Well, yes and no — Mr Trump opposes intervention in North Africa and the Middle East purely for the sake of regime change (good), but also supports seizing other countries’ oil fields (bad), and won’t rule out using nuclear weapons when convenient (unthinkable).
He also has a tendency to walk back those “extreme” statements. Sometimes it’s his minders that get him to do it. Sometimes he walks them back himself in the following sentence. Pretty much everyone has learned that Trump uses words for purposes other than communicating.
The problem is that if we discount what he says, then we actually don’t know what his foreign policy is/will be, so we can’t fairly say if it’s less or even more hawkish than that of Ms Clinton (I suspect he doesn’t know, either).
That’s a fact. We have no idea. Clinton is a known quantity and it’s very likely that a Trump administration will be filled with the very worst opportunists and lobbyists and that Trump is too lazy to familiarise himself with the details and too prone to reading sensationalist media to learn the things he does actually know. On that basis he will probably be a greater threat to world peace than Clinton but there are several things about her own record which should make us all feel uneasy.
I think someone did a list on all the things Bill Kristol has been plain wrong on. It was a substantial list. He’s a nutter that should not be listened to.
Tom Higgins asked «How long has the US been at War now?»
Great question! If I were I history prof, I’d base a seminar on that, because it would uncover competing definitions of “at War” and the invisible socio-political assumptions behind them.
If occupation troops on foreign soil post-conflict counts as part of “at War,” then the answer is 75 years (since Pearl Harbor), because the US troops occupying Okinawa still haven’t left. You can stretch that to 118 years (since the Spanish American War) if you count the US navy occupation of Guantanamo Bay in (formerly Spanish) Cuba.
If you limit “at War” to officially sanctioned use of lethal force abroad, then I think the answer would be 26 years (since the start of the Kuwait War and the no-fly zone that followed).
If you limit yourself to what the US officially calls a “War,” then they’re not at war right now, though US troops stationed in conflict zones, their families back in the US, and the victims of US airstrikes and drone attacks might all beg to differ.
And all that assumes that “War on Drugs” isn’t just a euphemism.
Ah, you mean because Korea is still officially a ceasefire, prof? But then, there was no formal Declaration of War for Korea (or Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq), so it depends again, on competing definitions:
I think the post-WWII examples all fall more properly into my “sanctioned us of lethal force” definition of war, rather than my “official” definition. Americans aren’t currently authorised to use lethal force in Korea (unless attacked), but the troops are there on the soil.
[Janus] also has a temple at Rome with double doors, which they call the gates of war; for the temple always stands open in time of war, but is closed when peace has come. The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. But in the time of Augustus it was closed, after he had overthrown Mark Antony; and before that, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls, it was closed a short time; then war broke out again at once, and it was opened.
Tom Higgins I give up. With whom is the US formally at war (vs de-facto, without a formal declaration)? There have 11 formal war declarations since the US was founded:
1. War of 1812 against Great Britain (ended with the Treaty of Ghent).
2. Mexican-American War against Mexico (ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo)
3. Spanish-American War against Spain (ended with the 1898 Treaty of Paris).
4. WWI declaration against Germany (ended with the Treaty of Berlin).
5. WWI declaration against Austria-Hungary (ended with the US-Austrian Peace Treaty and the Hungarian Peace Treaty after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
6. WWII declaration against Japan (ended with the Japanese Instrument of Surrender and the Treaty of San Francisco).
7. WWII declaration against Germany (ended with the German Instrument of Surrender, the 1955 Treaty of Vienna, and the 1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany).
8. WWII declaration against Italy (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
9. WWII declaration against Bulgaria (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
10. WWII declaration against Hungary (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
11.. WWII declaration against Romania (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
Until 1990, it was a fun trivia question/answer that the US and Germany were still technically not at peace, but that was resolved at German reunification with the Treaty on the Final Settlement. So what’s still missing?
Never Stop Posting 
Well, yes and no — Mr Trump opposes intervention in North Africa and the Middle East purely for the sake of regime change (good), but also supports seizing other countries’ oil fields (bad), and won’t rule out using nuclear weapons when convenient (unthinkable).
