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Page added on October 12, 2015
A global test of American power
Obama is under pressure, at home and abroad, to restore the image of US strength
How long can a country that represents less than 5 per cent of the world’s population and 22 per cent of the global economy, remain the world’s dominant military and political power? That question is being asked with increasing urgency in the Middle East, eastern Europe and the Pacific Ocean.
Since the cold war ended, the overwhelming power of the US military has been the central fact of global politics. Now, in three crucial regions, that power is being tested — as America’s rivals test its resolve and the US considers when and whether to push back.
Consider three stories that appeared in the Financial Times last week. Story one: “US warns Moscow not to escalate military operation in Syria”. Story two: “US warships to challenge Chinese claims in South China Sea ”. Story three was that Britain had agreed to join the US and Germany in posting troops to the Baltic states.
These events are taking place in different parts of the world — but they are connected. It is US military might that guarantees borders all over the world. In the Middle East the US has giant naval and airbases, which are there to reassure friends and to intimidate rivals. In east Asia, the US navy has grown used to treating the Pacific as an “American lake”, guaranteeing freedom of navigation and providing reassurance to its allies. In Europe, Nato guarantees the territorial integrity of its member states — and the US accounts for 75 per cent of Nato’s military spending.
But things are changing. Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war has underlined the extent to which the US has lost control of the Middle East, following the upheavals of the Arab spring and America’s withdrawal of troops from Iraq. With the US reluctant to put boots on the ground in the Middle East again, Moscow noted a power vacuum and has moved to fill it. By firing cruise missiles into Syria, the Russians even staged a mocking emulation of previous US military interventions in the region.
In Europe, Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine last year represented the first forcible annexation of territory on the continent since the end of the second world war. Unsurprisingly, the Baltic states, which were once part of the Soviet Union, are very worried by the precedent — hence Nato’s decision to reinforce its military presence there.
In Asia, China’s island-building programme in the South China Sea has taken shape in the past year, transforming Beijing’s theoretical claim to territorial waters thousands of miles from its coast into something that is (literally) more concrete. America says it takes no position on China’s territorial disputes with its neighbours but that it is determined to protect freedom of navigation in the Pacific. Hence the US Navy’s apparent decision to challenge the idea that China has established territorial waters around its new artificial islands.
Beijing and Moscow seem genuinely to fear they too could fall prey to US-backed regime change
All three disputes are a reminder that, despite voguish talk of a “borderless world”, the control of territory is still fundamental to world politics. As Sir Robert Cooper, a former British diplomat puts it: “World orders are territorial orders. If you don’t know who owns territory, you don’t know anything about international order.” Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution makes a similar point when he argues that international political stability is dependent on “healthy regional orders, especially in Europe and east Asia. If these regions fall apart, nothing will save the global order.”
Europe and east Asia are not “falling apart” but they are fraying at the edges. Meanwhile, the vision of a Middle East that really is falling apart is further unsettling both Europe and Asia by raising questions about US power and the durability of international borders. Even some American strategists who have long argued the US should “rebalance” its foreign policy towards Asia and do less in the Middle East are now having second thoughts, believing that a perception of US retreat in the Middle East is undermining US prestige in Asia.
The administration of Barack Obama is under pressure, at home and abroad, to restore the image of American strength by responding more forcefully to these territorial challenges. Decisions to send ships through waters claimed by China, and to deploy troops to the Baltics, are a response to that pressure. But Mr Obama remains well aware of the counterproductive nature of recent US military interventions in Iraq and Libya — and is also properly cautious about the risks of military confrontation with Russia or China.
The picture is further complicated by a dispute over who is the “revisionist” power in world politics. The US sees Russian and Chinese territorial claims as challenges to the world order. But the Russians claim that it is America that is truly undermining global order by sponsoring “regime change” in countries such as Ukraine and Syria.
There is an element of propaganda in Russia’s claims. But both Beijing and Moscow also seem genuinely to fear that, unless they push back against US power, they too might ultimately fall victim to American-backed regime change. The Americans, for their part, worry that if they allow territorial revisionism to proliferate, the world will become a more anarchic and dangerous place as their global power erodes.
