America is known by the eastern world as “big Satan” for a reason… our $$$ funds the atrocities of the world through our many bureaucrats, NGO’s and our government openly. We have pushed the transgender movement throughout the world as one example…COVID is another example, the blood of millions are on the hands of lady liberty thanks to progressive leftists and their pursuit of power, money and control! Certainly not “unwittingly”, it’s by design…CIA anyone!?!
I’m afraid this mess is not relegated to the “leftists.” The government, no matter who reigns willing let themselves be bought by lobbyists. Pharma, NRA, corporations. The war in Iraq was about the oil not WMD’s. The Vietnam war, the Korean War etc. What a colossal waste of young men’s lives and for what.
Vivian - exactly. Note how many commenters, no matter what the subject, instantly jump into ‘democrats vs. republicans’ arguments. They are, of course, missing the big picture.
It isn't just Progressive Leftists. Fascism is the intersection of governments and corporations. Capital drives decisions. Capital drove the COVID crimes. Most likely Kennedy was killed by Johnson's avarice at the behest of big businesses who felt betrayed by Kennedy whom they got elected and then he screwed them.
Right. The republican Democrat left right paradigm of the so called two party system is mostly illusory and only camouflage for a strongly entrenched and weaponized uniparty controlled by an internationalist/globalist/ techno fascist cabal or world council independent of any national boundaries laws formalities or allegiances. They don't recognize sovereignty as supreme to. collectivism. These are the lines basically and the illusion of the two separate and opposing factions are only a myth for the people to bog themselves down in and divide themselves up arbitrarily and artificially and thereby reduced greatly in our true strength and ability to weild formative power over our usurpers.
I had read awhile ago that often the real reason various leader’s have been “taken care of” was because they were pushing back against the US control of the monetary system and the control of the world bank. Often these leaders were in the process of freeing their country from that monetary control. I think I had read Sadam was doing this.
(Makes you wonder who is really running the world.)
Anyone more in-the-know have any thoughts on this?
Yes, I've been thinking the same thing for years now. How much death, destruction and chaos do "we" create when we meddle in other countries affairs? I started thinking this when Benghazi happened, and the feeling that "We ARE the baddies" has grown continually. Then as we witness and hear all the fake hate and outrage, I have to think that the dirty deeds perpetrated on other countries has finally come home to roost.
But are we the Big Satan? Or are we the hapless chap who became enchanted with the occult and ended up possessed by demons? Are we little Rosemary's Babies that have jumped out of the crib?
In Vietnam: "We have to destroy the village in order to save it." Only now, the war has come home, and we're the village.
Some history from Mr. X (Donald Sutherland) in the film JFK: "I was a soldier, Mr. Garrison. Two wars. I was one of those secret guys in the Pentagon that supplies the military hardware - the planes, bullets, rifles - for what we call "black operations" - "black ops", assassinations, coup d'etats, rigging elections, propaganda, psych warfare and so forth. World War II - Rumania, Greece, Yugoslavia, I helped take the Nazi intelligence apparatus out to help us fight the Communists. Italy '48 stealing elections, France '49 breaking strikes - we overthrew Quirino in the Philippines, Arbenz in Guatemala, Mossadegh in Iran. Vietnam in '54, Indonesia '58, Tibet '59 we got the Dalai Lama out - we were good, very good. Then we got into the Cuban thing. Not so good. Set up all the bases for the invasion supposed to take place in October '62. Khrushchev sent the missiles to resist the invasion, Kennedy refused to invade and we were standing out there with our dicks in the wind. Lot of pissed-off people, Mr. Garrison, you understand?"
After 20 years in Afghanistan, we abandoned our allies there, and gave their enemies (and ours) weapons to finish ruining their country. Why would we have any respect from another country? We are untrustworthy.
Of course we've become the world's biggest terrorists! And, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Al Queda and ISIS have secretly been funded via USAID all along.
ISIS was created by George W. Bush when he tore apart Iraq, after lying to the American people about WMDs. No WMDs, so the Republican administration was absolutely full of sh*te (just like this one) and lying to the American people.
