Putin is manipulative and dangerous, while the US and NATO continue to expand their military influence worldwide, but they're benign, right?
My country joined NATO because, altho not under direct threat from Russia, Russia supported our enemy (going as far as sending special forces to work undercover) in a very recent conflict and as such I couldn't give a shit if Russia feels that their imperialism is threatened by my security.
No one in NATO has to force any country into joining NATO. Russia's doing it on its won.
Altho sadly, after the declaration of independence and its international acceptance, a guy named Milosevic who committed coup d'etats in Montenegro, Kosovo, Vojvodina and attempted a coup d'etat in Slovenia decided that he disagreed with our independence and started a bloody war.
But thanks for trying to teach me history.
Yes I remember when your militia shot unarmed surrendering conscripts, using weapons provided by NATO members. All of which was a strong catalyst for the bloody wars which followed in neighboring republics.
>"The Weight of Chains" is a Canadian documentary film that takes a critical look at the role that the US, NATO and the EU played in the tragic breakup of a once peaceful and prosperous European state - Yugoslavia. The film, bursting with rare stock footage never before seen by Western audiences, is a creative first-hand look at why the West intervened in the Yugoslav conflict, with an impressive roster of interviews with academics, diplomats, media personalities and ordinary citizens of the former Yugoslav republics.
Following articles talk about how the US officials went on privatizing strategic domestic industry in the countries they've helped to destroy. The same happened in all post-Soviet countries which became enslaved under their new Western owners, always excused under the blanket statement of "democracy". Yet, no one talks about one million working age people that died as a direct result of the social vacuum it has created [2]. The average income levels in the EU, 25 years after the "liberation", tell the story in one picture [3]. People in post-Soviet countries / former Yugoslavia today have access to more products, but most of the people are not able to afford any of them, they are basically just window shopping in the capitalist society.
>"Privatizing" Kosovo: The Madeleine Albright Way [4] Americans Who Helped Free Kosovo Return as Entrepreneurs - The New York Times [5]
>"The Prime Minister of Ukraine has urged U.S. partners to actively use the investment opportunities offered by the privatization campaign in Ukraine, particularly in the energy sector," a statement posted on Ukraine’s governmental website said on Monday. [6]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw49iL6zGyQ
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20130425211507/http://www.ox.ac....
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_...
[4] http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3516/kosovo-privatization
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/world/europe/americans-who...
[6] http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/05/25/yats-to-was...
Of course if you're talking about the useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan you're right.
Regarding wars and interventions, I'm not just talking about Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, (ex)Yugoslavia and Latin America. I'm also talking about the aggressive stance the US is taking in the south China sea as we speak. I'm also thinking about it's operations in Africa.
If the US has a right to a global military presence, then others have too. Or is American exceptionalism real?
"Yankee Go Home" indeed.
Which was my initial point.