Mix these fears together and you have a recipe for the kind of dangerous regional disputes that are breaking out all over the world.x
59 Comments on "A global test of American power"
Plantagenet on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 12:27 pm
Its inevitable that the US will pull back from being the world’s policeman as its will and power wanes. Its not entirely Obama’s fault—his weak and ineffectual presidency just happens to be a good match to the current global gestalt.
Cheers!
bug on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 12:45 pm
Curious , plant, please explain what a strong and effectual presidency would look like and do?
q on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 12:45 pm
“It is US military might that guarantees borders all over the world.” Not borders but mayhem.
BC on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 12:52 pm
Plant, it’s “it’s” except when it’s “its”. 😀
Yeah, I know, “language evolves”, and it surely does.
Obummer/Obomba is just another CFR- and Wall St.-vetted and -selected empty suit as CEO of the Anglo-American imperial corporate-state.
The next CEO might be a post-menopausal empty skirt, which will be yet another apt symbol of declining Anglo-American hegemony.
ghung on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 1:22 pm
From the arrcticle: “Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war has underlined the extent to which the US has lost control of the Middle East…”
Assumes the US ever had ‘control’ over the Middle East.
onlooker on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 1:51 pm
Quite the article here. Reading beyond the words and with some prior knowledge one realizes that this article foretells the true “clash of civilizations” as countries big and small all realize the declining path of human societies and seek to remain afloat as long as possible. US has their military all over yet it is more symbolic then anything. The planet is now beginning the process of powerdown which I would compare to giving birth, not a pretty sight. So all these conflicts are the throes of countries feeling different stages of desperation and people caught in the middle in this powerdown process.
penury on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 2:08 pm
I am not certain whether this is a lessening of Power or Intelligence by this I mean that thee stupidity of the U.S. foreign policy is coming home to roost. Even a cursory reading of news (not MSM propaganda) would show a person of any intelligence that this situation is not stable and it is about to explode. No U,S. power never contributed to world stability or peace. Ghung, Russian intervention, can be interpreted as “they are killing our terrorists” scream of propap by the Pentagon,
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 2:44 pm
It is obvious the U.S. was achieving results or the Russian and Iranians would not be there now. Those results were destroying a country but results nonetheless. Syria will likely never be a power in the region again. It will just be another failed state like Iraq. Now that Russia and Iran are there they will have a country to run. Putin and Iran have decided to buck up and run a failed state. Sounds like another great adventure for Putin along with Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
The U.S. Will remain as a spoiler I imagine. If nothing else they will guarantee the Kurds which in my opinion should be their real objective. G-man is correct nobody has ever really controlled the Middle East. It sure and the hell won’t be an anti-Muslim Russian state or a Shia Iran. They will be the new targets.
The Americans showed us how easy it is to take territory but how hard it is to hold it without a huge blood and treasure commitment. I hope the U.S. disengages from the civil war there but that’s unlikely. Folks this is the end game stay tuned to more mayhem.
onlooker on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 2:49 pm
Nobody will disengage from ME. Its fate was sealed by the geographical distinction of being such a rich source of Fossil fuels. A blessing which is turning into a curse.
Plantagenet on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 2:54 pm
@BC I had to laugh when I read your comment pointing out a typo in my post and then going on to make multiple typos in your own post.
People who live in glass houses and all that…..
Cheers!
GregT on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 2:56 pm
“Its inevitable that the US will pull back from being the world’s policeman”
Ask the people who’s countries have been plunged into chaos and war by the US, and I doubt that most of those people would describe the US military industrial complex as a policeman.
Plantagenet on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 3:04 pm
@bug
Obama has made three obvious blunders in Syria
(1) When he came into office in 2009 he embraced the Assad regime, re-opening the US embassy and dialing back US sanctions. That looks pretty dumb now.
(2) Then after the Syrian revolt started in 2011, Obama flip-flopped and spent years railing against the Assad regime and threatening to overturn it. His failure to act on his threats (other than to try to create a free Syrian Army—an effort just abandoned after years of effort produced only five fighters) undermines USA credibility, and now ties his hands and prevents him form working with the Russians whose goals include propping up Assad.
