It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization."
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski. 1997.
10 hours ago
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2 comments:
Except for episodes as when Teddy Roosevelt entered secret and illegal treaties with Japan, Korea, the Phillipines and China .... All for American business and expansionist interests ... which also sowed seeds of Asian discontent and ultimately World War II.
I don't understand what you are talking about. Really? I've never heard about these treaties, although it is accepted that the USA was squeezing Japan out of their trading partners going back to admiral Perry's first contact with Japan. Similarly Great Britain tried to compete with the burgeoning German chemical and technology industries before the first world war. England was an early leader with natural dyeing processes, but in the nineteenth century the Austrio German industries developed and patented competing chemical dyes. Are these the sort of unfair competing policies that you mean?
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