• Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    12 hours ago

    We so often forget that the USA became a superpower because everyone else was totally crushed in the WW2, so they could just scoop it all up afterwards (which they absolutely did as much as they could).

    It seems like things are changing back. History will tell, but the USA is only liked because of its dominance, not because of its morals. IMO. And USAnians have to figure out why “it is not working anymore” (hint: you were lucky and greedy in the fifties, but the luck has ran out since a long time), so good luck to you, it’s usually a bit excruciating, but most countries figure it out.

    • sartalon@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      I’m sorry, what exactly did they scoop up after WWII?

      This comment demonstrate’s a complete ignorance of what actually happened before, during, and after WWII.

      I am not trying to defend the U.S. here, but this comment is particularly stupid.

      Either you are a total fucking moron, or deliberately espousing false information for a purpose.

      • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Ironic claim on your part. Check out the history of the LOANS given to rebuild Europe. That’s the “scoop up” to put it simply.

        Governments were then beholden to the loan givers to rebuild; those loans weren’t charity. They were very ADVANTAGEOUS to the USA. American companies and the banks that own them bought everything for the bottom dollar and used that to strong-arm the rest of planet earth into compliance in many ways for decades. The effects can still be seen and felt today. Not even going into the UN, NATO, the IMF, the World Bank, and so on.

        It’s multilayered and incontrovertible. Check it out, my angry befuddled friend

        OR provide me with “true information”. Good luck

        • sartalon@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          What!? Banks gave out loans so people could rebuild? Even after the lend lease program?

          Countries must have been devastated and then had to swear fealty to America as a result.

          Checks note

          Number of countries that have to do what the U.S. tells them: zero.

          Let me do the most basic of research…

          From Wikipedia:

          "The U.S. rebuilt Europe after WWII primarily through the

          Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program, 1948–1951), providing over $13 billion (approx. $150+ billion in 2017 dollars) in aid to 16 Western European nations. The assistance was mostly grants (~90%), not loans, designed to rebuild infrastructure, boost industrial production, and curb communist influence."

          I guess your fantasy is just that, a fantasy.

          The only pull the U.S. has is the that the plutocrats in their own countries stand to make money too.

        • sartalon@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          Global trade is mutually beneficial and isn’t “scooping up”, in any sense of the phrase, and is in no way taking advantage of people unless the terms were terrible for one of the parties, which none of them were.

          The military presence across the work was a result of the cold war. And the European powers we.more than happy to let the U.S. foot the bill, for fighting the “red scare”.

          The defense contracts are a result of the U.S.'s military industrial complex, that even Eisenhower warned the U.S. against.

          Most of what is wrong with the U.S…can be pointed at Capitalism.

          You are not wrong to invoke WWII when discussing the U.S. becoming a hedeminy, but they were already a super power. As a nation, no one was producing more than the U.S.

          After WWII, the U.S.'s industrial base was virtually untouched and had no real competition. (Mao and Stalin were great at getting into power and destroying any political opposition, but they were fucking retarded when it came to running a country.)

          The U.S. however became the main producer of the world and so wealth was just flowing in.

          But without proper controls, capitalism just becomes a plutocracy which is evident here.

          Any controls that were put into place were slowly eroded and now, with the weaponization of data, it is a lot easier to control an uneducated working class.

          But now the U.S. has moved all its industry overseas and the plutocrats, that have been sucking every ounce of wealth they can, out of the economy have neutered its ability to pivot and evolve.

          The fascism in the U.S. right now is probably closer to Mussolini’s version than Hitler’s, but it’s still a cultural rot that needs to be purged.

          You can’t just point your finger at things you don’t like and say they did this and just shoot from the hip as to why.

          You HAVE to understand how these things develop, and see how they are not some evil that manifests in a vacuum.

          Just because someone is shit now, doesn’t mean they were always shit.

          But also, no one is clean or pure at this point. Everyone has shit in their history, so using that to justify how you feel today is kind of dumb. Just focus on the actions now. There’s plenty to hate on, but use history to learn how these things evolve. And to do that, you actually have to have an accurate (to some extent) idea of went down.

          “Scooping everything up” after WWII doesn’t even make sense in any way, to describe how anything happened in the initial years following WWII.

    • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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      4 hours ago

      Some replies to this comment are hilarious. American history lessons, that’s what seems we all need to appreciate the USA legacy of the XX century.

    • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      The species became a superpower because of fossil fuels which allows each person to benefit from energy accumulated over millennia all in one geological eyeblink.

      The chaos you are seeing around us is simply what happens when the drugs run out. The tinder was smoldering all along.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Holy fuck you need a history lesson…the US didn’t become a superpower because of WW2…

      The US is liked because it creates(this is changing rapidly because of the turnip in power) world stability for a huge portion of the globe. It’s why the USD has been the reserve currency for such a long time.

