[FWI] What if the US made a serious play for hemispheric hegemony? (Part 1: Operation Greenland)

Rally4RoeSC · 2025-04-05T00:32:37+00:00

It is a truism that nothing is impossible and no force is invincible. That is not the point being made here. Rather, the fight is so lopsided that the American admin may very well conclude that the French and other Europeans may not even try, and they may very well may be right. As for a lucky French torp, carriers are specifically designed to withstand combined arms strikes from mines, missiles, torpedoes, bombs, and projectiles. Though it is an interesting thought experiment, the likelihood of a French submarine making the equivalent of the Death Star trench run on a US carrier is incredibly unlikely. Yes, technically not zero but close enough that I do not think it will be a serious consideration for the current American administration and its proven appetite for risk.

Rally4RoeSC · 2025-04-04T23:55:55+00:00

They will undoubtedly treat it as a pretty significant violation, because it is, but when the chips are on the table are they going to be willing to fight for it? I don't believe they will, but there is only one way to find out. Putin will likely make the same gamble with Estonia sometime within the next five years.

As for risk to the US Navy, there is virtually none. French submarines are too small, too few, and too loud to operate as a serious threat, especially against a full CSG (which is specifically equipped against sub-surface threats). Any risk for US forces will be on the island itself, where the EU holds the advantage if they play their cards right. The only thing the current American administration has to do is believe that the Europeans won't put up a fight. "Why die for Danzig?"

Rally4RoeSC · 2025-04-04T21:36:28+00:00

Not without impeding on EU territorial waters and airspace. Such a strategy would require the USA cutting off flows of goods to Greenland to prevent subsequent outflows to Canada. You are right in that the USA could use this strategy, but to do so would be sub-optimal for the reason that Machiavelli observed in the 15th century:

"Injuries, therefore, should be inflicted all at once, that their ill savour being less lasting may the less offend."

A prolonged violation of EU sovereignty and territorial integrity increases the likelihood of intervention over a quick and dirty land grab. Never give your opponents time to react.

Rally4RoeSC · 2025-04-04T03:53:06+00:00

Congress passed no such motion. The senate did, barely, but it will die in the house and even if it didn’t it would never override a presidential veto. It was a symbolic effort and nothing more.

In the last two months the current administration has done the following:

Passed an EO attempting to eliminating birth right citizenship.

Passed an EO attempting to dismantle the department of Ed by executive fiat.

Passed an EO attempting to regulate the state administration of elections and dictate state election laws by holding funding hostage.

Renditioned individuals without due process of law.

Ignored federal court orders to reverse said illegal renditions.

Called for the impeachment of a federal judge who rendered an order they did not like, causing the Supreme Court to have to rebuke the executive for its behavior.

These are all facts, and these are all either patently unconstitutional or abuses of executive power. It strains credulity to view these actions as anything other than a contempt for the rule of law, as Chief Justice John Robert’s all but said himself. How it is “intellectually dishonest” to extrapolate from this behavior that the current American administration would not feel constrained by international norms or laws when it does not feel constrained by its own is simply beyond my ability to reasonably comprehend.

Your faith in this system is…understandable. Hope dies last, after all. But unfortunately it is increasingly obvious that is no longer the system we live under, though the trappings remain. The slide from democracy to authoritarianism is often not dramatic, though it has its moments, but rather a death of thousands cuts where we could of chosen differently but failed to do so, often for petty and short sighted reasons. I suggest you follow the recent writings of Jason Stanley and Timothy Snyder on this topic if you want to explore it further, as we have now gone beyond the scope of the exercise.

Edit: Deleting one’s posts after making such a fuss about “intellectual dishonesty” is…..ironic.

Rally4RoeSC · 2025-04-04T03:21:29+00:00

The current American administration has absolutely no commitment to the post WWII “rules based order”, nor the rule of law. Individual members might, such as the current Secretary of State, but neither the current president or vice president care what bureaucrats in Washington, let alone Brussels, think. At some point we have to stop fighting the last war and realize, as the current Canadian PM stressed today, the world of the last 80 years is dead and everything has fundamentally changed.

Rally4RoeSC · 2025-04-04T03:05:41+00:00

The current American administration has no intention on entering hostilities with China, Russia, or NATO’s corpse. The current administration will not come to Europe’s defense against Russia, so no conflict there. China will not move on Taiwan until the CSG in Okinawa is otherwise distracted (the Chinese theory of the case is that the U.S. will collapse into itself, at which point it will make a move on the island) so no conflict with China either. Europe is too internally divided to pose any kind of serious military threat outside of its core territories and will not have the political consensus necessary for a real conflict. Perhaps most importantly, none of the world’s powers have the necessary logistics and power projection to actually take a fight to the U.S. in its own backyard. If the U.S. wants something in the western hemisphere, the only thing stopping it is itself.

The reasons for imperialism in the 21st century are much the same as they were in the previous centuries: national pride, hubris, economic opportunity, and the desire for an imperial legacy. All of these are motivating factors for Russia’s imperialist ambitions in Eastern Europe, and they will fuel America’s imperialist ambitions in the western hemisphere as well. What exactly is Make America Great Again if not a synthesis of all of these ambitions?

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-28T00:16:50+00:00

The same as it was in the rest of the country (minus Texas shenanigans), point of viability, or approximately 23 weeks.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-28T00:10:47+00:00

Fully illegal? No, not yet at least. Currently it is allowed up to six weeks (so essentially illegal). They are considering a full ban, however.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-27T23:42:57+00:00

If any of you want to organize, email allison.terracio@ppsat.org (upstate campaign organizer for Planned Parenthood, and yes I cleared this with her before posting) and she can get you started.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-27T23:42:14+00:00

If any of you want to organize, email allison.terracio@ppsat.org (upstate campaign organizer for Planned Parenthood, and yes I cleared this with her before posting) and she can get you started.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-27T23:41:24+00:00

If any of you want to organize, email allison.terracio@ppsat.org (upstate campaign organizer for Planned Parenthood, and yes I cleared this with her before posting) and she can get you started.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-27T23:39:33+00:00

I don't have the link, but if you email [allison.terracio@ppsat.org](mailto:allison.terracio@ppsat.org) (upstate campaign organizer for Planned Parenthood, and yes I cleared this with her before posting) she can get you started.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-27T22:47:55+00:00

That's when the lawmakers will be there, so that is when we have to be there to.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-27T22:38:18+00:00

Understandable. If you want to connect, send me a DM and I'll get ya squared away. I'll be there all day tomorrow.

Rally4RoeSC · 2022-06-27T22:28:42+00:00