist and tyrants didn't fear anyone? How many local if not world wars would we have?

As for oil, US lost trillions fighting Iraq and Afghan war, not sure what you mean. But yeah, generally speaking US wants countries to drill as much as possible to have cheaper and plentiful oil.

[speeder]

Tyrants fear the US?

Like, Pinochet? Costa e Silva? Rios Montt? Hosni Mubarak?

Oh wait, those were US-backed and sold stuff that US wanted and bought stuff that were profitable from the US, thus they were not tyrants.

[OGinparadise]

You are going back how many years?

Is the post-Mubarak Egypt any better for the average Egyptian? You can argue that US should mind it's business, but otherwise do not assume that the alternatives are perfect.

Using that logic we could reason that yes, Saddam was horrible, but Iraq without him could be much worst.

[alan_cx]

It may well be foolish, but many peoples support tyrants out of fear of the US. They think the "strong" tyrant will protect them from the US. On the other hand, allies of the US, like my country, seem to bend over backwards to accommodate US demands, reasonable or otherwise. So, you can sort of see the point of supporting a tyrant, or strong government.

Also, didn't Bush threaten democratic Pakistan with a bombing back to the stone age if it didn't comply with US demands? Which strikes me as being a bit tyrannical.

I have to say that the idea that the US is the only thing stopping war and / or world war is arrogant and insulting, or just laughable, in the extreme. The rest of us are not savages on the verge of war, and we are capable of negotiating before knee jerking to shock and awe, torture, drone assassinations and Tom Clancy special forces TV events.

Ultimately, Im saying its more complicated than US good and those lot are tyrants, or terrorists.

But what bothers me more than any thing else though, is the sheer contempt and paranoia which which the US government treats it own people. It blows my mind that on one hand it's all "USA, USA, USA" (BTW, do Americans know how awful that looks? I, perhaps in my ignorance, only know two countries with a national chant. One lost WW2), while at the same time the US gov takes away their freedoms. The reason it bothers me is that at some point there has to be a tipping point where Americans have had enough, and I'm not sure a vote will solve it. Obama, the great hope, seems as bad, if not worse than Bush. So, who do Americans turn to?

Mean while, China grows......

[greedo]

You lost me when you wrote "democratic Pakistan."

[X-Istence]

This argument of "Look at everyone else, we aren't so bad" is a absolutely terrible argument. It means fuck all.

Shouldn't the US be showing how it is supposed to be done? Shouldn't the US be the one that is holding itself to the highest standards?