> and overall been quite friendly an empire
Just a few million in civilian casualties here and there. Because remember, Saddam has WMDs.
When was the last time China went to war with another country on a false pretense and massacred millions?
Just a few million in civilian casualties here and there. Because remember, Saddam has WMDs.
When was the last time China went to war with another country on a false pretense and massacred millions?
Remember the whole Native American massacre thing that America has convniently forgotten about.
Glass houses and stones and all that.
Point is, in the living memory of most people on the earth, i.e. people below 30, the only wars waged against non-neighbors have been Americans invading Iraq and Afghanistan. So from the place most non-Americans stand, America is a belligerent and irresponsible power.
What someone did in 1960 is important and can't be glazed over, but as a 30 year old, it's hard to understand and even harder to contextualize. But Iraq and Afghanistan is fresh enough in everyone's memory, to the point that I remember the headlines about the fake WMDs and the numbers about civilian deaths.
That’s not the same as Tiananmen square but it’s far more visceral lived experience for anyone under 45.
The US is not the center of the universe and lots of influence sphere pushing goes down in lots of backyards.
This seems to be what's happening today. China has moved on and is now on track to become the world's first economy (at least by size) and the US is still the war mongerer it always was.