Were they funded by USAID? Show me the proof. Get real, blowhard.
Let’s not forget how “9/11” started it all. If you still believe airplanes were hijacked & skyscrapers instantly turned to dust then you’re unaware of the good guys/bad guys.
We are both. There are ones that seek to do good and those that seek to do evil. Sins of omission and commission. The internet was created for good but used for evil too. Evil can overcome good only if the good allow it. It is easier to keep good ground then try to recover lost ground. Lord help us, our only hope is with You.
There has been a growing realization that propaganda and psyops have been the principle tools of statecraft in the US for a very long time. The result, perhaps no longer arguable, is that the US has achieved perhaps the widest gulf between the moral compass of its citizens and that of its government in the entire world. Only America had the resources to be truly good or truly bad. A commenter has asserted that the answer is both. That is a dubious assertion if one begins looking after 1945, spotty if before. The Bible gives a special Woe to those that promote Evil as Good, and Good as Evil.
Certainly at Ft Sumter, thanks to Lincoln so that he could claim the Confederacy started it. Look up Thomas DiLorenzo, a historian who has written the truth about the cause of the "war between the states", aka "the war of Northern Aggression". Amazingly enough, it was really about tariffs - a topic coming into vogue these days, but for far different reasons.
Everything after WWII is meddling, is it not? I wasn't around for Korea or Vietnam but they sure seem like that. And anything in my lifetime (48 years old) has been meddling, including forcing this showdown between Russia and Ukraine. Any poor reactions to stopping the war machine (whatever this creature is) has been met with death (Kennedys, nearly Trump).
That was during war. Although brutal, it was very effective. The Japanese warships sunk our supply ships as well. Just wasn’t as effective. Unless you’re referring to something else
War wasn't declared until after Pearl Harbor, unless you mean 06 April 1917. (HJR-192 extended it to being against everyone on 05 June 1933.) Yeah, sink your damned supply ships! (Where the Japanese can salvage them.)
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
War is a racket. It is the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one world-wide in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described as something that is not what it seems to be to the majority of indoctrinated and propagandized people. Only a small inside group knows what it’s really about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the very many. War makes a few people huge fortunes."
- Major General Smedley D. Butler, 1935, US Marine Corps and 2 time winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Gaza is NOT a war, it is a genocide for which the US is equally responsible with Israel. No surprise, the US was created by genocide of the indigenous peoples & developed with slavery. It is the most evil empire in human history.
So relieved to read these thoughts from you, John. I don't know if you just came to this realization/question or if you just chose to write about it now. In response to your subtitle, I would say that the US govt. actors have wittingly (not unwittingly) been the bad guys/aggressors/bullies for a long time. The negative consequences of US actions abroad (and at home) do not happen because of a lack of foresight. They are intentional in many if not all cases. There is a playbook in use.
The globalist psychopaths who own the world are the bad guys. But yes, America became a bad guy when we the people allowed these globalists to corrupt and take over our institutions, install a permanent deep state, and use that power to advance their anti-human global agenda.
Based on what we have learned in the last eight years, the answer is a resounding, YES!!
Not the people but the American GOVERNMENT has been the "bad guys", at home and (too often) around the globe! And all of it grows out of UNCHECKED, INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION!
I'm with Scott Ritter on this one: "I love my country, but the collective ignorance of the American people empowers so-called public servants who abuse their positions of trust to push policies that further individual agendas at the expense of the nation they ostensibly serve. Fact-based logic no longer matters." - https://x.com/RealScottRitter/status/1152897162092716032
A great question John. Often the past 62 years our CIA/Mossad Insane Controlled Governments, Right or Left (A Game - Theatre), has been a Disaster to America and the world (If someone has to ask how you clearly are ignorant of recent history). Though many Americans, like many people everywhere, are inherently good with a growing number of Psychopaths and Mind Controlled.
