UKR needs to make that decision, not US pols with little/no skin in the game. This is existential to them. Would be cool if more of us supported their effort on moral grounds. Just my 2 cents.
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Hard Power and Soft Power
- Thread starter taxi1
- Start date
Good to know when I get recalled to the Greenland Expeditionary Force. 😄
But seriously, good PSA.
I don’t take issue with any of your points, but parts of Vance’s speech were directly pointed at the German political system and took issue with the firewall against the AFD.
In that sense, he is sorely misinformed. There’s a reason portions of the AFD are labeled as extremist groups and that the mainstream parties refuse to work with the AFD as a whole, and it’s not because their views are just “far right”. When your party espouses views that are literally aligned with the Nazis, then it’s far beyond a discussion of issues with immigration or liberal versus conservative.
On a separate note, our politicians would lose their shit if any political figure from another country weighed in on our elections to the point that Musk and Vance have in Germany.
It is hard to see how the cutoff in foreign aid won’t lead to a loss in influence, especially in Africa where I focused on for 4 years including a deployment.
Article on the aid cuts…I’m on the hunt for ones talking about the overlap in aid and soft power.
moderndiplomacy.eu
Article on the aid cuts…I’m on the hunt for ones talking about the overlap in aid and soft power.
The Closure of USAID: Is America Surrendering Its Foreign Aid Soft Power?
USAID has been central to U.S. foreign policy for decades, serving as a key tool for diplomacy and soft power.
moderndiplomacy.eu
This one has a long section about how Latin American countries are glad to see the money go away.
MEXICO CITY — Some Latin American countries — long-suspicious of U.S. motives in the region — have, on the other hand, welcomed Trump’s moves on USAID.
Both the Salvadorean and Mexican governments have complained bitterly that U.S.-funded journalism and human rights outfits that have uncovered corruption and human rights abuses are meddling in their internal affairs.
…None of this is surprising to those who watch the region closely.
“Not one bit, no,” says Jake Johnston, director of International Research at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “These sort of democracy- promotion things, which are political interventionism in sovereign countries, it is a part of what USAID does.”
Johnston says USAID has created toxic dependencies and does need an overhaul — but what Trump is simply trying to destroy it.
How the gutting of USAID is reverberating around the world: Worry, despair, praise
Reactions to the changes in USAID run the gamut. Some leading voices — like Mexico's president — are in favor. Others fear that lives will be lost as health care programs are cut.
www.opb.org
MEXICO CITY — Some Latin American countries — long-suspicious of U.S. motives in the region — have, on the other hand, welcomed Trump’s moves on USAID.
Both the Salvadorean and Mexican governments have complained bitterly that U.S.-funded journalism and human rights outfits that have uncovered corruption and human rights abuses are meddling in their internal affairs.
…None of this is surprising to those who watch the region closely.
“Not one bit, no,” says Jake Johnston, director of International Research at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “These sort of democracy- promotion things, which are political interventionism in sovereign countries, it is a part of what USAID does.”
Johnston says USAID has created toxic dependencies and does need an overhaul — but what Trump is simply trying to destroy it.
I disagree. First, we do have skin in the game…
The Pentagon Isn’t Buying Enough Ammo
Munitions procurements are woefully insufficient for modern war.
foreignpolicy.com
Second, we either believe (as did JFK) that we must “bear any burden” to protect democracy or we don’t. I was going to bring this up to @sevenhelmet asking himself to stay with us because this debate (Hard Power and Soft Power) has indeed stayed on course exposing that the U.S. has neither a real “soft power” strategy or an effective “hard power” end game. We seem perversely stuck in some post-Vietnam “middle power” game of nearly endless conflict with no concept of strategic victory. It’s odd….when some people talk of the recent “long war” they think 2001 to about 2020. It is more like 1979 to Present. That’s a forty five year long war with no stated end goal. About the only thing we accomplished was getting Saddam hooked to a rope.
Who said we were cutting off foreign aid? It is paused while USAID functions are moved to State but “cut off” is a bit of a stretch.It is hard to see how the cutoff in foreign aid won’t lead to a loss in influence, especially in Africa where I focused on for 4 years including a deployment.
Article on the aid cuts…I’m on the hunt for ones talking about the overlap in aid and soft power.
The Closure of USAID: Is America Surrendering Its Foreign Aid Soft Power?
USAID has been central to U.S. foreign policy for decades, serving as a key tool for diplomacy and soft power.
The Nazi angle is worn to near meaninglessness - In fact I’m more concerned that grad students from Harvard, Yale, and Columbia will move to round up Jews long before the AfD gains any power. I am no fan of AfD and I doubt they’ll ever gain a strong majority in Germany, but I oppose them more for their desire to be closer to Russia than any Nazi adjacent rhetoric.
This is true - maybe we are entering a new era of realpolitik?
"Cut off" is exactly what has happened. Will it come back after 90 days? Maybe. But for huge amounts, it is flat-out gone. Even if the money was not pulled, the people who were in charge of distributing it are gone and aren't coming back.
The courts told him to not cut off the funds...
Judge Amir Ali wrote in his order that Trump Administration officials "have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended" contracts with thousands of nonprofit groups, businesses and others "was a rational precursor to reviewing programs."
But Trump still wins, because he has fired the people who distribute the funds...
In the wake of the Trump administration's stop-work order, thousands of staff and contractors have been fired or let go from USAID and locked out of its computer systems. "So it's hard to understand who's going to actually turn the financing tap back on," Schawlbe says.
So, not cut off. If we “lose the world” over a 90 day reset of funding things like “being LGBTQ in the Caribbean” or “to foster a “united and equal queer-feminist discourse in Albanian society” we never had that much power in it.
I will agree that Trump’s firing have been scattered, mostly thoughtless, and not well planned…but I believe we can recover from the change.
The CIA has really gotten their moneys worth from Mockingbird . . . .
You think that is where all or most of the money was going? Data to back that up?
A lot of dumb shit and super cringe programs are coming to light. And, unfortunately with the dumb shit, there's gonna be a lot of very important and effective efforts getting dismantled. This is/was predictable when we gave Dunning-Kruger afflicted hobbyists unfettered access and authority.
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Is it time for a Grand European Army?
Of course not, but let’s be honest…even a 90 day reset of rice from the U.S.) our primary gift, will not cause a serious dent in how people feel about the U.S. and if it does…we weren’t doing it that well. An example being the over $5.5 Billion spent on Palestine…a place where the U.S. isn’t especially loved despite our best efforts.