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Should America be the World’s Policeman? | 5 Minute Video

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Should America be the world’s policeman? Does the world even need a policeman? Or would humanity be better off if America weren’t the dominant military superpower? Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and foreign affairs expert Bret Stephens weighs in.

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Script:

Should America be the world’s policeman?

Whenever this question is asked, and it has been asked for nearly 100 years, the answer is usually no. Progressives will say that it suggests American arrogance. Who made America the boss of the world? Many conservatives, especially those with Libertarian leanings, will answer that what other countries do to their neighbors or even to their own people is no concern of ours.

But here’s the question that is almost never asked. What’s the alternative?

Well, one answer is the United Nations.

That’s why the UN was formed after the Second World War – to maintain order and protect human rights.

And that’s why there are UN Peace Keepers around the world.

But their record at keeping the peace is abysmal.

To cite just one example, at least 500,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda in 1994 while UN Peace Keepers stood by.

Furthermore, the United Nations’ nearly 200 members seldom agree on anything. And when they do marshal a peace-keeping force, its numbers are always small, they are poorly armed, and highly restricted in their use of the few weapons they do possess. They are much more likely to step aside when faced with aggression than to actively oppose it.

What about dividing the world into spheres of influence? Is that really a good idea? Do we want a world where Russia gets to do what it wants toward democratic neighbors such as Latvia, and Iran dominates its region, and so on? Would such a world lead to peace or to ever more violent competition over the borders of those “spheres.”

And, of course, there’s an idea that if America leaves the world alone, the world will leave America alone. If only. The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky once said that you may not be interested in war but war is interested in you. Great powers don’t get to take a vacation and don’t get to take themselves off the terrorist target list.

So, we quickly come to an inescapable conclusion: The United States is the World’s Policeman because there is no alternative.

And everybody knows it.

But what if Americans don’t want the job anymore? What if the cop walked off the beat?

The answer is clear and well grounded both in history and current events: when America retreats, the bad guys advance.

It’s not a coincidence that after the US pulled its troops out of Iraq, Islamic State exploded onto the world stage.

And while it’s easy to criticize America for its perceived failures in Viet Nam and the first few years in Iraq, what about its obvious successes? After the Second World War ended in 1945, the Soviet Union sought to dominate the world. It failed for one reason: The United States stopped it.

In 1991 we stopped Saddam Hussein and kicked him out of Kuwait. Later, we intervened to save the Balkans.

As I write in my book, America in Retreat, the order the US has provided has not only had enormous security benefits for all the world, it has produced phenomenal economic advantages. Global GDP, just $11 trillion in 1980, doubled by the time the Cold War ended a decade later. By 2012 it reached $72 trillion.

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50 Comments

  2. The US has by far the biggest prison population (% wise), and they pop more pills/drugs than the rest of the world put together. This shows that this is not a "happy country", and then telling the world how to live their lives sounds a "bit" strange to me. And then there is the "American Dream idea"….as if a person born or living in the US wants something different from life. I hope that one day more people will understand that being happy in life is being successful in life (nothing more and nothing less), it`s having fun and interactions with the people we care about, on a healthy planet (jmho). I wish everybody a happy and loving life 🙏

  9. I AM ALWAYS FIRM SUPPORTER OF PRAGERU BUT THIS TIME YOU ARE WRONG AS WHY THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER SHOULD BEAR THE BURDEN FOR KEEPING ORDER IN THE WORLD………… THE REALITY,,,,, INFACT THE 5 MAJOR DEFENCE CONTRACTORS WANT AMERICA TO BE WORLD POLICEMAN,,,,,,, SO THAT THEY KEEP ON SELLING WEAPONS AT THE COST OF AMERICAN TAXPAYER………….. WELL IF THIS CONTINUES,,,,,,,,,,, USA WILL SUFFER MASSIVE INFLATION AND THEREFORE IT WILL FALL,,,,,,,,,,,, LIKE ROME DID…………… THANKS KEEP POLICING THE WORLD.