I have NO doubt that our Government is to blame for the escalation in Russia. Before the actual war started, and you look at the facts, it is a funny thing. Russia cyber attacked the largest bank in Ukraine. Do you who owned the majority of shares in this bank? Burisma!!! Do you remember who was getting large amounts from Burisma for doing nothing? Yup! Good old Hunter Biden! And then Russia started to complain about all the BioLabs just miles from their borders. Do you know who the private contractor was that was running them? Yup! Burisma! And you wonder why the Biden Administration didn’t want the proxy war with Russian to end? I don’t! This war isn’t just about Russia and Ukraine! It goes way beyond that!!! Good luck trying to get anyone to believe it though. Every time I mention something to someone, I am a Ruskie!! LOL
Yes, the US are the villains in the Ukraine/Russia war. We are the ones that gave money and arms to Ukraine without any accountability of how they were used. Despite calls from some honorable members of congress to watch closely where this money is going, the Biden gang running the country refused. And then, the owned propaganda media has the nerve to call Ukraine the villains in all this !!! While it is at least reported to be true that Zelensky stole a lot of the money, how is it that he is the sole owner of this travesty and guilty alone and not the Biden gang who quietly hide in the shadows after what they have done ? The imbeded, unelected bureaucracy of our country follows their own plans for governance of the US and foreign policy outside of the agendas that incoming and outgoing administrations bring. The key to the resolution of all this greed, power and money is a return to Faith in God, reverence to Him who has blessed this land so abundantly and adherence to His laws that were created to keep what is happening from happening. The Founders knew that and designed a structure that would be very effective in keeping human temptation in check as long as the population was God fearing and lived in Faith.
Of course we're the bad guys. That's been obvious for a long time now. We leave every place we intervene far, far worse than we found it. And that's predictable, not exactly a shock when it happens. Even going by my limited perspective from the lying media and U.S. government propaganda, Putin and Assad seem to be pragmatic, competent leaders who foster stability and look out for their people, mostly. Saddam and probably Gaddafi seem a cut well below those two (but who knows given that what we read is pure propaganda), but still we left the people of Libya and Iraq far worse off, and killed or caused to be killed untold thousands. The USA has been the greatest source of evil, destruction, and misery in the world for decades. Nuland is not an outlier, she's a typical U.S. decision-maker.
America is known by the eastern world as “big Satan” for a reason… our $$$ funds the atrocities of the world through our many bureaucrats, NGO’s and our government openly. We have pushed the transgender movement throughout the world as one example…COVID is another example, the blood of millions are on the hands of lady liberty thanks to progressive leftists and their pursuit of power, money and control! Certainly not “unwittingly”, it’s by design…CIA anyone!?!
I’m afraid this mess is not relegated to the “leftists.” The government, no matter who reigns willing let themselves be bought by lobbyists. Pharma, NRA, corporations. The war in Iraq was about the oil not WMD’s. The Vietnam war, the Korean War etc. What a colossal waste of young men’s lives and for what.
Vivian - exactly. Note how many commenters, no matter what the subject, instantly jump into ‘democrats vs. republicans’ arguments. They are, of course, missing the big picture.
Agreed, Progressive leftists unfortunately encompass both parties. It’s an ideology that’s not specific to any party. Hence the “uniparty”
Excellent point, Mark. Thanks for making it.
It isn't just Progressive Leftists. Fascism is the intersection of governments and corporations. Capital drives decisions. Capital drove the COVID crimes. Most likely Kennedy was killed by Johnson's avarice at the behest of big businesses who felt betrayed by Kennedy whom they got elected and then he screwed them.
Exactly. I’m so sick of everything being boiled down to politics. They need to keep their eyes on the bigger picture for our own sakes.
Right. The republican Democrat left right paradigm of the so called two party system is mostly illusory and only camouflage for a strongly entrenched and weaponized uniparty controlled by an internationalist/globalist/ techno fascist cabal or world council independent of any national boundaries laws formalities or allegiances. They don't recognize sovereignty as supreme to. collectivism. These are the lines basically and the illusion of the two separate and opposing factions are only a myth for the people to bog themselves down in and divide themselves up arbitrarily and artificially and thereby reduced greatly in our true strength and ability to weild formative power over our usurpers.
