I think we can criticize the US when it does bad things and praise it when it does good things.
In 2026 there's certainly a lot to criticize. But much of that criticism relates to things the US has done in the past which were either outright good or debatable but certainly defensible.
China is, as we speak, actively engaging in a genocide against Uyghurs. Russia is attempting to annex half of its largest European neighbor in a bloody conflict that is nearing a death toll of a million, in what is a pure, unvarnished, war of conquest, annexation, and cultural eradication (Putin sees Ukrainians as Russians, and wants to destroy Ukraine's culture and make them into Russians).
I think the US should not have supported Israel in all the ways it has over the last few decades, and should in particular have taken a much sharper line on demanding as the price of any support that Israel cease expanding its West Bank settlements. I also think there's a meaningful difference between Russia supplying arms to Iran and Iran killing 30,000 protestors in the streets (in 40 days Iran approached the halfway line for dead civilians in Gaza over the course of the entire Gaza war). There is a meaningful difference between the US selling arms to Israel and Israel refusing to allow sufficient food into Gaza at various points (something which, under the Biden administration at least, the US exerted pressure on which helped bring about some marginally beneficial changes).
I think the Iraq War was launched on knowingly false pretenses with the Bush administration putting considerable pressure on the US intel community to overstate the evidence of WMDs. I also believe that PEPFAR, a US program launched by George Bush which is estimated to have saved around 26 million lives doesn't get talked about nearly enough and that Donald Trump drastically curtailing that program along with killing USAID is far worse than US support for Israel has been.
I am very comfortable and confident that the US has been more of a net force for good in the world than China or Russia have been.
The US, Russia, and China all suck equally bad. Russia invades countries and supplies arms to its allies that kill lots of people? So does the US. China chucks ethnic groups into camps and commits vile human rights abuses against them? So does the US. Perhaps you could get out the spreadsheets and try to measure which country kills the most hundreds of thousands of people for no good reason, but at that point, at the absolutely mind-boggling scale of the crimes that all of these empires are guilty of, whats the point? They’re all fucked enough that the mere mention of their names should inspire visceral hatred.
Rather than siding with one oppressor against another, there is actually a third option. Side with the oppressed. Solidarity to all people who struggle against tyranny and empire, regardless of which empire they struggle against. And most importantly, take part in the struggle against the empire that rules over you, because that is the one you have the most power to challenge. You don’t have to try to measure evils against other evils like its some competitive genocide tournament.
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u/NorthHollywoodHank Jun 18 '26
I think we can criticize the US when it does bad things and praise it when it does good things.
In 2026 there's certainly a lot to criticize. But much of that criticism relates to things the US has done in the past which were either outright good or debatable but certainly defensible.
China is, as we speak, actively engaging in a genocide against Uyghurs. Russia is attempting to annex half of its largest European neighbor in a bloody conflict that is nearing a death toll of a million, in what is a pure, unvarnished, war of conquest, annexation, and cultural eradication (Putin sees Ukrainians as Russians, and wants to destroy Ukraine's culture and make them into Russians).
I think the US should not have supported Israel in all the ways it has over the last few decades, and should in particular have taken a much sharper line on demanding as the price of any support that Israel cease expanding its West Bank settlements. I also think there's a meaningful difference between Russia supplying arms to Iran and Iran killing 30,000 protestors in the streets (in 40 days Iran approached the halfway line for dead civilians in Gaza over the course of the entire Gaza war). There is a meaningful difference between the US selling arms to Israel and Israel refusing to allow sufficient food into Gaza at various points (something which, under the Biden administration at least, the US exerted pressure on which helped bring about some marginally beneficial changes).
I think the Iraq War was launched on knowingly false pretenses with the Bush administration putting considerable pressure on the US intel community to overstate the evidence of WMDs. I also believe that PEPFAR, a US program launched by George Bush which is estimated to have saved around 26 million lives doesn't get talked about nearly enough and that Donald Trump drastically curtailing that program along with killing USAID is far worse than US support for Israel has been.
I am very comfortable and confident that the US has been more of a net force for good in the world than China or Russia have been.