(3) Obama blustered about the use of WMD being a “red line” in Syria , and then when the Assad regime was caught red-handed using chemical WMD Obama did………absolutely nothing. Again this undermined his credibility and displayed weakness. This has consequences. For instance, both ISIS and the Assad regime are now using chemical weapons, and Obama now says…..nothing about it and does nothing about it. The use of WMD doesn’t even deserve a comment now, because everyone in the world knows Obama is just bluffing on the question of WMDs in Syria.
You can’t display much more weakness then proclaiming a “red line” and then backing down after the red line is crossed, as Obama did over the use of WMDs in Syria.
Cheers!
apneaman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 3:14 pm
Davy, the Ukraine fiasco is on the US state dept. We have all seen the evidence, like potty mouth Vicky Nuland bragging from the podium about the 5 billion spent on it in front of the corporate masters and the “Fuck the EU” recording where she is deciding which Ukrainian gets to be the US puppet politician. And the infiltrators disguised as NGO’s That forced the Russians hand IMO. If I was Putin I would have responded the exact same way. Especially with Crimea where they have had a naval base for 230 years. None of these great games has anything to do with me or you. We don’t count. The only thing they want from the common man is their sons for cannon fodder.
GregT on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 3:55 pm
“On December 13, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon signed identical letters to the UN General Assembly and Security Council, stating:
“I have the honour to convey herewith the final report of the United Nations Mission to investigate allegations of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic”
“Theodore Postol, a professor of technology and national security at MIT, reviewed the UN photos with a group of his colleagues and concluded that the large calibre rocket was an improvised munition that was very likely manufactured locally. He told me that it was ‘something you could produce in a modestly-capable machine shop.’ The rocket in the photos, he added, fails to match the specifications of a similar but smaller rocket known to be in the Syrian arsenal.”
“The chemical weapon attack in Ghouta on August 21 would, therefore, credibly point to Ziyaad Tariq Ahmed as among the perpetrators of that attack, particularly as the Assad government had no motive to use chemical weapons, especially with the UN inspectors already on the ground in Syria, and as the Syrian government was in a strong position militarily in its struggle with the opposition.”
“The opposition, on the contrary, had both the capacity to launch a chemical attack on innocent civilians, (as evidenced by several documented prior chemical attacks on Syrian soldiers), and the motive: to distract and disrupt investigations of previous chemical attacks that had victimized Syrian soldiers as well as civilians, and to garner international sympathy, which the sympathetic mainstream media’s distorted reporting guaranteed.”
Wrong as usual lil’ planter.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-un-mission-report-confirms-that-opposition-rebels-used-chemical-weapons-against-civilians-and-government-forces/5363139
It was the radical Islamist rebels, supported by the US MIC, that used chemical weapons in Syria. Not Assad.
Plantagenet on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 4:15 pm
@GregT
You are such a dope.
I specifically said that ISIS is using chemical weapons.
Cheers!
GregT on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 4:25 pm
You aren’t even intelligent enough to be considered a dope planter, that would make real dopes everywhere look bad.
What you wrote, and I quote:
“Obama blustered about the use of WMD being a “red line” in Syria , and then when the Assad regime was caught red-handed using chemical WMD Obama did………absolutely nothing.”
You specifically said that Assad was caught red handed using WMD. Not only is this not truthful planter, it was a fabricated lie. Repeating a lie often enough does not make it the truth, unless you are totally brain-dead and incapable of thinking for yourself..
BC on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 5:30 pm
Plant, ???
Typo or you don’t know any better?
BC on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 5:33 pm
Plant, why do you think it is Obummer/Obomba who made the “blunders”? Surely you don’t actually believe that he is personally devising policy and directing the actions.
What if the outcomes to date are just part of the “empire of chaos” in the last-man-standing end game for the remaining resources of the planet?
onlooker on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:08 pm
“What if the outcomes to date are just part of the “empire of chaos” in the last-man-standing end game for the remaining resources of the planet?”
Exactly. Or does someone think the US has spent all the money it has over the years on the military to not use it. Especially now when the economy of the US is suspect to say the least. Its our ace in the deck. Again I refer to the War on Terror against conveniently those radical Muslims in the Middle East.
