Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
a guarantee. That too matters. Even if you were anywhere near correct, most of them are smart enough not to make a standing broad jump at what could very likely be an erroneous conclusion...

Adding to the wise words from Rex Brynen, he's totally correct -- but then, no one in this case knows what the original plan really was. All most of us know is what was publicly announced. That often, even for the US, is not what's really intended. Does suck in the unthinking quite often...

Neat thing about being old is that I've seen dozens if not hundreds of would be prognosticators and pundidiots state categorically what the US did or did not do -- and they've most always been proven wrong. I've also read about the decline and fall of the US so many times that now I just smile. As Humphrey Bogart said, "Here's laughing at you, Kid..."
Yes Ken I understand that no one wants to see their country humiliated internationally... but don't let that blind you from the truth.

The problem is that the cause of the humiliation was gross incompetence. So don't go after the messenger... go after the idiots who thought China (which does not have an aircraft carrier yet) is going to allow the US sail one of theirs right into the Yellow Sea and thumb its nose at China.

I am (for what it is worth) a stalwart supporter of the US, Israel and the UK but out here in the colonies the list of supporters is growing shorter by the day... through this sort of thing from the US and the blockade cock-up of the Israelis win you no friends out here.

In these cases it is not the US and Israeli policies that are so repugnant but the incompetence as mentioned.

While knee jerk reaction is often "we don't care what anyone thinks" it is obvious that the American people do care what the world thinks of them. The answer is quite simple don't make it so hard for people to be a friend of the US.