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We should secretly sell arms to Iran to counter China and Russian influence, and use the money to fund the Contras who can first take over Nicaragua before moving on to the adjacent countries.
This debate already took place in the US Congress (& the press) after the Mexican American War. We invaded Mexico & occupied Mexico City. But we didn't want the influx of Roman Catholics, Native Peoples & their languages & cultures, nor the code that their courts ran under, they didn't allow slavery, we didn't want a huge influx of Spanish speakers.
We didn't want the Black populations in Mexico & Puerto Rico, possibly in Cuba. & so we didn't annex Mexico, for the same reasons we let go of Cuba, we eventually let go of the Philippines, & we will likely never take Puerto Rico as a state - all these last three from the Spanish American War. (The same debates took place in Congress after the Spanish American War, too.)
We have been down this road before and decided against it. The Dominican Republic was seeking annexation by the US in 1870. This was a scheme to protect DR from invasion and conquest by Haiti or a European nation. A treaty referendum was held in DR and passed with 99% of the vote. The treaty would have made DR a territory but not a state. President Grant favored the treaty. The US navy wanted to gain a naval base there. There were business interests that favored the deal. There was whispered support for DR to be a potential haven for former slaves if they chose to relocate. The treaty was drawn up but was defeated in the senate. Haiti had already invaded and conquered DR in 1822 and abusively occupied it for 22 years and invaded again in 1849 (but repulsed) so the fear of a second conquest was real. In 1861, DR voluntarily became a Spanish colony for the second time but the Spanish withdrew (under unrelenting guerilla fighting) in July 1865, once the American Civil War ended (they were okay with violating the Monroe Doctrine while the US was preoccupied). Over the next fourteen years there were twenty-one governments and dozens of military uprisings and mutinies. Regional war lords were in de facto control of the county and fighting each other. This was the Dominican Republic that we would have annexed in 1870. It was worse than a basket case. Cooler heads prevailed.
The modern problem countries in Central America might be in marginally better shape but would still present tremendous challenges even if they accepted annexation willingly. If they opposed annexation we will have a new Afghanistan closer to home. Our track record has not been spotless in those countries. The better approach would be to make those countries economically and socially stable and desirable and safe for their own people. Costa Rica has managed relatively well and might be a model. It is in Mexico's interests to see this happen. There might be other Latin countries (Chile or Colombia?) that could offer help or technical advice. I would not even be opposed to partnering with Cuba for medical and health services. The US should not do this alone. This is a hemispheric problem.
I read today that upwards of 40 million people want to immigrate into the U.S.A. . And many would be from Mexico, Central America...
And the reasons are to escape persecution, lack of economic opportunities, corrupt governments, violence in various forms...
Since we seem to have inherited the problems, why not simply take the whole situation in hand and resolve it all once and for all? We should simply take over the problem countries.
We would then actually have possession of the areas, and be able to freely build industry, agriculture, etc. in those areas. And we would not be the imperialist yanquies... It would be our possessions.
Let's face it, their people are coming here to find work/money, and the people they are leaving behind are to a good part, sitting around waiting for them to send the money home to them.
They would be able to keep their families together.
And it would be better for the environment in general...Too many people are accumulating in the more northern part of the planet...And crowding creates environmental problems.
Hey, the whole world is bitching that it is our moral responsibility...If that is the case, then let's take the responsibility.
1) The "problem countries" are problematic because of past US interventions, engineered coups, etc. US hegemony is the problem, not the solution.
2) We can't afford to take over failing states. Are you serious?! We can't even afford to run our own country, after all the tax cuts from Reagan through Bush II to the most recent failed presidency. How could we possibly annex countries that not only have political and economic turmoil (not to mention : clandestine death squads that operate with impunity, originally trained in the US), but also are suffering severe impacts of global climate change? Are you ok with paying higher taxes to fund unemployment and welfare benefits, Social Security and disability benefits, and other handouts, not to mention improvements to infrastructure, education, and other federal budget sinkholes, to our southern neighbors? Really??
Oh, and ... what about the little matter of sovereignty, self-determination, and all that good stuff? Do you really want to imitate Putin's approach to eastern Ukraine? Not a popular move internationally...
Do people ever think through some of the questions that pop into their heads, before they post? WTH?!
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 03-25-2021 at 10:11 AM..
We should secretly sell arms to Iran to counter China and Russian influence, and use the money to fund the Contras who can first take over Nicaragua before moving on to the adjacent countries.
Why are these people coming here? Climate change is one of the reasons. Corruption and violence another.
npr: "Trump Froze Aid To Guatemala. Now Programs Are Shutting Down."
Sounds awful right? But read the article. We have been sending hundreds of millions of dollars to the Northern Triangle over the past few decades to try and address the internal problems that persist and keep them coming.
So we are sending aid and it's not solving the problem, why are we wasting the money? We need to address why this is happening before we start throwing money away again.
So what's the problem? Per the article "There's no support from our government at all. Any aid or investment the government sends goes to the municipal government, and then everyone takes a piece and nothing gets to us." (The poorest of the poor people.)
Are we making the problem worse by freezing the money? No. The country is full of gangs and corruption, and until someone comes in power and eliminates the thugs, nothing will change.
How do you do that? Good question. Ever been on the Chi town's South and West Sides? Imagine that on a much larger scale in the Northern Triangle, and in government positions as well. Chicago hasn't fixed that problem for decades either.
We see what's happening here with whack job supporting Q and conspiracy theorist electives are doing to our politics and our country. Once that element takes hold, things change, and often not for the better.
What needs to be done in the Northern Triangle is to eliminate the corruption, and effectively give the money directly to those that need it most. The whole system has to be over hauled and the thugs need to be surgically removed. The gangs hold all of the power there, and that has to stop, or nothing will change. Corrupt officials need to be weeded out.
Until that changes, I don't see why we should send another dollar. We need to change our asylum laws here. Being beaten by your husband is not reason enough to seek asylum.
We have to stop enabling the thugs by sending aid that the vast majority is just going to waste.
We should learn our lesson from the billions we spent to rebuild Afghanistan that went to waste there as well. You can't just hand over money without extensive over sight.
You want to fix the Northern Triangle? We can't do it. It has to start from within.
What do we do with the millions that want out of there? Set up an International program and spread them around the world. If they're that desperate to leave, they will relocate any where. It doesn't have to be just here.
40 million isn't all that many, it's a lot cheaper to allow them in; as our immigration policies already are partially determined by future taxpayer base.
And Americans have stopped having children.
Forty million is waaaay too many. Where will they go? Our cities are already too crowded. Farm work is being mechanized. Our own citizens are unemployed and these illegal alien invaders underbid our lower-income employees for jobs. They arrive with few skills and education and are illiterate.
If you think parts of the West are wide open, you haven't been there. Arid lands are incapable of supporting people let alone industries. Much of the West is public lands, ranches, national parks, refuges, wilderness, and military/bombing ranges.
It might do our country and the planet some good by decreasing rather than decreasing our numbers. I have never understood why many leftists think that allowing millions of people into this country is good for the environment. You can't have a healthy sustaining planet when there are too many of us.
We would then actually have possession of the areas, and be able to freely build industry, agriculture, etc. in those areas. And we would not be the imperialist yanquies... It would be our possessions.
Perfect. Another endless war for the US to get involved in. That's exactly the solution we need.
Do people ever think through some of the questions that pop into their heads, before they post? WTH?!
I get your point, but I think he was just trying to start a debate....
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The more things change ...