Plantagenet on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:08 pm
@ lil’ Greg
My post says, in the very next sentence beyond the bit you selectively quoted
“For instance, both ISIS and the Assad regime are now using chemical weapons”
SO—Why are you lying and pretending I didn’t mention that Islamic militants are using chemical WMDs in Syria when I clearly did, lil Greg? Is your brain cross-wired so you don’t understand what you read, or are you intentionally misrepresenting what other posters here say for some odd and no doubt dumb reason?
Cheers!
Plantagenet on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:11 pm
@BC
The facts are clear on this one. In spite of your doubts, President Obama is the president of the USA and is acting in that capacity to set US foreign policy. I know some folks with extreme views, like you apparently, can’t accept the fact but nonetheless it is reality.
Cheers!
Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:13 pm
Whilst America is still preeminent they are no longer dominant. As has been demonstrated recently if Russia China and Iran cooperate and flex their power they can have their way in Syria.
This is the biggest transition in geopolitical power since the collapse of the USSR.
Plantagenet on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:25 pm
@Bias
You are exactly right on this one. Its fascinating to watch it develop. Russia and Iran as allies in Syria is a major geopolitical development.
Lets just hope NATO and Russian jet fighters don’t get into a tangle over Turkey or something—there have already been two incursions by Russia and the Turks are pretty tough people—they won’t stand for that.
Cheers!
GregT on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:26 pm
@plant,
Assad is not using chemical weapons in Syria, which is what I was referring to above. Not only did you say that he was in your sentence that I quoted above, in your very next sentence you again say that he is.
Nowhere did I say anything about your mention of ISIS using chemical weapons planter, because they have, and they are. What I dispute is your assertion that Assad has and is using them. He is not.
Obama does not write foreign policy planter. Obama is a politician. He has been bought and paid for, to do the bidding of those that control the US behind the scenes. You do not live in a democracy planter, you live in a corpocracy. Owned and operated by and for the globalist elite.
You are living in a fantasy world lil’ planter. You are one extremely confused and simple individual.
BC on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:31 pm
Plant, you are at risk of self-delusion WRT the POTUS (irrespective of which empty suit or skirt occupies the Oval Office). The Deep State principals and institutions establish policy on behalf of the Power Elite top 0.001% and direct the State Dept., Establishment mass media and academe, and intelligence services to construct the memes, self-reinforce the metanarrative, and intellectually and legally facilitate the policy.
Wall St., The City, Frankfurt, the military contractors, petrobankers, agribusiness, oil companies, Israel, and the DC lobbying caste are the primary beneficiaries of the Deep State-devised foreign policy “blunders”.
The POTUS is at most a figurehead or warm body to occupy a chair behind a desk or the space behind a podium. Obummer/Obomba does not have the degree of power you imply, and as he is among the lamest of lame ducks with a gridlocked gov’t, he has even less authority.
onlooker on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:34 pm
Plant, I have to also differ here and align with BC. The US has been and is controlled by very powerful and wealthy people who bestride the world and own much of it and have a large stake in Banking and other strong corporations. So it really is naive to think that the President really is the final decision maker.
Boat on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:47 pm
Ghung,
Assumes the US ever had ‘control’ over the Middle East.
You get the award for best comment. A country can overpower another but unless the public at large wants you there it will be to expensive to stay there.
Russia-Afghanistan, US-Afghanistan, US-Iraq, US-Vietnam
Syria is a bit of a different story. The US is trying to do it on the cheap. Few troops, few body bags, a relative small amount of money compared to any other so called war. Same thing in Libya. The US can influence and disrupt but not control.
onlooker on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 6:49 pm
But dont take our word for it listen to a speech made by President John Kennedy in which he refers quite clearly and comprehensively to a “Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy’
Boat on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 7:03 pm
Bias,
As has been demonstrated recently if Russia China and Iran cooperate and flex their power they can have their way in Syria.
That is taking it a little to far. If Russia wanted the US to quit bombing Russia would have to give up something big. Threats wouldn’t do it.
Boat on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 7:23 pm
And the caption reads….