The World Wars, Spanish War, Civil War same. Europeans killed a lot of other Europeans.
I had read awhile ago that often the real reason various leader’s have been “taken care of” was because they were pushing back against the US control of the monetary system and the control of the world bank. Often these leaders were in the process of freeing their country from that monetary control. I think I had read Sadam was doing this.
(Makes you wonder who is really running the world.)
Anyone more in-the-know have any thoughts on this?
Yes throughout history. Jesus was an early example, more recent, sadaam, ghadafi, kennedy, lincoln, lots of examples
Musk disclosed the 14 magic money computers he found yesterday. Today we probably attack Iran.
Yes, I've been thinking the same thing for years now. How much death, destruction and chaos do "we" create when we meddle in other countries affairs? I started thinking this when Benghazi happened, and the feeling that "We ARE the baddies" has grown continually. Then as we witness and hear all the fake hate and outrage, I have to think that the dirty deeds perpetrated on other countries has finally come home to roost.
It’s America’s tragedy that it still falls for the left v right paradigm. They work together. Division of labour.
But are we the Big Satan? Or are we the hapless chap who became enchanted with the occult and ended up possessed by demons? Are we little Rosemary's Babies that have jumped out of the crib?
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
- Walt Kelly, Pogo
https://library.osu.edu/site/40stories/files/2020/01/kelly-enemy-1024.png
I've been saying this about D's and their totalitarian "solutions" to "protect" freedom for awhile now.
We invaded Vietnam, poisoned their fields, and murdered their people to stop the “evil communism”. Make that make sense.
In Vietnam: "We have to destroy the village in order to save it." Only now, the war has come home, and we're the village.
Some history from Mr. X (Donald Sutherland) in the film JFK: "I was a soldier, Mr. Garrison. Two wars. I was one of those secret guys in the Pentagon that supplies the military hardware - the planes, bullets, rifles - for what we call "black operations" - "black ops", assassinations, coup d'etats, rigging elections, propaganda, psych warfare and so forth. World War II - Rumania, Greece, Yugoslavia, I helped take the Nazi intelligence apparatus out to help us fight the Communists. Italy '48 stealing elections, France '49 breaking strikes - we overthrew Quirino in the Philippines, Arbenz in Guatemala, Mossadegh in Iran. Vietnam in '54, Indonesia '58, Tibet '59 we got the Dalai Lama out - we were good, very good. Then we got into the Cuban thing. Not so good. Set up all the bases for the invasion supposed to take place in October '62. Khrushchev sent the missiles to resist the invasion, Kennedy refused to invade and we were standing out there with our dicks in the wind. Lot of pissed-off people, Mr. Garrison, you understand?"
🎯
After 20 years in Afghanistan, we abandoned our allies there, and gave their enemies (and ours) weapons to finish ruining their country. Why would we have any respect from another country? We are untrustworthy.
We should never have been in Afghanistan in the first place. Especially not for 20 years.
Yup, another proxy war started by a Democrat
Plenty of wars started and carried on by both parties.
So spot on….is it any wonder why approval rating of our US Congress is in the toilet?
Of course we've become the world's biggest terrorists! And, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Al Queda and ISIS have secretly been funded via USAID all along.
Yes they have
ISIS was created by George W. Bush when he tore apart Iraq, after lying to the American people about WMDs. No WMDs, so the Republican administration was absolutely full of sh*te (just like this one) and lying to the American people.
Were they funded by USAID? Show me the proof. Get real, blowhard.
Let’s not forget how “9/11” started it all. If you still believe airplanes were hijacked & skyscrapers instantly turned to dust then you’re unaware of the good guys/bad guys.
Diverted Davy Crockett nukes, as well as rigging those buildings with demolition charges.
https://open.substack.com/pub/unbekoming/p/steel-to-powder-on-911?r=d6rzy&utm_medium=ios
🎯
https://open.substack.com/pub/unbekoming/p/steel-to-powder-on-911?r=d6rzy&utm_medium=ios
Klingon disrupters?
