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Comment by illuminati1911 | Hacker News Reader

illuminati1911

You call the overwhelming majority of the world population unwashed savages whose opinion must be disregarded, and then sit there in disbelief that most people might dislike see your country (of which, sadly, that attitude is quite representative) as a threat.

It would be good parody if it weren't real.

This is wild. GP is correct. That poll is from 2013. In the 10 years since, which country has been "The Greatest Threat to World Peace?" It's Russia. Let's see how many got that right...

Only Poland.

History has actually shown how little popular opinion is accurate on this. Meanwhile, there's a swarm of sibling comments in opposition to GP? Do better HN.

The US and it's cronies have invaded more countries than Russia has since 2013. Not to excuse Russia, they'd be worse also if they could, but it's far from having been disproven - Libya is in a worse state right now than Ukraine thanks to the France, the UK, and the US (Libya in 2014, Syria continued after, then there was the sabre rattling in Iran, etc...). And of course Afghanistan, and the saga with Iraq where the US threatened military force if they were kicked out. And there's also the war in Yemen in which the US is a belligerent in all but name. And then there are also military actions in subsaharan Africa. Not to forget ongoing regime change initiatives. By all metrics the US has been more deleterious to peace than Russia in the past 10 years. Not out of inherent evil or any moral consideration of course, but mostly because of greater scope of action - which is of course an element in the magnitude of a threat.

Since 2013 US-backed wars have indeed led to more deaths and have broken the peace in more numerous countries with a higher population than Russia.

So no, you are incorrect in saying that they were wrong - they were definitely right. However, your media bias has led you to focus more on one event than on multiple others and from a different viewpoint.

> Since 2013 US-backed wars have indeed led to more deaths and have broken the peace in more numerous countries with a higher population than Russia.

Can you link to some sources here? I'm especially curious to see who initiated many of these conflicts. Because once in a while the US tries to back existing movements toward more democratic governance.

Don't take it personally. They do the same thing to locals who disagree with their opinions too.

> What people think is a threat and what is a threat are completely 2 different things.

Meaningless. A threat is by definition subjective and context dependent.

> First of all average people's opinions outside of western democracies are meaningless because those people don't have access to education or information to form any real opinions.

Get off your high horse. Most of the world have a terrible opinion of the US just for the arrogance you just showed. The US education system is in shambles, the divide between can and can't do is the one of the highest in its GDP class. Poverty is just a broken leg away.

> Second of all at least the first research is more or less a complete lie. In Finland people have throughout the history without a doubt kept Russia as the biggest threat.

Russia is seen as a big threat by the Fins. However, in the next conflict: who will supply the arms? Who will benefit the most? Who is likely to incite?

> 3rd, even if we assume that it isn't would be pretty fun to ask those same people the same question again. Finland, Sweden, Australia and Ukraine are begging for the help of US now that the curtains have opened and Russia and China have either started a war already or are threatening to start one.

Fun?

It's exactly 1 and 2 why the world largely considers the US such a threat.

Any disagreement is discounted as "you're just ignorant and don't have a real opinion" followed by "you need to trust The Experts, but only the ones that agree with us".

It has been a hoot to watch the US Democrats and all their useful idiots turn these arguments against the rest of the US over the last 6 years.

Probably ends as well as Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, etc.

It's both parties. They're both awful, condescending in their own "flavor", and don't give two shits about you and me.

China has also invaded Vietnam

Russia has also invaded Afghanistan

FYI

The difference is that we don't have Hollywood movies about those.

The real reasons why people hate America so much is not US military actions (though that has contributed in some cases), but American culture.

Nationalists worldwide absolutely hate it when young people in their countries drink Coke, eat at McDonalds, wear Levi's, consume US Music, Movies and video games, social media, etc. US culture has been displacing other cultures gradually for about 100 years.

If you are a westerner, consider the impact of Tik-Tok, and multiply it by 100x, then you may even empathize with them.

Yeah westerners have so much access to information. I mean look at all those informed opinions about WMDs in Iraq. The US begged countries like Finland, Sweden and Australia to join them in their middle east occupation.

Australia has assisted US in most all major conflicts they have been involved in since WW2. Being a small democratic nation, the US is our most powerful ally and we have invested in that relationship for close to a century. We didn't just come knocking on the door yesterday 'begging' for help.

Yeah. Look up death totals from external conflicts from the past two decades and you’ll see one country is an absolutely colossal threat.

“ First of all average people's opinions outside of western democracies are meaningless because those people don't have access to education or information to form any real opinions.”

This is insane. Your arrogance and total ignorance about the rest of the world is just crazy.

Threats depend on who the attacker is in relationship to the victim. The United States is quite a big threat to PRC and the persons who claim sole citizenship there.

> all average people's opinions outside of western democracies are meaningless because those people don't have access to education or information to form any real opinions.

Please do better. This is incredibly naive and insulting.

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