A global test of American power
Obama is under pressure, at home and abroad, to restore the image of US strength
Horse manure. The US has never been stronger. You control the air, you control the war. The US air force is vastly superior in size and tech. If the US treated war like Genghis Khan it would be different, but the US doesn’t.
The US is so nice they do not destroy religious buildings, museums, historic and cultural areas etc. The US does not take out populations just because they can. The US could turn huge cities into instant rubble if they wanted but they don’t. Many around the world call this weakness like not taking out Assad. What is the point, who would we hand off the country to, they are all bad actors. Why kill just to kill. There has to be proportioned military reply’s in today’s world but some solutions are just not out there.
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 7:35 pm
Ape Man, that was not my point of passing blame. I might add much blame is with Assad family and Russia for Syria. My point on Ukraine, Crimea, and Syria is they are a bleeding wound for Russia as far as blood and treasure.
How much more can Russia take on in its current condition. Granted Syria may heal up and Putin will be hailed a Slavic knight on par with a great czar.
The truth is Putin is capable of this and this great game has just got started. The sad point is any game among any nations increases all of our vulnerabilities. We are very close to collapse without geopolitical tensions.
claman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 7:40 pm
@apne: thanks:Especially with Crimea where they have had a naval base for 230 years.
Great you mentioned it.
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 7:43 pm
Clam, Crimea belongs to Russia. The point I am making is it is not doing well yet. There are numerous economic disruptions that have not been cleaned up. It will take years to absorb Crimea so it is a productive part of Russia.
claman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 7:54 pm
WE, the people of the world, demand the U.S. to give back texas and california to their rightfull owners, namely mexico, that formerly was the property of spain, that in their turn earlier was under muslim rule, and before that was a roman province. The world demand justice – now
claman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 8:10 pm
@davy : I don’t think any european leader ever seriously questioned the russian claims for Crimea, the real problem is the eastern provinces of Ukrania that Russia thinks comes automatically with Crimea, and the rest of the world doesn’t. I personally think that russia should have the borders in crimea and ukrania that it had since 200 years
Boat on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 8:25 pm
clanman,
WE, the people of the world, demand the U.S. to give back texas and california to their rightfull owners
Mexicans will eventually have the largest voting block in the US. Why settle for TX and Calif.
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 8:31 pm
Clam, the people should have a say for sure. I think Ukraine is a devided country that is in danger of fracture. Russia will probably end up with the east eventually. The west will end up a rump state dependant on Europe. There is no doubt Crimea belong to the Russians or better yet the Tarters. When collapse gathers steam these type of places will have short half lives.
claman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 8:34 pm
@boat: yea , what can a white boy do when there is nothing he can do.
(i might regret this later, but i will let you know then)
claman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 8:48 pm
@davy, Russia is probably the biggest country on earth, and has in it a multitude of races, languages and cultures. As I see it the ukranian people are well adapted for russian culture and despocy. They did not, in their short time of liberty come up with anything better. It’s a little brutal, but maybe that is how life goes when you don’t grab the moment
makati1 on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 8:56 pm
Subject well covered as usual, with the usual nutcase additions …lol.
claman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 9:03 pm
Makati, Then tell us why didn’t the ukranians make a better society when they had the chance ?
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 9:23 pm
Clam, your wasting your time on dog paw. He hates Ukrainians. How could he give you an impartial answer?
BC on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 9:25 pm
@Plant: Its fascinating to watch it develop.
Lets just hope NATO and Russian jet fighters don’t get into a tangle over Turkey or something
Its inevitable that the US will pull back from being the world’s policeman
Its not entirely Obama’s fault
http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/pronouns/1-grammar-error/
http://study.com/academy/lesson/possessive-pronouns-contractions-definition-examples.html
You actually don’t know the correct usage of contractions in the cases above, do you, Plant?
“It’s” not a typo when you consistently use the contraction incorrectly.
What level of secondary school did you reach, Plant? Did you make it through university to date never knowing that you make the error? 🙂
Do you work for an employer? Does the employer ever correct the errors?
