"Although these policies collectively preserve America’s facade of international dominance, the United States of 2023 is not the same as that of 1990. U.S. policymakers who imagine that “what we say goes” continues to reflect the world are
inadvertently speeding creation of a new order which they will rue. Several factors are in play.

First, despite its evident military strength, the U.S. has only limited ability to coerce its major potential adversaries. ...

Second, other nations are less willing to defer to the U.S. and its allies. There was shock and incomprehension in Washington and Brussels when the rest of the world did not heed their call to arms over Ukraine. The American brand has been scorched by
recent misbehavior—stupid wars around the world with neither apology given nor accountability held. Washington officials denounce aggression against Ukraine, yet America launched illegal attacks on Yugoslavia and Iraq. Even as Washington demands that
Vladimir Putin face justice for war crimes, George W. Bush avoids responsibility for his bloody and illegal invasion of Iraq.
...
Third, American policymakers have perversely encouraged adversaries to cooperate. There are important differences between Moscow and Beijing, but growing animus toward the U.S. draws them together.
...
Fourth, friends and allies no longer believe they must sacrifice important economic interests to deal with Washington. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are expanding economic cooperation with China while relying less on America for their
security. Southeast Asia maintains strong and growing commercial ties with Beijing despite being uneasy about its aggressive maritime policies. European governments are increasingly disturbed by Chinese human rights violations but still emphasize mutual
economic relations over American security concerns. The more Washington demands, the less even its friends are likely to comply.

Finally, the U.S. is anything but a paragon of domestic stability. America’s divisions run deep, with fundamental disagreements over the very nature of our lives together. There no longer is a consensus about the nature and legitimacy of American
democracy. Equally fundamental is the country’s looming fiscal and potential financial crises.
...
America will survive whatever comes. But the country’s ruling class, foreign policy establishment, and imperial pretensions will not. For this we can thank the much-maligned Blob."

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-blob-bleeds/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 3:43:52 AM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:

"Although these policies collectively preserve America’s facade of international dominance, the United States of 2023 is not the same as that of 1990. U.S. policymakers who imagine that “what we say goes” continues to reflect the world are

inadvertently speeding creation of a new order which they will rue. Several factors are in play.

First, despite its evident military strength, the U.S. has only limited ability to coerce its major potential adversaries. ...

Second, other nations are less willing to defer to the U.S. and its allies. There was shock and incomprehension in Washington and Brussels when the rest of the world did not heed their call to arms over Ukraine. The American brand has been scorched by

recent misbehavior—stupid wars around the world with neither apology given nor accountability held. Washington officials denounce aggression against Ukraine, yet America launched illegal attacks on Yugoslavia and Iraq. Even as Washington demands that
Vladimir Putin face justice for war crimes, George W. Bush avoids responsibility for his bloody and illegal invasion of Iraq.

...
Third, American policymakers have perversely encouraged adversaries to cooperate. There are important differences between Moscow and Beijing, but growing animus toward the U.S. draws them together.
...
Fourth, friends and allies no longer believe they must sacrifice important economic interests to deal with Washington. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are expanding economic cooperation with China while relying less on America for their

security. Southeast Asia maintains strong and growing commercial ties with Beijing despite being uneasy about its aggressive maritime policies. European governments are increasingly disturbed by Chinese human rights violations but still emphasize mutual
economic relations over American security concerns. The more Washington demands, the less even its friends are likely to comply.

Finally, the U.S. is anything but a paragon of domestic stability. America’s divisions run deep, with fundamental disagreements over the very nature of our lives together. There no longer is a consensus about the nature and legitimacy of American

democracy. Equally fundamental is the country’s looming fiscal and potential financial crises.

...
America will survive whatever comes. But the country’s ruling class, foreign policy establishment, and imperial pretensions will not. For this we can thank the much-maligned Blob."

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-blob-bleeds/

Isn't this blob you obviously despise providing you with all you need? Or maybe you need to alter your path if you are so opposed to it. I am happy in the US.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 2:13:10 PM UTC-4, bmoore wrote:

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 3:43:52 AM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:

"Although these policies collectively preserve America’s facade of international dominance, the United States of 2023 is not the same as that of 1990. U.S. policymakers who imagine that “what we say goes” continues to reflect the world are

inadvertently speeding creation of a new order which they will rue. Several factors are in play.

First, despite its evident military strength, the U.S. has only limited ability to coerce its major potential adversaries. ...

