- 05 Aug 2022 19:33
#15241751
That doesn't happen without a military that maintains an order where free (or mostly free) trade can occur.
I think you are confounding a few things. You are hitting on something, but it's not exactly right.... or rather, it's not a complete picture.
The US was the only power left standing after WWII. They then decided to use their military to enforce the capitalist free (or relatively free) trade global order. It could not exist without this large military. This was mostly done to prevent the spread of communism of course (sure, you could argue this is the existential threat part, but that's besides the point being discussed here), but it was also a way to try and prevent too much economic power from landing in the hands of a few and causing yet another global conflict. It was only after this system was setup, that smaller nations could actually participate in free (or relatively free) trade and prosper to varying degrees (they could actually get a piece of the pie that was never previously available to them). Skip to today, where communism isn't a concern, where COVID has realized the risk and weakness to a globalized system, and where one of the biggest beneficiaries of that system (China) wants to destroy it by using its military of all things. It would be foolish to believe capitalism can function happily without military might behind it that can enforce the system. Otherwise things just fall back to the 19th century and earlier thinking, which is exactly what the likes of Putin and Xi want. This is disruptive to the free trade. Most of all, all the small nations that got to participate in that system under the umbrella of the US military are going to get fucked hard(er).
It is no surprise then, that as this system gets dismantled, we move closer to another large scale conflict (see Russia/China). Again, the system needs a military. WHat's happen here is that the US is starting to care less about enforcing that system, and now only selectively enforcing that system in defense of more democratic systems. Basically, the US is saying "fuck safe guarding free trade, let's just try to safe guard relatively democratic nations"
For the record, I am 100% in favor of dismantling that system. I have my reasons, but that's for another thread.
Another side point is that after WWII, the US could have really been an even bigger global asshole and asserted its own empire than they were these last 80 years or so. I mean it had a monopoly on nuclear weapons for fucks sake. What actually happen, probably wasn't so bad compared to what could have happened.
Istanbuller wrote:Capitalism and free trade require a peaceful environment where countries do not clash.
That doesn't happen without a military that maintains an order where free (or mostly free) trade can occur.
Istanbuller wrote:The British Empire and later the US required big militaries because they faced existential threats from non democratic countries. If there weren't such threats, you wouldn't need to feed large militaries.
I think you are confounding a few things. You are hitting on something, but it's not exactly right.... or rather, it's not a complete picture.
The US was the only power left standing after WWII. They then decided to use their military to enforce the capitalist free (or relatively free) trade global order. It could not exist without this large military. This was mostly done to prevent the spread of communism of course (sure, you could argue this is the existential threat part, but that's besides the point being discussed here), but it was also a way to try and prevent too much economic power from landing in the hands of a few and causing yet another global conflict. It was only after this system was setup, that smaller nations could actually participate in free (or relatively free) trade and prosper to varying degrees (they could actually get a piece of the pie that was never previously available to them). Skip to today, where communism isn't a concern, where COVID has realized the risk and weakness to a globalized system, and where one of the biggest beneficiaries of that system (China) wants to destroy it by using its military of all things. It would be foolish to believe capitalism can function happily without military might behind it that can enforce the system. Otherwise things just fall back to the 19th century and earlier thinking, which is exactly what the likes of Putin and Xi want. This is disruptive to the free trade. Most of all, all the small nations that got to participate in that system under the umbrella of the US military are going to get fucked hard(er).
It is no surprise then, that as this system gets dismantled, we move closer to another large scale conflict (see Russia/China). Again, the system needs a military. WHat's happen here is that the US is starting to care less about enforcing that system, and now only selectively enforcing that system in defense of more democratic systems. Basically, the US is saying "fuck safe guarding free trade, let's just try to safe guard relatively democratic nations"
For the record, I am 100% in favor of dismantling that system. I have my reasons, but that's for another thread.
Another side point is that after WWII, the US could have really been an even bigger global asshole and asserted its own empire than they were these last 80 years or so. I mean it had a monopoly on nuclear weapons for fucks sake. What actually happen, probably wasn't so bad compared to what could have happened.
I can think of 11780 reasons Trump shouldn't be president ever again.