The Afghan War is over

[Beastro]

The best thing the US and her allies to just monitor the situation and this time around take threats seriously.

Let the Middle East sort itself out.

I would agree that we should let the Middle East sort itself out if half of its problems were not directly caused by us.

That is part of being the global hegemon.

Don't like it, well your country wanted it from the 1890s onward and dropping the ball now would create a period of instability that would make the Second Hundred Years' War look tranquil in comparison. No nation is strong enough to replace the US as global hegemon and would result in a fizzled series of power grasps.

The best thing the US and her allies to just monitor the situation and this time around take threats seriously.

Let the Middle East sort itself out.

I would agree that we should let the Middle East sort itself out if half of its problems were not directly caused by us.

Then we'd still be occupying most of South America and decent sections of South-East Asia.

Ditto.

[TGLS]

The best thing the US and her allies to just monitor the situation and this time around take threats seriously.

Let the Middle East sort itself out.

I would agree that we should let the Middle East sort itself out if half of its problems were not directly caused by us.

That is part of being the global hegemon.

Don't like it, well your country wanted it from the 1890s onward and dropping the ball now would create a period of instability that would make the Second Hundred Years' War look tranquil in comparison. No nation is strong enough to replace the US as global hegemon and would result in a fizzled series of power grasps.

Clearspira's British.

[clearspira]

Regarding America as the world's biggest superpower: it doesn't matter. Because wars against superpowers are no longer going to be fought with guns. That is 20th century tech that you employ against 20th century armies.

No one is ever going to use nukes. No one. Its endgame for the entire human race. As much an the media may demonise your enemy; they are ultimately exactly the same as you. They breathe the same air, they eat the same food, they come home to their mum or wife or kids at the end of the night. WW3 will be fought online. It'll be about knocking out the enemy's banking system, or knocking out their satellites, or knocking out their media.
And this also is an area where America is very much on the fringe as the cultural hegemon. Are you one of those who believe that Russia interfered with the 2016 election or with Brexit? Well there you go. There is an example of a major world change using nothing more than social media.

PS, very soon outer space is probably going to heat up. Who gets to decide what parts of Mars is owned by what country? No thinks about it but that is a very relevant question in the next couple of decades. And space is away from all of those lovely aircraft carriers and jets; in fact it'll take very little to ground a SpaceX carrying parts to build one. Mars is going to be an interesting equaliser.

Edit: By ''guns are 20th century tech'' I don't mean literally. What I mean is ''we entered the 20th century with single-shot muskets and left it with tanks, fighter jets, destroyers and atom bombs''. The gun very much reached its zenith by the year 2000. All we've been doing since then is tweaking them. ''Wow! this gun can now fire a 1000 rounds a minute instead of 900. So amazing''.

[clearspira]

I was thinking earlier: the true tragedy of the Taliban take-over are the teenage girls. From what I understand, they've lived pretty much like Westerners for the last 20 years with all the rights that entails. And now suddenly they have to cover their faces, they've been kicked out of school and (from what I hear) a few have already been stoned to death.
As horrible as it sounds, as least the grown women remember how to deal with that.

[McAvoy]

I was thinking earlier: the true tragedy of the Taliban take-over are the teenage girls. From what I understand, they've lived pretty much like Westerners for the last 20 years with all the rights that entails. And now suddenly they have to cover their faces, they've been kicked out of school and (from what I hear) a few have already been stoned to death.
As horrible as it sounds, as least the grown women remember how to deal with that.

Definitely. Who knows. Maybe the women there start a revolt against the men. That would be something.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Regarding America as the world's biggest superpower: it doesn't matter.

Yeah it does.

[McAvoy]

Regarding America as the world's biggest superpower: it doesn't matter.

Yeah it does.

Yeah. It's a big deal who is the big dog on the planet nowadays.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I was thinking earlier: the true tragedy of the Taliban take-over are the teenage girls. From what I understand, they've lived pretty much like Westerners for the last 20 years with all the rights that entails. And now suddenly they have to cover their faces, they've been kicked out of school and (from what I hear) a few have already been stoned to death.
As horrible as it sounds, as least the grown women remember how to deal with that.

Definitely. Who knows. Maybe the women there start a revolt against the men. That would be something.

If that was successful we'd probably bomb them again.

[McAvoy]

I was thinking earlier: the true tragedy of the Taliban take-over are the teenage girls. From what I understand, they've lived pretty much like Westerners for the last 20 years with all the rights that entails. And now suddenly they have to cover their faces, they've been kicked out of school and (from what I hear) a few have already been stoned to death.
As horrible as it sounds, as least the grown women remember how to deal with that.

Definitely. Who knows. Maybe the women there start a revolt against the men. That would be something.

If that was successful we'd probably bomb them again.

Doubt it.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Why do you doubt it?