Name a nation greater than the US and why

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

Defense against what?

Apparently, according to @carlv_52 in post #54, it is the Russians.

 

[RDKirk]

Sorry. I had to stop at "countries like France and Switzerland, that aren't a part of NATO". I guess Mrs. Hélène Duchene, the French Ambassador to NATO, didn't get the memo.

France is not part of the military function of NATO, and hasn't been since the 60s. They just sit at the table and go, "Non!"

 

[RDKirk]

The United States and Russia are natural allies. Remember it was Russian intervention that tipped the scales toward the defeat of ISIS in Syria.

Actually, that was Iranian intervention. The Russians gave the Iranians air support. And if you recall, the US and the Russians almost came to blows a couple of time over control of airspace.

 

[HowRU?]

What is "greatest"? The greatest place to live? Nope. Not the U.S.. Whole list of countries ahead of them.

Which country do you live in now, usexpat97, if I might ask?

 

[SimplyMe]

Sorry. I had to stop at "countries like France and Switzerland, that aren't a part of NATO". I guess Mrs. Hélène Duchene, the French Ambassador to NATO, didn't get the memo.

As was mentioned, France removed their military from the integrated structure of NATO in 1966. While they never left NATO, they did keep their military separate and the US has had no troops stationed in France as they did prior to that time. In 2009, they agreed to rejoin the Integrated structure; except for the Nuclear component, where France still remains separate. France is 5th in military spending for 2018, behind the US, China, Saudi Arabia, and India.

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

France is not part of the military function of NATO, and hasn't been since the 60s. They just sit at the table and go, "Non!"

As was mentioned, France removed their military from the integrated structure of NATO in 1966. While they never left NATO, they did keep their military separate and the US has had no troops stationed in France as they did prior to that time. In 2009, they agreed to rejoin the Integrated structure; except for the Nuclear component, where France still remains separate. France is 5th in military spending for 2018, behind the US, China, Saudi Arabia, and India.

That is not the point. France is still a part of NATO. Thus, the statement:

Additionally, countries like France and Switzerland, that aren't a part of NATO

is false. I think that it is safe to say that without the United States carrying the brunt of the defense load for NATO, NATO wouldn't last very long before it collapsed.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Actually, that was Iranian intervention. The Russians gave the Iranians air support. And if you recall, the US and the Russians almost came to blows a couple of time over control of airspace.

Russian planes had business being there; Russia had permission to intervene from Syria's legitimate government. The US didn't. Furthermore, Russian air support was actually significant militarily - it was crucial in the liberation of Aleppo. Most US sorties didn't even drop their payloads.

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

Lets be real here. If not for the United States:
1. Russia would invade Eastern Europe.
2. China would invade Taiwan.
3. North Korea would invade South Korea.
4. The middle east would be one giant proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
5. Pakistan and India would be bombing each other back into the stone age.

And while all this things are unfolding, the EU and NATO would be sitting on their butts arguing about who is going to what to resolve the issues.

 

[RDKirk]

Russian planes had business being there; Russia had permission to intervene from Syria's legitimate government. The US didn't. Furthermore, Russian air support was actually significant militarily - it was crucial in the liberation of Aleppo. Most US sorties didn't even drop their payloads.

I'm not sure of what point you're thinking that you're making.

But I'll make this one: Wars aren't won by air forces. Wars are won by taking the ground and holding it. You haven't won the war until you can stand a 19-year-old with a rifle on their ground unopposed.

 

[RDKirk]

Lets be real here. If not for the United States:
1. Russia would invade Eastern Europe.
2. China would invade Taiwan.
3. North Korea would invade South Korea.
4. The middle east would be one giant proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
5. Pakistan and India would be bombing each other back into the stone age.

And while all this things are unfolding, the EU and NATO would be sitting on their butts arguing about who is going to what to resolve the issues.

And it's in the best interest of the US and American capitalism for none of that to happen.

The US is not operating altruistically.

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

And it's in the best interest of the US and American capitalism for none of that to happen.

The US is not operating altruistically.

Obviously not. But the motives of the United States is not what's important here. The point is that America is practically the only thing keeping the world from falling into complete chaos. If left to EU or NATO, there would be no hope of stability. We saw how useless the EU was in Kosovo and Serbia.