Right, and we know Israel is the biggest benefactor of magic US money for their terrorism.
Tim Osman is our man…so that’s a yes…
Of course they have been.
We are both. There are ones that seek to do good and those that seek to do evil. Sins of omission and commission. The internet was created for good but used for evil too. Evil can overcome good only if the good allow it. It is easier to keep good ground then try to recover lost ground. Lord help us, our only hope is with You.
It was created by DOD <hint hint>.
Amen
💯
There has been a growing realization that propaganda and psyops have been the principle tools of statecraft in the US for a very long time. The result, perhaps no longer arguable, is that the US has achieved perhaps the widest gulf between the moral compass of its citizens and that of its government in the entire world. Only America had the resources to be truly good or truly bad. A commenter has asserted that the answer is both. That is a dubious assertion if one begins looking after 1945, spotty if before. The Bible gives a special Woe to those that promote Evil as Good, and Good as Evil.
Started much longer ago than that.
Certainly at Ft Sumter, thanks to Lincoln so that he could claim the Confederacy started it. Look up Thomas DiLorenzo, a historian who has written the truth about the cause of the "war between the states", aka "the war of Northern Aggression". Amazingly enough, it was really about tariffs - a topic coming into vogue these days, but for far different reasons.
Everything after WWII is meddling, is it not? I wasn't around for Korea or Vietnam but they sure seem like that. And anything in my lifetime (48 years old) has been meddling, including forcing this showdown between Russia and Ukraine. Any poor reactions to stopping the war machine (whatever this creature is) has been met with death (Kennedys, nearly Trump).
Starving out the Japanese was also "meddling".
That was during war. Although brutal, it was very effective. The Japanese warships sunk our supply ships as well. Just wasn’t as effective. Unless you’re referring to something else
The US deliberately provoked Japan into Pearl Harbor so Roosevelt could get his unpopular war.
War wasn't declared until after Pearl Harbor, unless you mean 06 April 1917. (HJR-192 extended it to being against everyone on 05 June 1933.) Yeah, sink your damned supply ships! (Where the Japanese can salvage them.)
Smedley Butler said it best:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
War is a racket. It is the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one world-wide in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described as something that is not what it seems to be to the majority of indoctrinated and propagandized people. Only a small inside group knows what it’s really about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the very many. War makes a few people huge fortunes."
- Major General Smedley D. Butler, 1935, US Marine Corps and 2 time winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
More a bankers war me thinks.
Of which, through our dependencies we all have some skin in the game.
Since World War II,
1. Korean War (1950-1953)3
2. Vietnam War (1955-1975)3
3. Lebanon Crisis (1958)
4. Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
5. Dominican Civil War (1965-1966)
6. Grenada (1983)
7. Panama (1989-1990)
8. Gulf War (1990-1991)
9. Bosnian War (1992-1995)
10. Kosovo War (1998-1999)3
11. Afghanistan War (2001-2021)13
12. Iraq War (2003-2011)123
13. War on Terror (2001-present), including:
◦ Intervention in Yemen (2002-present)1
◦ Intervention in Northwest Pakistan (2004-2018)1
◦ Second Intervention in Somalia (2007-present)1
◦ Intervention in Libya (2011 and 2015-2019)1
◦ Intervention in Syria (2014-present)1
14. Operation Ocean Shield (2009-2016)1
15. Operation Observant Compass in Uganda (2011-2017)1
16. Military Intervention in Niger (2013-2024)1
17. Operation Prosperity Guardian (2023-present)1
18. Gaza War (2024-present)1
Gaza is NOT a war, it is a genocide for which the US is equally responsible with Israel. No surprise, the US was created by genocide of the indigenous peoples & developed with slavery. It is the most evil empire in human history.
Is that so? Well then, what have you done to make it better?
Nothing.
Whine whine whine and do nothing. That's the average Republican.
What have you done to make it better?
