General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What is the "hard left"? [View all]Expecting Rain
(811 posts)I'd try telling that to the people of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and the Ukraine. Do you believe they (or the rest of the former Warsaw pact) would have escaped reoccupation by Putin's Russia without US military might and that of NATO allies?
Look at what's already happened in the Ukraine with the annexation of the Crimea and the Russian occupation of Eastern Crimea. Look at what's going on in the Caucasus.
Look at the threat from North Korea. Think of the power vacuum we'd open in Asia with an expansionist China if we unilaterally de-militarized.
How do you think dialogue without military power would work with the Taliban, Da'esh, Putin, or Lil Kim?
You say you want to "negotiate and compromise" but from a position of weakness that how the western powers got Munich.
Diplomacy should always be the first choice, and the second choice, and the third choice. War is something to avoid.
Diplomacy, as Teddy Roosevelt understood, works best when you "talk softly and carry a big stick."
Neo-isolationists, like their predecessors in the 1930s who formed the opposition to FDR, want to give up the big stick. That is a well-proven pathway to conflict and war.
Neo-isolation isn't a pro-peace ideology. It is nativism and an abdication of our role in the world.