Today the U.S. ceased to be the world's sole superpower....

[Aviation Pro]

...if we were a superpower would Russia have been so bold to invade Ossentia or would we tolerate the militarization of the Olympics?

I think not.

Thanks Preznit Fuckstick. Do us all a favor and pick up your check and move to Dubai so you can be with your kind.

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Um, that's been the case for a good while...

China, India, Brazil...

Americans are so f'n myopic. Seriously. It didn't just happen today. It's been going on for years.

[Aviation Pro]

8. I just returned from India....

...trust me, it's not a superpower.

China has a big army, but the ability to use it is confined to repressing their own.

Brazil will be an economic giant, but check out the favelas.

[Codeine]

2. The Olympics have been militarized forever.

Cheap, gaudy, fascist bullshit. I am boggled by the way DUers are fawning over this nonsense. I guess there's a little Berlin '36 down inside all of us.

[Aviation Pro]

4. Athens, Sydney, Atlanta and Barcelona.....

...were anything but militarized. The whole opening ceremony today looked like it had been staged by Lillenthal with the requisite raising of the Olympic flag by a goose-stepping honor guard.

[Aviation Pro]

16. Riefenstahl....

...I stand corrected.

[On the Road]

7. Militarized?

There were a few soldiers putting up an Olympic flag.

[Aviation Pro]

10. And when was the last time that happened....

...and that was the only visual.

[Codeine]

12. By "militarized" I mean

the machine-like choreography and the Riefenstahl-style visuals. Not a great choice of words, I'll admit. It's all quite dreadfully fascistic, however.

[On the Road]

28. OK, I Understand Your Drift

Thank you for explaining. I didn't perceive the ceremonies that way.

The Chinese are big on pageantry and group performances, and this is very much in that tradition. There were no marches or flyovers. Instead, they created this flowing naturalistic landscape and a storyline covering history, environmentalism, space travel, and human diversity. It is very Chinese.

The Chinese are very proud of their country right and patriotism is very high. Those feelings are not being artificially imposed from above. Once in awhile you'll find something nationalistic and jarring, but I didn't see any of that last night. They seem to have vetted the performance very well.

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. Waiiiiiiiit a second here...hang on.

Suddenly saber-rattling is a good and desirable thing?

There are many HERE ON DU who think that Georgia "has it coming to them."

And the IOC controls the Olympics, not the United States.

I thought we were specifically NOT the policeman of the world, and that being a superpower was a point of shame, not a deficiency to mock?

Which site is this again?

[Aviation Pro]

5. Being a superpower entails more than a big military....

...it is having that big stick and the brains not to use it and instead be forceful through other means.

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. Please point me to a country that has ever succeeded at forcing Russia to do anything

through ANY means.

And I am not comfortable with the US swinging any sort of stick as it relates to the Olympics. We are a participant, not the sponsor.

[Aviation Pro]

15. Check out the commercials....

...sure we, or rather our rapacious corporations, are not a sponsor?

[Dreamer Tatum]

18. Those companies paid NBC

Nevermind. You're right - we should have sent a few dozen tanks and a squadron of Stealth fighters to keep those Chinese from militarizing the Olympics.

[Aviation Pro]

29. No....

...we should have said, "have fun in your little rigged event," and boycotted the Olympics. Now I recognize that Fuckstick needs to kow-tow to his Chinese bankers, which is why the first thing that President Obama should do is soak the fucking rich corporations and pay off the debt.

Then and only then will we get some leverage back.

[AngryAmish]

22. Ever hear of the Tartar yoke?

(on edit: my first one was pretty funny)

[tama]

20. Well in fact

Georgian troops invaded South-Ossetia in surprise attack, apparently miscalculating that Russia would not respond or at least respond quickly enough because of Olympics starting and Putin in Beijing.

[Mind_your_head]

6. oh bullsh*t......'TODAY' had nothing to do with it

it's been in a decline for at least the last three decades (likely more).

Congratulations on being "woken up" after all these years/decades! :toast:

Must I dutifully add:

:sarcasm:

[MrModerate]

9. Well, wait a minute . . .

Admittedly Bush and Co. (including Condi "Minute" Rice) are woefully inept. But no American administration would have jumped into the Russia-Georgia mess from a near standing start. And no Russian (or Soviet) leader would have had to fear American involvement before a whole bunch of talk-talk at the UN, which is really only just now starting up seriously.

Militarization of the Olympics? You mean the security forces spread everywhere to prevent terrorists or the goosestepping soldiers in the opening ceremonies? Re: that, I point you to 1936, Berlin. We weren't "sole superpower" then, but still had to be taken note of.

