I won’t argue that. In any event I think we can agree that US foreign policy has been a mess for years now. Maybe, just maybe it’s time to step back and try something different... this interventionist approach isn’t working.
How’s it been a mess? Aside from 2000-2008, it’s been pretty solid.
Bush I ran a pretty good ship to me. He did the right thing with the Persian Gulf War; stopped and then contained Hussein. Containment was working until his son decided to invade Iraq.
Clinton was pretty solid. Although, he obviously should’ve taken the Taliban threat in Afghanistan far more seriously. Allowing the Taliban to overtake the northern alliance gave us 9/11. We did nothing to stop the Rwandan genocide; something the UN apologized for.
However, while screwing the pooch with Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden, he was containing Hussein, stopped ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, and had a deal with North Korea.
Bush II was admittedly the low point. Killed the North Korean deal, ignored signs of radical terrorism, invaded Iraq, and antagonized iran and Russia. He did avoid a potential war with Russia in defense of Georgia and I thought most of his reaction to Afghanistan was appropriate. Russia didn’t occupy or annex georgia, unlike Ukraine. So avoiding war there was a plus. The surge in Iraq worked too. His aid to Africa helped diminish the threat of AIDS. So even Bush did some good things.
Obama: Pretty solid. ISIS was allowed to grow and rested and he did nothing to stop Saudi Arabia from killing people in Yemen. His Russian policy failed. However, he strengthened relations with our allies, got Osama, kept us out of major conflicts around the world, and got the Iran deal done.
Remember, republicans dared him to attack Syria. Things didn’t escalate on our part and millions were left displaced. This created great instability in Europe. Not sure if another war would’ve prevented that.
I’ll admit, I think he should’ve acted militarily against Russia when they invaded Ukraine. This is a case where we were too dovish. I think standing up to Putin then would’ve prevented many of the issues we’re having today. So to me, this might’ve been his biggest mistake along with Yemen. I don’t blame him for the Arab spring and Syria was and still is an impossible situation.
Trump: Plenty of negative obviously. But let’s give it a bit more time to judge.
Perfect? No.
Mess? Not really. We should consider all the stuff happening around the world instead of being mindlessly cynical about our country. I think 2000-2008 was the low point. But overall America has been a stabilizing force for good around the world. Take away the Iraqi war and what MAJOR mess are we going to bring up That’s 100 percent on us and not the industrialized world/impossible situations (like North Korea or Arab spring)?
EDIT: Study early and mid 20th century politics. We’re not exactly Tsar Nicholas II or Kaiser Wilhelm making blunder after blunder. Foreign policy has never been perfect. Woodrow Wilson kept America out of WWI for most of its duration. This saved American lives but it prolonged the war, provided the opportunity for Communists to take over Russia, and his end of war resolution was a blueprint for Hitler’s annexation of Austria and the Czech. Kennedy avoided nuclear war in 1962 with the USSR but also failed miserably with Cuba. Foreign policy is always a mixed bag. But like kennedy, the overall greater good was served by not escalating to nuclear holocaust, although millions of Cubans might’ve resented his foreign policy...
