If I recall you live in the UAE. Much of how the UAE has been able to be successful is because the US military has protected it from threats of Iran and extremism. US trade and companies have fueled its financial success. If you’re talking about a small group of fat cats exploiting others the UAE is the poster child for that given how it’s built and run in the backs of mostly South Asian labor.
This is a myth, much of our problems with Iran is because of our alliance with the United States. Our leaders were always friendly before you kicked the Shah out. The current king of saudi danced at the first arrival of the Shah in Saudi. King Faisal and the Shah of Iran joined hands to cut global oil supply. Iran used to mess with the UAE because of the US' insistence (over the 3 islands). Then the US started telling the UAE to mess with Iran for those 3 islands. That island story is how Iranians and Emiratis know you're full of ****. Because whoever you were backing, you made them mess with the other. Your government has no principles except to generate demand for weapons purchases. We can build an economy without you. Don't sit here and try to convince me that you forcing us to go All-American was you doing us a favor any more than the British tried to tell the Indians that building toilets and teaching English was worth the colonization. There are many countries with oil protected by the US. None of them are like the UAE. We are not like your other states. We would have been fine because we lucked into better leaders (namely Zayed of Abu Dhabi and Mohammed Bin Rashid of Dubai). Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi are all oil/gas countries protected by the US - none of them can touch Dubai and Abu Dhabi. That has nothing to do with you. That's all us. We have never believed this myth because we've lived here before and after these changes. The image they've sold you is a classic example of how they hypnotize you into believing they are doing something here. We would be fine here. We don't need you. We don't need anything you brought. Any colonizer could have brought it and we could have done it ourselves, so don't be expecting a thank you for something you forced down our throats and told us it's our best option and we paid you for. We made lemonade out of your lemon juice. Also regarding laborers you're talking to a person who has been helping laborers voluntarily for 15 years. I am the first person ever to convince this government to give a permit to film inside their terrible rooms and I made a documentary about it with their permission. I've sat and listened to their stories and cried with them. You don't give a flying f*ck about them. If you actually did, you'd be following the story and know that their conditions have improved dramatically and continue to improve rapidly and you would be rooting for it. I was insanely critical of labor conditions here and they have someone quieted me with legitimate improvement. Faster than you are fixing your epidemic of mentally unwell homeless people. You see the poorest and worst off people we have are these construction laborers and they make enough money that after a few years they go back and build a house in their village - the way they planned. The top issue they complain about is NOT salary. The bottom in your country is far more inhuman so please don't sit here and lecture me when you're supporting a much more inhumane project with no hope or improvement in sight. Our laborers don't get their passports taken away anymore, they have government-supervised bank accounts to ensure no one withholds their salary, the president of India worked with our government to raise conditions and reduce risks and they are not allowed to work during the hottest hours any longer. Don't you worry about us. Worry about the meth head jacking off on the street in LA who just needed a therapist. Worry about the guy living in a cardboard tent in LA who just needed some support when the economy was hijacked by your billionaires. Worry about the "oopsie border is open" flooding your country with cheap, abused, underpaid, sub minimum wage, illegal labor. That's how you do your dirty work. We don't have homeless people or beggars. Everyone has a home here and every foreigner is only allowed here if they have a source of income. Citizens are taken care of. Shame on you for using the laborers' plight without any background knowledge on the situation. Tell me which major metropolis wasn't built on forcefully cheap labor? London? NY? LA? Shanghai? lol Give me a break. Go read a history book. Everyone made that mistake and it's still happening in 100+ countries. The whole world is trying to stop this practice, it's not a UAE-specific issue in any way, shape or form. We just hadn't bought enough ad space in CNN like you guys. Once we learned that trick, then we set our sights on actually improving their lives outside the propoganda. You just don't get that even if you were a reason for our development, there's no excuse on earth for why a citizen of a satellite state should be living a better life than a citizen of the empire - we have the exact same GDP per capita and you are getting paid to protect us. The reason you're poorer is they are stealing your money over here. Do you understand? War necessitates moving the money outside the US system and making deals in private - why do you think they want that so bad? Because they are stealing your money dude. Trust me dude, for 7 years my job was to license foreign financial entities. I've seen American billionaires give up their passport to not pay tax ever again. I've seen their source of wealth. I've seen their shareholders and their backgrounds. They are stealing... your money.... over here over and above anything legitimate they're doing. It's so obvious. You're defensive because I'm telling you your politicians are stealing your money and making up an excuse for why you're less well off when there is no valid reason for why Americans should be THIS poor. You are living the worst possible life you could possibly live for the amount of wealth you have. No one lives worse with a comparable GDP per capita, no one on earth. Why are YOU so unlucky? lol If it's somehow costing you money to protect us and there's nothing in it for you, here's an idea: just stop and go home. We won't miss you. We'll deal with the unavoidable temporary chaos afterwards, we're brave. You should be brave too. Go home and be patient while you build something at home instead of them continuously building **** abroad that there is 0% chance you'll keep in the long term. They tell you it's "American interests" - you know what that stuff is? That's our stuff that you're holding. We're here forever. You're not going to be here forever. The money you're paying to hold those things captive is not worth it - as evidenced by how you're getting poorer the more they do it. Stop making yourself feel better by acting like you're doing favors around the world. They are stealing the profits and you will be left with the bills once you inevitably have to leave.
