Why is it that you are banging on about the American so-called Empire (which isn't one), and it's somehow improper for anyone to bang on about other Empires (including but not limited to the British one)? I focused no the British one because the thread is about the UK and the US.mistermack wrote:Do I have to explain the bleedin obvious to you?Coito ergo sum wrote: Oh, might be the little fact that this entire thread is about the United Kingdom and the United States. Who the fuck gives a toss about the Irish? That belongs on another thread.
You were banging on about the british empire, posting maps, as if I was applying double standards, criticising the US empire while seeing nothing wrong with the British one. Otherwise, why were you banging on about the British Empire? That's why I pointed out my Irish ancestry, and said quite plainly that I in no way justified the British Empire.
Why was that so hard to understand? It seems crystal clear to me. I can't imagine why you have such trouble with such a simple point.
I see reality. I don't make shit up and pretend that I'm a seer, gleaning the unknown and unstated reality that "they" don't want me to know.mistermack wrote:You really are incredibly naiive. You see nothing but headlines, you seem incapable of seeing what happens behind them.Coito ergo sum wrote: The US doesn't run Kuwait.
Folks like you always overstate your cases about the US. We're either the behind the scenes master of all things, controlling every other country like puppets on strings, or we're the most incompetent nation ever to grace the planet.mistermack wrote:
The Royal family run Kuwait. The US runs the royal family. If the US pulled out, the royals wouldn't last five minutes. They know it, the people know it, and the US government know it. So what the US wants, it gets.
That must by why my gasoline just went up in price by 25% in the last month, because the United States controls Kuwait like it's American property. We can just order them to increase output, but we don't, for reasons "they" don't want us to know.mistermack wrote: THAT'S why Kuwait is effectively US property.
You can spout the headline titles all you like, the reality is what happens behind the facade. Kuwait is independent in theory. It isn't in fact. But I don't expect you to be able to see behind the facade any more. You've proved often enough that you can't. (or maybe like the christians, you only see what you want to see).
Talk about seeing what you want to see - you think "making shit up" is the same as being knowledgeable.
They've quite often squeezed the oil supply.mistermack wrote:How the fuck do you make that out? Whenever the oil supply is threatened, it's Kuwait and Saudi that move the price down. If they wanted to raise it, they could double it overnight.Coito ergo sum wrote: You mean - the same OPEC countries that have held us over a barrel of oil and screwed with our economy in the past - jacked up the price of oil against our will? They're part of our "empire" but we can't control how much oil they pump out of the ground, right?
The US gets only 5% of its imported oil from Saudi Arabia. That's why they can't fuck us over. We protect ourselves from the vicissitudes of the Arabs by getting 80% of our imported oil from non-Arab sources. But, do go on thinking it's because we call them on the phone and order them around.mistermack wrote:
Why don't they? They wouldn't dare, because the US calls the shots.
Like the US was Mubarak's bodyguard?mistermack wrote:
The PEOPLE of Saudi and Kuwait might want to raise the price of oil, but the Royals don't. Their private wealth is invested in the west, so they don't want a depression, and they don't want to lose their US bodyguard.

Actually, I don't. You see, that's why the I used the gerund form - "pulling." We haven't left. If all the troops were out, I'd say "pulled" as in past tense. Don't they speak English in Ireland?mistermack wrote:You're WHAT? Perhaps you could say what you mean by pulling out? To most people that means all the US troops are leaving. Are you claiming that?Coito ergo sum wrote: And, the Iraq occupation is just ending. We upheld our responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions to put back together what was broken by the war, and we're pulling out.
See, you drink up the headlines you're fed like an obedient puppy dog.
No, I see it. I just don't make up stuff in my head without evidence and pretend it's reality. You really give the US too much credit. I only wish we had the power you give it. We'd not be in the danger and the world of shit that we're in.mistermack wrote:
You just can't see reality unless it lands on your foot.