Did you graduate high school/university in the 1990s-2000s?
apneaman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 9:37 pm
People who wish to understand Ukraine might want to spend, at the very least, a couple of hours of uninterrupted reading as opposed to a couple of articles full of propaganda written at the 8th grade level.
makati1 on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 10:07 pm
Ap, well said. I’m still learning about the Ukraine, but I am beginning to understand the split, now being pried apart by the melding Empire. You have to go back into history to get the whole story. Not something most on here will ever do. They prefer the programmed pap the Empire puts on their plate. It’s easier.
dooma on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 10:14 pm
It was only a matter of time before countries such as Russia and China started to stretch their military might as soon as the US over-reached it’s reign on the world.
The two “wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost at least 6 trillion dollars so far according to experts. And I hate to imagine the costs involved in maintaining US military garrisons across the globe. Even though the country’s finances are in terminal decline.
This is all done under the guise of ensuring peace and democracy. When it is really about maintaining the obscene and energy wasting lifestyle that is “the American way of life”.
The US has illegally invaded countries, funded rebel forces to destabilise governments that do not tow the line and dance to American tune. The sanctions they have imposed on MANY nations have caused millions of civilian deaths due to vital medication being made unavailable. They are by far the most aggressive nation in the world since WW2. Closely followed by their true owners. The Zionist Jews.
The sad fact is that they will continue slashing social funding-sending millions of their own citizens into abject poverty before they even think about disengaging from “policeman” activities.
Except for the people from the fly-over states that have no job prospects other than to join the “war on infinity” Bullet stoppers will always be welcome-until they get PTSD, ensuring a discharge on medical grounds with the military acting as if they never employed them.
It is no wonder that the world is starting to fight back against these criminals.
makati1 on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 10:32 pm
For all those who celebrated Columbus Day…
“October 12th is Columbus Day, a day which is increasingly coming under criticism for celebrating a genocidal pirate, murderer, rapist, and enslaver who is credited with the “discovery” of the Western Hemisphere.
Most people today dismiss the notion that Columbus “discovered” a land that was already packed with 100 million people and 6,000 years of thriving civilizations (the earliest urban center with communal architecture is at Porvenir, Peru, dating back to 4930 B.C., according to Haas et al, 2004).
The world that Europeans “encountered” (read: “invaded”) was not that of a barren wilderness, sparsely populated by nomadic tribes; but a continent filled with wealthy, urban civilizations and complex, sedentary farming cultures. The Western Hemisphere of 1492 was a land of cities, writing, mathematics, astronomy, calendars, and engineering…”
https://www.popularresistance.org/columbus-and-the-legacy-of-genocide/
“…The confluence of Columbus Day Weekend and the Kunduz hospital bombing has us thinking about the deep levels of cultural violence in the United States and what can be done to change it. How does the US move from a country dominated by war culture to one dominated by a humanitarian culture? And, can we do it in time to avoid war with Russia and China, both of which are escalating to dangerous levels of conflict…”
https://www.popularresistance.org/newsletter-war-culture-whats-it-good-for/
“I pledge allegiance to…”
claman on Tue, 13th Oct 2015 3:37 am
apne:take a look at this map, that shows the countries in europe during the last 200 years, and tell me what country has the historical right to which particular peace of land.
http://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/
Of course you should read the history of a country and a people, just be sure to define exactly how far back you wanna go.
Did you know that the king og england around year 1000 was danish (canut the great), did you know that the name russia actually is the name of a swedish province(roslagen) that in the viking age dominated certain areas i todays russia.
History is a help to understand how things are today, but it is also the source of a lot of spin and biased interpretations
claman on Tue, 13th Oct 2015 3:41 am
“take a look at this map, that shows the countries in europe during the last 200 years”
That came out wrong, it should have said, the last 2000 years.
apneaman on Tue, 13th Oct 2015 4:31 am
claman, I told you the other day that one set of my grandparents came from Sweden and I mentioned the Rus and all that. The other grandparents came from Ukraine. Historical rights don’t mean shit. Come to Canada and ask the Indians whose ancestors were here 15 thousand years ago about their historical rights. Ask the Mexicans about their historical rights to Texas and California – most of the American SW. Thanks for telling me the limits and pitfalls of historical study. I have only been at it since about 20 years before the internet came out.