Second, other nations are less willing to defer to the U.S. and its allies. There was shock and incomprehension in Washington and Brussels when the rest of the world did not heed their call to arms over Ukraine. The American brand has been scorched

by recent misbehavior—stupid wars around the world with neither apology given nor accountability held. Washington officials denounce aggression against Ukraine, yet America launched illegal attacks on Yugoslavia and Iraq. Even as Washington demands
that Vladimir Putin face justice for war crimes, George W. Bush avoids responsibility for his bloody and illegal invasion of Iraq.

...
Third, American policymakers have perversely encouraged adversaries to cooperate. There are important differences between Moscow and Beijing, but growing animus toward the U.S. draws them together.
...
Fourth, friends and allies no longer believe they must sacrifice important economic interests to deal with Washington. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are expanding economic cooperation with China while relying less on America for their

security. Southeast Asia maintains strong and growing commercial ties with Beijing despite being uneasy about its aggressive maritime policies. European governments are increasingly disturbed by Chinese human rights violations but still emphasize mutual
economic relations over American security concerns. The more Washington demands, the less even its friends are likely to comply.

Finally, the U.S. is anything but a paragon of domestic stability. America’s divisions run deep, with fundamental disagreements over the very nature of our lives together. There no longer is a consensus about the nature and legitimacy of American

democracy. Equally fundamental is the country’s looming fiscal and potential financial crises.

...
America will survive whatever comes. But the country’s ruling class, foreign policy establishment, and imperial pretensions will not. For this we can thank the much-maligned Blob."

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-blob-bleeds/

Isn't this blob you obviously despise providing you with all you need? Or maybe you need to alter your path if you are so opposed to it. I am happy in the US.

Please discuss issues.
Feel free to agree or disagree the issues raised by the author of the article.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 3:52:47 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 2:13:10 PM UTC-4, bmoore wrote:

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 3:43:52 AM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:

"Although these policies collectively preserve America’s facade of international dominance, the United States of 2023 is not the same as that of 1990. U.S. policymakers who imagine that “what we say goes” continues to reflect the world are

inadvertently speeding creation of a new order which they will rue. Several factors are in play.

First, despite its evident military strength, the U.S. has only limited ability to coerce its major potential adversaries. ...

Second, other nations are less willing to defer to the U.S. and its allies. There was shock and incomprehension in Washington and Brussels when the rest of the world did not heed their call to arms over Ukraine. The American brand has been scorched

by recent misbehavior—stupid wars around the world with neither apology given nor accountability held. Washington officials denounce aggression against Ukraine, yet America launched illegal attacks on Yugoslavia and Iraq. Even as Washington demands
that Vladimir Putin face justice for war crimes, George W. Bush avoids responsibility for his bloody and illegal invasion of Iraq.

...
Third, American policymakers have perversely encouraged adversaries to cooperate. There are important differences between Moscow and Beijing, but growing animus toward the U.S. draws them together.
...
Fourth, friends and allies no longer believe they must sacrifice important economic interests to deal with Washington. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are expanding economic cooperation with China while relying less on America for their

security. Southeast Asia maintains strong and growing commercial ties with Beijing despite being uneasy about its aggressive maritime policies. European governments are increasingly disturbed by Chinese human rights violations but still emphasize mutual
economic relations over American security concerns. The more Washington demands, the less even its friends are likely to comply.

Finally, the U.S. is anything but a paragon of domestic stability. America’s divisions run deep, with fundamental disagreements over the very nature of our lives together. There no longer is a consensus about the nature and legitimacy of American

democracy. Equally fundamental is the country’s looming fiscal and potential financial crises.

...
America will survive whatever comes. But the country’s ruling class, foreign policy establishment, and imperial pretensions will not. For this we can thank the much-maligned Blob."

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-blob-bleeds/

Isn't this blob you obviously despise providing you with all you need? Or maybe you need to alter your path if you are so opposed to it. I am happy in the US.

Please discuss issues.
Feel free to agree or disagree the issues raised by the author of the article.

In Chinese Blob means 难以名状的一团. (an indistinct shapeless form)
The movie "The Blob" was translated into 幽浮魔点.

However, "the blob" seems to be favored by various The American Conservative.com authors.
Searching the website with "the blob" turns up 256 results. The most recent 10:

The Blob Bleeds
The Blob’s Perpetual War
Hawley vs the Blob, and the Indo-Pacific Pivot
The Blob is Addicted to Overseas Interventions
The Blob is Back and It’s Ready for War
Why the Blob Needs an Enemy
Michele Flournoy: Queen of the Blob
Gaslighting Nobody, The Blob Struggles for Primacy
The Blob Attacks: Gaslighting or Just Gasbagging?
The Blob Sucked Away Your Public Health and Gave You War Instead

One of them gave more specific information on "the blob". https://www.theamericanconservative.com/michele-flournoy-queen-of-the-blob/

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michele Flournoy: Queen of the Blob
This is how the elite, Ivy League-educated technocrats profit while the nation's real interests take a back seat.

Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
Jul 7, 2020 8:00 PM

Jonathan Guyer, managing editor of The American Prospect, has an unbelievably well-reported piece on the making of a Washington national security consultancy, starring two high placed Obama-era officials and one of the Imperial City’s more successful
denizens—Michele Flournoy.

Flournoy may not be a household name anywhere but the Beltway, but when she met Sergio Aguirre and Nitin Chadda (Chiefs of staff to UN Ambassador Samantha Power and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter respectively) she was already trading lucratively on her
stints in two Democratic administrations. In fact, according to Guyer, by 2017 she was pulling nearly a half a million dollars a year a year wearing a number of hats: senior advisor for Boston Consulting Group (where she helped increase their defense
contracts to $32 million by 2016), founder and CEO of the Democratic leaning Center for a New American Security, senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center, and a member of various corporate boards.

Hungry to get their own consulting business going after Hillary Clinton’s stunning loss in 2016, according to Guyer, Aguirre and Chadda approached Flournoy for her starpower inside the Blob. Flournoy did not want “to have a firm with her name on it
alone,” so they sought and added Tony Blinken, former Under Secretary of State and “right hand man” to Joe Biden for 20 years.
...
When Clinton didn’t get the nomination, Flournoy and her colleagues supported Obama and helped populate his administration, supporting the military surge in Afghanistan and prolonging the war. She was called the “mastermind” behind Obama’s Afghan
strategy, which we now know was a failure, an effort at futility and prolonging the inevitable. In fact, we know now that most of the war establishment was lying through its teeth. But that hasn’t stopped her from getting clients. They pay for her
influence, not her ability to win wars.

Queen of the Blob, Queen of Business as Usual—a business, as we well know from Guyer’s excellent reporting, that pays off bigtime. But it has never paid off for the rest of America. But really, why should she care? She was never really with “us”
to begin with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 12:52:47 PM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 2:13:10 PM UTC-4, bmoore wrote:

On Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 3:43:52 AM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:

"Although these policies collectively preserve America’s facade of international dominance, the United States of 2023 is not the same as that of 1990. U.S. policymakers who imagine that “what we say goes” continues to reflect the world are

inadvertently speeding creation of a new order which they will rue. Several factors are in play.

First, despite its evident military strength, the U.S. has only limited ability to coerce its major potential adversaries. ...

Second, other nations are less willing to defer to the U.S. and its allies. There was shock and incomprehension in Washington and Brussels when the rest of the world did not heed their call to arms over Ukraine. The American brand has been scorched

by recent misbehavior—stupid wars around the world with neither apology given nor accountability held. Washington officials denounce aggression against Ukraine, yet America launched illegal attacks on Yugoslavia and Iraq. Even as Washington demands
that Vladimir Putin face justice for war crimes, George W. Bush avoids responsibility for his bloody and illegal invasion of Iraq.

...
Third, American policymakers have perversely encouraged adversaries to cooperate. There are important differences between Moscow and Beijing, but growing animus toward the U.S. draws them together.
...
Fourth, friends and allies no longer believe they must sacrifice important economic interests to deal with Washington. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are expanding economic cooperation with China while relying less on America for their

security. Southeast Asia maintains strong and growing commercial ties with Beijing despite being uneasy about its aggressive maritime policies. European governments are increasingly disturbed by Chinese human rights violations but still emphasize mutual
economic relations over American security concerns. The more Washington demands, the less even its friends are likely to comply.

Finally, the U.S. is anything but a paragon of domestic stability. America’s divisions run deep, with fundamental disagreements over the very nature of our lives together. There no longer is a consensus about the nature and legitimacy of American

democracy. Equally fundamental is the country’s looming fiscal and potential financial crises.

...
America will survive whatever comes. But the country’s ruling class, foreign policy establishment, and imperial pretensions will not. For this we can thank the much-maligned Blob."

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-blob-bleeds/

Isn't this blob you obviously despise providing you with all you need? Or maybe you need to alter your path if you are so opposed to it. I am happy in the US.

Please discuss issues.
Feel free to agree or disagree the issues raised by the author of the article.

If discussion of issues is done in such a way that the finger is always pointing at the US and China always defended, then there's a fundamental problem with this "discussion". Both China and the US have flaws. But all of us participants choose to live
in the US. Actions speak louder than words.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)