 

[usexpat97]

As I said, there is a list of nicer places to live, but I will give one that is greater, whichever way you slice it other than military might--and I don't think being better at organized violence earns anyone the title of "greater":

Norway.
- Nicer place to live. Prettier.
- Their kids aren't allowed to compete until age 11. They are tasked with just learning, having a good time, and being kids.
- Said kids speak fluent English and Norwegian, while American grownups speak only one language. While many Americans are bilingual, many Norwegians can speak 5 languages.
- They host the Nobel Peace prize, while the U.S. is busy fighting nonstop wars in the Middle East.
- Two memorable mass killings in Norway since 2011, and one was a stabbing. In the U.S., they are mass shootings, and they are not so memorable simply because there are so many of them.
- the women are gorgeous
- Norway is making money hand-over-fist in North Atlantic oil.
- Norway doesn't have the dark history of slavery and genocide of aborigines unless you go back more than 800 years. Norway did participate in transatlantic slave trade, but it was just that--transatlantic. Not to Norway.
- Norway took in 21,000 Syrian refugees, while a much larger U.S. only took in 3,000, and are busy building a wall to keep Central American refugees out.

 

[Allandavid]

View attachment 259171

Yes, it would be a joke...if it wasn’t so serious...

If you think that kind of thing makes your country ‘great’...then kindly stay on your side of the Pacific...

 

[Goonie]

Greatest bunch of Hypocrites? USA!, USA!, USA!

 

[iluvatar5150]

Lets be real here. If not for the United States:
1. Russia would invade Eastern Europe.
2. China would invade Taiwan.
3. North Korea would invade South Korea.
4. The middle east would be one giant proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
5. Pakistan and India would be bombing each other back into the stone age.

And while all this things are unfolding, the EU and NATO would be sitting on their butts arguing about who is going to what to resolve the issues.

Re: #4

As opposed to the peaceful wonderland it is now?

 

[Pepper77]

That's not true at all. I don't think some idiot college kid or whatever like in the last panel can really be compared to the organized and state-sponsored war machines of the Axis. I don't recall Tojo or Rommel or whoever ever having to resort to beating people up with bike locks or sucker-punching their opponents. The Axis powers represented a real threat that needed to be confronted militarily, as they were making alarming territorial gains across Europe and Asia. They were in no way comparable to a bunch of rioting idiots, be they rioting idiots in Portland or rioting idiots in Charlottesville.

If real, honest-to-God fascists or nazis ever end up taking over the United States, I don't think it's going to be because the 'wrong party' is in power (at least not in the sense that you often hear that talked about, where everything went to hell because party X did/n't get in, or we hate such and such candidate), but instead because we sat around calling each other fascists and nazis so often that the people in charge of the political landscape of the country were pushed into more and more extreme positions in response to the perceived demands of their constituents to do something about all the horrible and dangerous authoritarians in the other party.

After all, what's the first thing that Hitler and Co. did, psychologically, to the bulk of the Germans that laid the groundwork for the 'final solution'? He made dehumanizing Jews into the default approach that the society should take to its myriad of problems in the post-WWI context. Everything bad became somehow the fault of the Jews, and everything good would come with their elimination. If we're honest, we've probably heard something very similar come out of our friends' mouths or maybe even our own mouths (or maybe only in our brains) about "the other side", because they/we hate _____ so much. It doesn't bode well for the future of our society.

On the mark points on dehumanizing and demonizing the other side!

 

[Danthemailman]

We're the greatest at locking up our own people: we have the highest incarceration rate in the world.

It's hard to soar like an eagle as a nation when you're dealing with turkeys.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

I'm truly amazed no one has said Israel yet. Really.... Not that I think it's the greatest, I'm just honestly surprised a site full of Christians and conservatives hasn't yet mentioned God's favorite country.

To answer the OP, I don't think there is a such thing as "the greatest country." They all have their good and bad points. If I had to pick one though, I'd say the US is the best just because that's my country. I'm sure if I lived somewhere else, I'd feel that was the best country on Earth.

 

[dzheremi]

Not every Christian is an Evangelical Protestant dispensationalist, GoldenBoy89. I hate Israel, and Coptic Orthodox people are not even allowed to visit it anyway.

 

[Bobber]

I'm not an American but l do love Americans. I do wonder though about the country. It seems more like an Empire to me with different blocks things might be better with them all if they were all different countries. It seems you have the liberal regions with so much at odds with the more conservatives. Sad to see such polarization. Wishing America all the best.

I think to engage in which nation is the best actually is a pretty divisive theme. Opens the door to people on all sides to become condescending towards other people's nations that the other is proud of. I think as Christians we need to really have a focus on advancing the spiritual kingdom of Christ and we stand with brothers/sisters in Christ everywhere to achieve that end.