And, you say I can't see reality. You swallow talking points like it's truth. I guarantee you don't have the slightest clue who "W's friends" are and how they're "getting their money." You are just sure that his friends are there, and that they're getting their money somehow. Right? Or, do you actually know something? Feel free to provide some detail on this.mistermack wrote: The US won't leave Iraq till W and his friends get all their money.
I love how - 2 years into the Obama administration - you think that the stupidest President in history is still pulling the strings. How much of a capon do you think President Obama is? You think he can't stop "W's Friends" and he can't pull us out of Iraq? He's not really the President, but "W" is the de facto President?
I iz ur Prezidunt - controllin yer oilz.....LOL
That must be because O wants W's friends to get their money. I iz ur Prezidunt - helpin u get yer moneyz.mistermack wrote: And that will take years. And their puppets don't want them to go. They know they'd get slaughtered. So they will beg the US to stay, and Uncle Sam will "reluctantly" stay on, but will take even more money for their trouble.

Folks love their conspiracy theories, I tell ya.
Sure - but, we haven't had sanctions on vietnam since the 1990s. We're now a peaceful trading partner with Vietnam.mistermack wrote:I didn't say you hated Cubans. Do try to get it right.Coito ergo sum wrote: We don't hate Cubans - the US takes in more Cubans by far than any other country in the world, and they are given automatic permanent residence of the United States if they can reach our shores. We oppose Castro because he's a fucking dictator who seized billions of dollars worth of assets of American citizens (not American government property, but the property of American citizens). And, he proceeded to ally himself with Soviet Russia. Yeah, we oppose that.
The US has tried to break Cuba and Vietnam with sanctions.
No. We tried to break CASTRO with sanctions because Castro is a fucking dictator who allied himself with the Soviets and seized billions of dollars worth of American assets in bloody coup to conquer the country which he has now held for over 50 years, along with his brother.mistermack wrote: For what? For not wanting the US running their country in all but name.
Of course, that's a straw man, because the US did not impose sanctions because the US wanted to run the country in all but name. That's your nonsense.mistermack wrote: That's sulking in my book. No other country had such a sanctions regime.
Plenty of other countries have had sanctions regimes on other countries.
And, the US has every right to not trade with Cuba. The thing is - Castro doesn't have a "right" to be a dictator and steal the wealth of the nation.mistermack wrote: Cuba had every right to nationalise whatever it liked. If you invest in a foreign country, that's a chance you take.
That's fine. I wonder why Castro isn't giving "it" to the Cubans.mistermack wrote: It was mostly mafia money, which is why it caused so much trouble. The mafia have the contacts in government, and don't like losing their ill-gotten gains.
I'd rather it reverted to the Cubans myself.
No - I see it as having been "kept" out. Not "kicked" out. Do try to be at least somewhat precise in your verbiage. Sure, we lost the battle of the Bay of Pigs. So fucking what?mistermack wrote:You really are out of touch with reality. The US invaded Cuba at the bay of pigs, and got kicked out. I suppose you see it as some kind of victory? You really are amazing.Coito ergo sum wrote: Do try to use language with greater precision than a 4 year old. The Bay of Pigs was not the US getting "kicked out" - since we weren't in Cuba at the time to begin with.
I have delusions? Got any more conspiracy theories?mistermack wrote:
Fuck this, what am I doing, replying to your delusions? I think it must be catching, bye.
"They" don't want us to know that the "O's friends" are tryin' to "get they money," right? Or, really it's not "O's friends" - it's "W's friends." Skull and Bones. The Illuminati. You know? New World Order. PNAC - 9/11 was an inside job. Bush lied people died.
Keep up the mantra my friend. Once again, I can only wish the US had the kind the unbending power that you claim it to have. If only we did have the ability to control the oil and take it at will. If only we did own Iraq and Kuwait as if they were just Kansas and Rhode Island situated in a different spot on the globe. Things would sure be a lot easier. Unfortunately, reality is a lot more complicated, and a lot more dangerous, than your pat little theories suggest. We can't just point to "W" and say "all our problems are caused by the greedy Bush Administration - controllin yer fossil fuelz" -- would be nice for us if it was that way. Unfortunately, it isn't.