I tithe in support of Palestinians. I split my tithing between MECA and JVP and donating directly to a Palestinian family.
So relieved to read these thoughts from you, John. I don't know if you just came to this realization/question or if you just chose to write about it now. In response to your subtitle, I would say that the US govt. actors have wittingly (not unwittingly) been the bad guys/aggressors/bullies for a long time. The negative consequences of US actions abroad (and at home) do not happen because of a lack of foresight. They are intentional in many if not all cases. There is a playbook in use.
The globalist psychopaths who own the world are the bad guys. But yes, America became a bad guy when we the people allowed these globalists to corrupt and take over our institutions, install a permanent deep state, and use that power to advance their anti-human global agenda.
Based on what we have learned in the last eight years, the answer is a resounding, YES!!
Not the people but the American GOVERNMENT has been the "bad guys", at home and (too often) around the globe! And all of it grows out of UNCHECKED, INSTITUTIONALIZED CORRUPTION!
I'm with Scott Ritter on this one: "I love my country, but the collective ignorance of the American people empowers so-called public servants who abuse their positions of trust to push policies that further individual agendas at the expense of the nation they ostensibly serve. Fact-based logic no longer matters." - https://x.com/RealScottRitter/status/1152897162092716032
A great question John. Often the past 62 years our CIA/Mossad Insane Controlled Governments, Right or Left (A Game - Theatre), has been a Disaster to America and the world (If someone has to ask how you clearly are ignorant of recent history). Though many Americans, like many people everywhere, are inherently good with a growing number of Psychopaths and Mind Controlled.
Mosssad was 911
With CIA and MI5
Bad guys spiritually unforgivable since Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Tartarus (shechet, geena pyr) too good for them. I hope they got flushed down Abaddon.
I have NO doubt that our Government is to blame for the escalation in Russia. Before the actual war started, and you look at the facts, it is a funny thing. Russia cyber attacked the largest bank in Ukraine. Do you who owned the majority of shares in this bank? Burisma!!! Do you remember who was getting large amounts from Burisma for doing nothing? Yup! Good old Hunter Biden! And then Russia started to complain about all the BioLabs just miles from their borders. Do you know who the private contractor was that was running them? Yup! Burisma! And you wonder why the Biden Administration didn’t want the proxy war with Russian to end? I don’t! This war isn’t just about Russia and Ukraine! It goes way beyond that!!! Good luck trying to get anyone to believe it though. Every time I mention something to someone, I am a Ruskie!! LOL
Yes, the US are the villains in the Ukraine/Russia war. We are the ones that gave money and arms to Ukraine without any accountability of how they were used. Despite calls from some honorable members of congress to watch closely where this money is going, the Biden gang running the country refused. And then, the owned propaganda media has the nerve to call Ukraine the villains in all this !!! While it is at least reported to be true that Zelensky stole a lot of the money, how is it that he is the sole owner of this travesty and guilty alone and not the Biden gang who quietly hide in the shadows after what they have done ? The imbeded, unelected bureaucracy of our country follows their own plans for governance of the US and foreign policy outside of the agendas that incoming and outgoing administrations bring. The key to the resolution of all this greed, power and money is a return to Faith in God, reverence to Him who has blessed this land so abundantly and adherence to His laws that were created to keep what is happening from happening. The Founders knew that and designed a structure that would be very effective in keeping human temptation in check as long as the population was God fearing and lived in Faith.
Of course we're the bad guys. That's been obvious for a long time now. We leave every place we intervene far, far worse than we found it. And that's predictable, not exactly a shock when it happens. Even going by my limited perspective from the lying media and U.S. government propaganda, Putin and Assad seem to be pragmatic, competent leaders who foster stability and look out for their people, mostly. Saddam and probably Gaddafi seem a cut well below those two (but who knows given that what we read is pure propaganda), but still we left the people of Libya and Iraq far worse off, and killed or caused to be killed untold thousands. The USA has been the greatest source of evil, destruction, and misery in the world for decades. Nuland is not an outlier, she's a typical U.S. decision-maker.