China is certainly feeling its oats -- as well they might, given how far they've come in 20 years. But much of that has been made possible by how far they had to come. It's hard for us to imagine how totally fucked their government has been (and not just the last 60 years, but throughout much of their 5,000 year history).

And Putin is a real hardcase with an agenda to retake the territory of the former USSR. If he'd been in Gorbachev's shoes, World War III -- the real one, with nukes all around -- would have happened during Reagan's reign.

[Aviation Pro]

14. Regarding Putin....

...prior to Gorbachev, the USSR had a leader who was worse than Putin. Yuri Andropov, former head of the KGB, and Reagan put the world at the brink and it was only the fortuitous circumstance of Andropov's death that pulled us back.

As far as terrorism in China, I don't buy it, their so-called soft underbelly isn't that soft and they crack down on dissidents and call it controlling terrorism.

[1]

17. so russia dropped a couple of bombs on olestraville and china held olympics today...

and that diminishes the united states how?

[MrModerate]

19. Andropov was more of a standard KGB . . .

cave-dwelling psychopath than Putin, for sure. But, he was already very ill when elevated to the head of the Politburo (and whatever other offices that went with it, I don't remember off the top of my head) and really didn't do very much. And yes, Gorbachev came in at a very auspicious time.

But Putin is young, energetic, steely, and has a plan. Scares me shitless.

[eshfemme]

21. Oh please, they could have been on top of the Russia-Georgia thing from the get-go.

Even *I* knew of this well beforehand so when news broke out that they had fought, I just though, "Oh, so they've finally come to this stage." Things have been threatening to escalate between Russia and Georgia for a loooong time. Their border dispute was nothing new. It's only that the MSM is so incompetent at reporting stuff that isn't just manufactured drama that normal people seem to be taken by surprise.

If Bushco were really competent in their sudden need to go the diplomatic route, they should have already been in talks with BOTH sides before they felt the need to go to war. But they didn't so now any bandaiding of the situation is completely useless.

I have to say though that I've always saw US' decline as a superpower as a problem because we are right now the only DEMOCRATIC superpower. Russia and China are still far from the democracy threshold and that worries me. I would feel better if the EU were a superpower but so far they're so fucking slow that the only thing that threatens the US is the Euro but not the combined diplomatic measures that the EU has. It does look like the Olympics will spur the EU into getting their shit together though.

I must say that I think that the news of war breaking out in Russia and Georgia (if it even gets widespread reports in the news to reach the average person) will probably lead to a lesser sense of security and probably lead to a sense of needing change. So this might actually end up helping Obama's message. I don't know.

[MrModerate]

23. "If Bushco were really competent ". . .

Well, that's problem number one.

But even with capable people in State and the White House, I don't think the US would have done very much until things got to this point. This is alternative history talking, of course, because just about any other president would have had a much less whimsical view of Putin and what he's been up to since before he assumed power. Nevertheless, historically we don't get involved early in such conflicts, especially when our national interest is ambiguous.

That whole region is a hotbed of separatism, and not the sort of situation that American traditionally wants to get dragged into -- it's not something we're good at. That lack of comfort was one reason there was such a hue and cry when Clinton (who is no dummy and had an at-least reasonably capable State Department to turn to) proposed intervening the the former Yugoslavia.

Sure president Gore or President Kerry would have handled it better, and probably been usefully engaged before it got to this point. But "on top of the Russia-Georgia thing?" I don't think so.

[eshfemme]

24. True that we didn't have a vested interest in actively negotiating with them

But I do believe that at least a more competent administration would have maintained far more friendly ties with both sides, which might have helped to ease tensions so that war wouldn't break out. When it's just a game of oneupsmanship between 2 opponents with no one even talking to both sides, it was gonna be a problem. I guess my outlook on this whole thing is a bit dated despite my young age because I'd like to be able to see a US that's capable of something like Teddy Roosevelt's role in negotiating the treaty for the end of the Russo-Japanese war.

I guess that's what I mean "on top of" things-- as in, maybe if they'd been competent, they wouldn't be completely ignoring whatever the US officially has to say. Part of it I think has to do with the tension I've been hearing about between Putin and Bush too, which was again another example of badly mishandling the situation for the Bush admin.

Then again, your point is valid that internal tensions like this where the sovereignty of the nation is in question is never America's strong suit. Just look at the increasingly tense situation with China, Taiwan and the US. That's just going to blow up in our faces sooner or later.

[1]

11. wow...

just wow...

[baby_mouse]

25. Yeah, that's GOOD.

Maybe the one good thing he's done.

[Gabi Hayes]

26. Bush is too busy looking for ASS

[Obamanaut]

27. And on page one of GD, 22 threads re infidelity. Good grief! nt