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He also has a tendency to walk back those “extreme” statements. Sometimes it’s his minders that get him to do it. Sometimes he walks them back himself in the following sentence. Pretty much everyone has learned that Trump uses words for purposes other than communicating.
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The problem is that if we discount what he says, then we actually don’t know what his foreign policy is/will be, so we can’t fairly say if it’s less or even more hawkish than that of Ms Clinton (I suspect he doesn’t know, either).
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That’s a fact. We have no idea. Clinton is a known quantity and it’s very likely that a Trump administration will be filled with the very worst opportunists and lobbyists and that Trump is too lazy to familiarise himself with the details and too prone to reading sensationalist media to learn the things he does actually know. On that basis he will probably be a greater threat to world peace than Clinton but there are several things about her own record which should make us all feel uneasy.
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How long has the US been at War now? I’ll wait while you count.
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I think someone did a list on all the things Bill Kristol has been plain wrong on. It was a substantial list. He’s a nutter that should not be listened to.
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Tom Higgins asked «How long has the US been at War now?»
Great question! If I were I history prof, I’d base a seminar on that, because it would uncover competing definitions of “at War” and the invisible socio-political assumptions behind them.
If occupation troops on foreign soil post-conflict counts as part of “at War,” then the answer is 75 years (since Pearl Harbor), because the US troops occupying Okinawa still haven’t left. You can stretch that to 118 years (since the Spanish American War) if you count the US navy occupation of Guantanamo Bay in (formerly Spanish) Cuba.
If you limit “at War” to officially sanctioned use of lethal force abroad, then I think the answer would be 26 years (since the start of the Kuwait War and the no-fly zone that followed).
If you limit yourself to what the US officially calls a “War,” then they’re not at war right now, though US troops stationed in conflict zones, their families back in the US, and the victims of US airstrikes and drone attacks might all beg to differ.
And all that assumes that “War on Drugs” isn’t just a euphemism.
How’s that, prof? B+? A-? 🙂
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Fail. We are at war, officially. Start with the easy sources then check the primary sources.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States
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Ah, you mean because Korea is still officially a ceasefire, prof? But then, there was no formal Declaration of War for Korea (or Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq), so it depends again, on competing definitions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States#Formal
I think the post-WWII examples all fall more properly into my “sanctioned us of lethal force” definition of war, rather than my “official” definition. Americans aren’t currently authorised to use lethal force in Korea (unless attacked), but the troops are there on the soil.
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[Janus] also has a temple at Rome with double doors, which they call the gates of war; for the temple always stands open in time of war, but is closed when peace has come. The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. But in the time of Augustus it was closed, after he had overthrown Mark Antony; and before that, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls, it was closed a short time; then war broke out again at once, and it was opened.
—Plutarch
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David Megginson try again. I’ll grade on a curve.
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Tom Higgins I give up. With whom is the US formally at war (vs de-facto, without a formal declaration)? There have 11 formal war declarations since the US was founded:
1. War of 1812 against Great Britain (ended with the Treaty of Ghent).
2. Mexican-American War against Mexico (ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo)
3. Spanish-American War against Spain (ended with the 1898 Treaty of Paris).
4. WWI declaration against Germany (ended with the Treaty of Berlin).
5. WWI declaration against Austria-Hungary (ended with the US-Austrian Peace Treaty and the Hungarian Peace Treaty after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
6. WWII declaration against Japan (ended with the Japanese Instrument of Surrender and the Treaty of San Francisco).
7. WWII declaration against Germany (ended with the German Instrument of Surrender, the 1955 Treaty of Vienna, and the 1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany).
8. WWII declaration against Italy (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
9. WWII declaration against Bulgaria (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
10. WWII declaration against Hungary (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
11.. WWII declaration against Romania (ended with the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty).
Until 1990, it was a fun trivia question/answer that the US and Germany were still technically not at peace, but that was resolved at German reunification with the Treaty on the Final Settlement. So what’s still missing?
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If you file a class withdrawal with the front office you should be able to reapply for another course.
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And less comically, if your done replacing words I posted with words you want maybe we can reach something of an honest post. Until then, see above
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Tom Higgins wrote «Fail. We are at war, officially. Start with the easy sources then check the primary sources.»
I give up. You win. So please share the answer: with whom is the US currently “at war, officially”?
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