helene_t, on 2020-November-04, 16:20, said:
Maybe I shouldn't respond to this since i don't really know anything about about World politics but ....
I don't think so anymore.
During the war in ex-Yugoslavia I thought that thanks God that we have the Americans to do the dirty work so that we Europeans can keep praising ourselves for our peacefulness, knowing that it doesn't cost us anything because Uncle Sam will pay the bill. Pax Americana.
Older generations may feel a similar gratefulness for WWII and Korea. Israel, Taiwan and West Berlin may also have been toast without US support. Then there was Vietnam and Chile and Iran etc. but I think it is fair to say that during the cold war, USA was per saldo a force for good.
At the moment it seems to me that China is a force for good in the World, and the best that can be said about USA is that it is isolating itself.
I imagine we are still a force.
It would be hoping for too much to expect we will always be a force for good.
That being acknowledged, we need to do better.
Often, very often, responsible behavior will be good for us as well as for others.
Machiavelli said (I guess) that "A man who tries in every way to be good will meet his ruin among the many who are not good".
Probably true. It does not follow that a man should try in every way to be bad, That seldom ends well either. Same for countries, I think.
Anyway, I hope for better. If others are not all that happy with the US right now, I understand that. Neither am I.