      And while we’re on the topic

      https://www.euronews.com/2023/03/01/at-what-age-can-you-legally-get-married-in-europe

      The EU has a lot of this as well. France has no legal age requirement…and we’re not going to even talking about the rest of the globe outside of Europe and the USA, because it’s 100xs worse.

      Edit: because some of you are unable to read and study history. The US was already a powerful nation preWWII…you got the Internet, use it for once.

      https://education.cfr.org/learn/reading/how-did-united-states-become-global-power

      • fuck_u_spez_in_particular@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        US is liked

        Brave assumption, there might be some people outside the US who like them, but I guess that’s true for all countries. I for my part started hating the US, it’s such a bad development for humanity, since capitalism/oligarchy takes over. Even China starts to look good in comparison…

        Also:

        world stability for a huge portion of the globe

        Just LOL. Probably the force that causes the biggest global instability. Do I have to mention Iran as most recent event?

        There might’ve been a period where that might’ve been true, but it certainly isn’t anymore.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Brave assumption, there might be some people outside the US who like them, but I guess that’s true for all countries. I for my part started hating the US, it’s such a bad development for humanity, since capitalism/oligarchy takes over. Even China starts to look good in comparison…

          The word liked is used here in the terms of economic stability. Plenty of people hate the US and want it out of their countries, but it does provide protection that a lot of countries want.

          Also:

          Just LOL. Probably the force that causes the biggest global instability. Do I have to mention Iran as most recent event?

          Prior to the turnip, there is a reason that the USD is the worlds reserve currency. This is just a fact.

          There might’ve been a period where that might’ve been true, but it certainly isn’t anymore.

          Never said it was, the turnip in charge has done more to damage our allies and reputation in the last year than the last 50 years of wars.

      • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours ago

        Are you unaware of the petrodollar being enforced with violence while accusing others of being ignorant?

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Where did I say that it’s not? Our military and economic power is the reason for the why it’s used. Doesn’t make what I’ve said wrong.

      • cley_faye@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        The US is liked

        Everyone’s been warry of the US and slowly moving pieces to reduce reliance on them for at least a decade.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          The US was already a powerful nation preWWII, it’s why we joined ww1 and it’s why we had been expanding for decades prior to this. 1898 is the agreed upon time when it was already powerful and what could be considered a superpower.

          https://education.cfr.org/learn/reading/how-did-united-states-become-global-power

          It’s not hard to understand this, in your hands you have basically the world’s entire knowledge and history. Try and read for once.

          • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            At the close of World War II—the deadliest conflict in human history—British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that the United States stood “at the summit of the world.”

            Your own source all but says post-WW2 is when the U.S. became a world superpower.

            Learn how domestic expansion and three wars—the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II—transformed the United States’ standing in the world.

            There’s also the summary at the very top

            I could find more, but it’s pretty well agreed upon that post-WW2 was when the U.S. became a world superpower.

            Hell, the article you linked to said the U.S. enacted an isolationist policy post-WW1.

      • Baggie@lemmy.zip
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        8 hours ago

        I really hate to naysay you on this, but the US starting pointless wars over random shit is not a new thing with Trump. It got marginally worse sure, and I’d agree there some stability problems that got worse in the past year, but the US is mostly an economic powerhouse largely driven by the military industrial complex, which did indeed get kick-started by their late entry into WW2.  There’s a reason the US economy goes into overdrive every time they start a war. This is a self perpetuating problem that has been going on for nearly as long as living memory unfortunately.

        • HubertManne@piefed.social
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          7 hours ago

          I completely disagree with this type of unnuanced view. yeah war generally is point less so this could be said about every country that has had war. korea was proxy and viet nam was kinda taken over from france. in proxy wars either side could stop being involved. The sudden attacks on venezuela and iran are really out of no where. I would say the closest we have to this is the second iraq but even then they spent a bunch of time at least trying to rationalize it. Up until now many allies have been involved before moves were made.

        • tetris11@feddit.uk
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          7 hours ago

          They were a pillar in world science infrastructure, they brought peace to world sea trading due to the dominance of their navy fleet, and hollywood helped spread liberal ideals worldwide.

          Yes, they started proxy wars for privateering purposes, and have let their neoliberal tendencies dominate their politics, but Americans on the whole as well as European countries under the umbrella of their protection seemingly thrived under it.

          Now they’re demanding tribute. Actively dismantling their umbrella of influence, and defunding any progressive thought in sciences and culture. This is a new trend.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          The great depression effected the entire globe. Fucking hell you people are ignorant as fuck with history.