I would actually say that on the global stage yes you do need friends. Has nothing to do with their competence. Especially in Europe where the countries are small, but wealthy where they are more vulnerable. You really do speak like someone who is either brainwashed by Russian propaganda or actively working on their behalf. It’s basically common sense that smaller countries especially in Europe rely on military alliances for their long term survival.
All the big countries can get along. If there is no war, there is no need for a war machine, however war is extremely profitable. War profiteering is evil. Europe needs to come under one governance. The US wouldn't be as powerful as it is if it were 50 different countries. Space exploration and energy research is something this entire planet can work together on. Im not going to apologize for being anti-war. Your silly childish Russia insults dont work.
Oh please stop it with the gaslighting. Oh how dare you criticize my “anti war” stance. Give me a break. You are no John Lennon dude. Me pointing out your pro Russian talking points isn’t me using that as an insult. It’s just a fact. Nearly everything you say here tracks with a simple formula that is used in propaganda tactics. -Accuse the questioner of being hyperbolic -gaslight in order to try and create self doubt in the questioner -whataboutism that points back at the other side as being the real threat and divert conversation This is how you respond to nearly any topic here as it relates to the United States. It’s the same anti American propaganda debate tactics that are used all the time and I don’t mean to insult but it’s just your model here that tracks with people who aren’t coming from the American perspective who discuss these topics from a grounded nuanced perspective. It’s perfectly fine for Americans to have strong views about the nature of our military industrial complex. It sucks. I hate that it’s a thing too… However normal Americans have a nuanced view here. Especially if you’ve been around long enough or studied the history we’ve been taught here in the US about WW2. Not a personal insult… it’s just the truth with how you present nearly every discussion here in a very pro Russia perspective with very systematic responses.
Fukkk yeah buddy. You can't spell UKRAINE without LGTBQOBAMA. My likes on Truff Social verified that as FACT.
To be fair, it's not just Americans but yeah. I don't think people realize any country with a natural resource if left alone (war, sanctions) will start growing rapidly. I think Americans believe it because they've been taught it. If you teach people America is saving people from things and spreading democracy, then the unsaid part of that is the other party couldn't do it themselves. Take India for example. Was a booming industrial country before the British ever got there and well on its way to competing with the biggest in the world. India was one of the richest countries in the world for about two and a half millennia starting around the end of 1st millennium BC and ending around the beginning of British rule in India. However the successful propaganda let the British citizenry (and the world) think Britain civilized those people. What's going to happen is going to happen sooner or later. Britain just delayed the time it would take for India to overtake them.
I don't think your leaders agree with you regarding US protection or involvement. If they did they wouldn't be spending a lot of money lobbying the government. Further US protection isn't just direct protection but also protection of trade routes that greatly benefit the UAE. If the US wasn't protecting those routes through the Persian gulf or for that matter helping to protect air routes and helping to maintain a global system of air transport Dubai would suffer quite a bit economically. Also I've been to Dubai. I've actually worked with developers there on projects. I've also been to Sri Lanka too. Conditions might've improved in recent years largely due to foreign outcry and threatened boycotts doesn't mean they are good for foreign labor there. In fact one of the big ironies of COP28 was how badly the workers who built the facilities are still treated. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/03/questions-and-answers-migrant-worker-abuses-uae-and-cop28 The UAE is definitely an interesting place that has developed quickly and is doing some very innovative architecture. It's a place also riven with inequality and the native population of UAE is heavily dependent upon a massive class of foreign laborers and also foreign professionals. If not for the global economy and the postwar globalized environment Dubai might be Oman. And yes the US should do more to improve our own conditions. Contrary to what alarmist stuff you hear there are many programs working on addressing homelessness. Some of the new infrastructure legislation passed has funding to build housing while other programs such as increased childcare tax credits are addressing children's poverty. What I do find ironic though is that you feel perfectly entitled to criticize the US while you're very defensive and say that we can't criticize your country.
Isn't a lot of your argument that Ukraine can't win and we should just let them get taken over by Russia? In other words you've argued that Ukraine is incompetent and just deserves whatever happens to them without the US.
I'm very critical of British colonialism but India wasn't a booming industrial country when the British took over. India was primarily agrarian and divided between different kingdoms following the decline of the Mughal empire. The British were able to exploit those divisions to allow them to take over.
Lol..... Certainly alliances and war is something that hasn't been around since the dawn of mankind. I can't really tell if you have a child like view of the world or you are trolling... kudos!
btw, did you change your avatar to blue led after watching that Veritasium vid about it? I read the surface of it at the time the inventor won the Nobel Prize, so it was a great and interesting story worth telling in detail.
It's quite ironic that "anti war" in reality means one side prevails over another, in the context of this thread it is a lot of dead Ukrainians. I'm not sure what's so noble about that... It's like a similar discussion I am having with another poster on the realty that either Biden or Trump will won so you have to choose. All this "both sides" BS doesn't change the fact the 2024 election is in ~9 months and there will be two candidates.
