U.S. is still the biggest threat to peace in world

America is number one in several categories, such as incarcerating our poor people and mass shootings.
In 2013 we were number one in global threats to peace.

In their annual End of Year poll, researchers for WIN and Gallup International surveyed more than 66,000 people across 65 nations and found that 24 percent of all respondents answered that the United States “is the greatest threat to peace in the world today.” Pakistan and China fell significantly behind the United States on the poll, with 8 and 6 percent, respectively. Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and North Korea all tied for fourth place with 4 percent.

In 2017 Pew asked countries that were allies if America was a threat to them.
70% of South Koreans and 62% of Japanese said the U.S. was a major threat, and the trend was not good.

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So last month Pew changed up the question.
Maybe they thought it would change the results.

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Those headlines are half-truths because the question didn't mention Trump.
The threat of the U.S. is bipartisan.

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Thus, of the 195 states recognized by the United Nations, most Mexicans identified just one as a real danger. Other countries surveyed, including Turkey, Argentina and Brazil, also overwhelmingly identified the United States as their country’s greatest threat.

The study also showed that there has been a serious reduction in those who identify the U.S. as a dependable ally.

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polkageist's picture

Of course we are the biggest threat to world peace. With a thug like Trump as our spokesman, subtlety is nonexistent; the gloves are off. Our corporate masters have come to the conclusion that they needn't be subtle about their plans and aims. Repeal of the New Deal has been the aim of the rich and the corporate/financial elites ever since FDR put it through. Greed is their only interest and they will continue to despoil the planet and try regime change everywhere they can. The rest of the world has seen and experienced our actions. The elites have a new problem: how to contain the backlash by those who have seen it clearly. Venezuela, Ecuador, parts of Europe and the middle east, as well as newer enemies such as China and a revitalized Russia are taking action now to stop the U.S. The young people in the U.S. are rebelling and some of their elders are understanding what is at stake and how bad it is. Climate catastrophe plus the brazen, ill planned coups in South America and the middle east have finally shown even rather unconscious people the real aims of the U.S. government.

I want to publicly tell you, gjohnsit, how much I appreciate your essays and comments. You are one of the reasons I come here at least once a day. Thank you.

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

janis b's picture

@polkageist

suede or fine leather, subtlety might be possible.

"With a thug like Trump as our spokesman, subtlety is nonexistent; the gloves are off."

Your comment made me consider how lacking in substance a world without subtlety is. There are infinite variations of grey between black and white.

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Creosote.'s picture

@polkageist
I want to join you in your respect and gratitude for this site, and the superb posters here as well. Where else could one find both you and Arendt speaking directly to us in this immediate moment?

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mimi's picture

@polkageist @polkageist
after waking up and before going to sleep. The only disadvantage this has, is that I am still not awake enough in the morning and pretty tired already at night.

But I never regret to have read here and come back again and again.

Thanks to gjohnsit. You just amaze me to no end.

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1 user has voted.

Why do we do this? The only glimmer of an answer I can see is this. The republicans (and today's democrats) have signed on to the notion that the USA's basic policy should concern itself only with commerce and defense, and the American people should be responsible for themselves. They should, however, be responsible for paying for defense and the administration of commerce.

So, in the end the US views the rest of the world much the way Jeff Bezos views his employees, as profit centers, not trading partners. The rest of the world should be worried. They've been taken hostage. We should be worried, too. While we're forced to take our governments shit, the rest of the world doesn't.

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edg's picture

Eh? Impeachment? What u talkin bout, EdG?

The Impeachment of Donald Trump ties in to the US being the biggest threat to world peace because the trigger for the impeachment was that Trump risked Raytheon's 3rd quarter financial results by holding up the US taxpayer-funded purchase and giveaway of Raytheon anti-tank missiles to Ukraine.

His evil action of holding up the missile giveaway also threatened to delay or defuse the rush to war with Russia that many Americans salivate over and pray for nightly.

Those two things are unconscionable and un-American -- delaying Raytheon profit and delaying the Amer-Russo war.

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Now it's threatening everyone involved in building the Nordstream pipeline. Obey us or else!

OT: I have mentioned how we paid the Taliban protection money for allowing us to bring supplies into Afghanistan so we can fight the Taliban. Here's an article on it. The reason this has come up in the news again is because some private contractors are on trial for doing just that. I love the hypocrisy here don't you?

Multiple congressional investigations have confirmed that US companies were flooding local warlords and insurgents with millions of dollars in protection money at the height of the war. Even then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged in 2009 that such bribes were a major funding source for the Taliban. The following year, a congressional report called ‘Warlord, Inc.’ confirmed that Pentagon cash flowing through contractors was supporting a “protection racket,” buying safe passage of goods by bribing local officials (and likely Taliban members).

None of the corporations who paid the Taliban have been prosecuted, nor were any of the Pentagon officials who paid the contractors. A decade later, US troops remain in Afghanistan – even as documents published earlier this month (and dating from 2014) revealed that US officials knew that the war was doomed from the outset.

How nice that congress confirmed that major bribes were taking place. How much nicer that they didn't do a damn thing to stop it. 143 families are suing the contractor because after being bribed the Taliban killed their family members. The wheels of justice move very slowly....

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10 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.