Europe at War

[71 dB]

Thank you France! 
🇫🇷

[Madiel]

Thank you France! 
🇫🇷

How many left to go?

[Christo]

The shortest posssible story of Russian military expansion over the last centuries:

[Madiel]

Funnily enough there's a brief mention of that history in Guns, Germs and Steel which I'm currently reading...

EDIT: Along with the point that you could make a similar sort of map for the United States.

[71 dB]

How many left to go?

Türkiya (process not even started)
Spain
Greece
Portugal
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Hungary
The U.S.A.
Italy (ratification very soon, probably today)

[JBS]

Türkiya (process not even started)
Spain
Greece
Portugal
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Hungary
The U.S.A.
Italy (ratification very soon, probably today)

The US Senate is scheduled to vote on it today, so official ratification should be in the next few days.

[Todd]

The American Empire is the most expansive empire in human history.  Russia has been at it longer, but the Russians are not quite so effective.  And the Chinese, well, they have one overseas base.  Amateurs.

The US Senate is scheduled to vote on it today, so official ratification should be in the next few days.

The world is in the bizarre position of hoping that an autocrat in Turkey makes the rational choice.

[Florestan]

The American Empire is the most expansive empire in human history. 

There is no such thing as an American Empire, at least not in the sense that the Roman, Russian, Ottoman or Austrian empires were.

The most expansive genuine empire was the Mongol, whose territory at its largest extent stretched contiguously from Thailand to Hungary.

[Madiel]

The American Empire is the most expansive empire in human history.  Russia has been at it longer, but the Russians are not quite so effective.  And the Chinese, well, they have one overseas base.  Amateurs.

You have some peculiar ideas about what it actually takes to rule a territory.

Plus, the relevant part of Guns, Germs and Steel is actually about how "Chinese" expansion happened a couple of thousand years ago, to the point where Westerners don't even recognise that a large part of China was not originally "Chinese". And you've just proved that point beautifully.

[Todd]

There is no such thing as an American Empire, at least not in the sense that the Roman, Russian, Ottoman or Austrian empires were.

The most expansive genuine empire was the Mongol, whose territory at its largest extent stretched contiguously from Thailand to Hungary.

The American Empire is a genuine empire.  The US exercises effective suzerainty over most advanced countries and it exercises de facto control of the global financial system.  Its currency is used to price the most important global commodity, serves as the de facto and in some cases legal reserve currency of other countries, and its sovereign debt guarantees trillions of dollars in financial transactions all over the world.  The closest parallel in history is the British Empire.  The US does not rely on the crude tools of the Old World to exercise authority and control, though it does still occupy countries it defeated nearly a century ago.  Various intellectuals (actual intellectuals locked away in their ivory towers) debate the American empire, foreign foes or challengers decry it, and every so often it becomes a hot topic for public debate.  In 2003, some politicians and public intellectuals toyed with embracing American Imperialism outright before America's latest crude, direct imperial project went sideways.

The most expansive previous empire was the British Empire, then the Mongolian.  One can make a case that the Mongolian Empire is the most important empire in history in terms of influencing subsequent events.

[Florestan]

The US exercises effective suzerainty over most advanced countries

Really? Does the US nominate, or influence the election of, the president / prime-minister of UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Canada, Aiustralia or [insert adavnce country of choice]? If those counries' policies are not in line with what the US want at any given time, does the US interfere, directly or indirectly, to change those policies along desired lines?

[Todd]

Really? Does the US nominate, or influence the election of, the president / prime-minister of UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Canada, Aiustralia or [insert adavnce country of choice]?

No, which is why I wrote that it exercises effective suzerainty over most advanced countries.

[Florestan]

No, which is why I wrote that it exercises effective suzerainty over most advanced countries.

Okay. Name three advanced countries over which the US exercises effective suzerainty.

[Todd]

Okay. Name three advanced countries over which the US exercises effective suzerainty.

Every member of NATO except Turkey to start. 

[Florestan]

Every member of NATO except Turkey to start.

Which brings me back to the initial question. Does the US nominate, or influence the election of, the president / prime-minister of UK, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands or indeed any NATO country except Turkey? If those counries' policies are not in line with what the US want at any given time, does the US interfere, directly or indirectly, to change those policies along desired lines? You already answered "No". I guess your definition of "suzerainty" is at (great) variance with mine.

[Todd]

I guess your definition of "suzerainty" is at (great) variance with mine.

Clearly.  Your question begging pertains to domestic politics.

[71 dB]

The US Senate is scheduled to vote on it today, so official ratification should be in the next few days.

Yes, I just heard this on the Finnish news! 

[drogulus]

     The US has suzerained Canada to be north of itself to provide early warning of a nuclear attack. This is obviously disadvantageous to Canada.

     It's not so good to be suzerained like Europeans either. It messes with their heads, making them think they are freely choosing to ally with the US.

[SimonNZ]

The American Empire is the most expansive empire in human history.  Russia has been at it longer, but the Russians are not quite so effective.  And the Chinese, well, they have one overseas base.  Amateurs.


The world is in the bizarre position of hoping that an autocrat in Turkey makes the rational choice.

Guam has 54 US bases? Can that be right? It's 30 miles long.

[Madiel]

Clearly.  Your question begging pertains to domestic politics.

I think you'll find people in most countries care about their domestic politics. Your frequent mistake is that because your own domestic politics is US politics, you think everyone has to view US politics in the way that you do and ignore domestic politics in other countries the way that you do.