  17. I am from Germany, and im sitting here and nearly shit myself laughing🤣🤣🤣.
    America as the World Police did nearly NOTHING good to the World. I mean, wars like Vietnam, Iraq or Libya where contrary to international law and made life in these Countries even worse than it was.
    And I, as a German, get panic attacks, when i hear, that people in other Countries still have Fascist thoughts.(I consider this America-is-the-best-Country-ramble Fascist.) This is because my Country has a very dark history with Wars and Fascism.

  21. Absolutely not they just cause so many wars and you should know by now which ones so don't be a fool and ask. When you have greedy money grugbing warmongers like Dick eready for a few more billion dollars there is always going to be someone who's a target to the USA!

  23. How simple he explained the US as a world police and wanting. He is a pro US person and dosent understand that US is the world biggest terrorist country. Only thing is that their terrorism is organized. He should not forget the pain of people in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan…. Also the world doesn't require a police… Each country knows how to manage that

  26. Ukraine 🙁

    Mabye American world police ~ ~ ~
    EDIT:

    …Ukraine… 🙁

    As much as I don't want to admit it… mabye America should police the world.

    (I don't know what went wrong with my first attempt to make that comment. Woops.)

  28. No! US police work never works especially in Iraq, Libya,Syria and Yemen. Every time US intervenes in other countries things get way worse. We shouldn’t have invaded Iraq in the first place. We had no business nor any right to kick Saddam out in 2003. Iraq and Libya became terror states after we overthrew their dictators. Fact!!!! Majority of people understand this.

  30. In my opinion, only if it threatens US stability or the stability of a major ally. Maybe some wars fought for humanitarian purposes are acceptable, but those have to have to be dire dire situations

  33. Nowhere in the US Constitution does it say that the Federal Government of the USA is, or should be the policeman of the world. It's not to be found in any of our founding documents. It's the pipe dream of Neo-Conservatives and other interventionists that want to see our blood spilled and money wasted on world adventures, while the military-industrial complex makes boatloads of money for them and other investors in the government and outside of it. It's a horrible lie that that has got us involved in many wars after WW2, and it's still being told in this video. It's earned us tens of thousands of dead young American men for nothing. WE ARE NOT THE POLICEMEN OF THE WORLD.

  35. sadly but very true. people only look at the smaller picture about police brutality and racist but forgotten about the WW2 that US played the main part that defeats Hitler and Japan. Just imagine do you really want the world to be ruled by Hitler if US and the allies has lost the war. Yet, some stupid politicians wants to defund the police. When they have trouble they want the police to do their job. Pathetic left. Coming from Malaysia.

  38. As much as America helps out in securing the world from Islamic terrorism, much of it is also completely for the sake of their own interests. Not to mention that they committed more warcrimes than they have stepped out to stop out of goodwill.

  39. How does the policemen justify the secret war in Laos during the Vietnam war? Dropping an insane amount of bombs on the neutral country that still kills a lot of people today due to many of the bombs not detonating during the bombing campaign.

  40. America MUST continue to be the world's policeman until Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are abolished. America's interventionism is the reason why South Korea is a prospering nation instead of one who's people are being tortured like that of its northern sibling. We tried to do the same for Vietnam, but ultimately failed because of politics. We invaded Afghanistan to expel the Taliban because they were hosting Al Qaeda responsible for 9/11. We partner up with Saudi Arabia and Israel to deter Iran. Maduro cheated in his elections and is now a socialist dictator and so, he deserves to be punished. The so called trolls here who claim America overthrew democratically elected leaders do not understand the context and reasons for anything, just the surface. When you have a leader who cheats and does nefarious acts in elections just like the Russians, they're not legitimately elected leaders. So overthrowing people like Maduro made sense.

    NATO has to exist to prevent eastern Europe from falling into Russian hands. That is if the baltics and Poland wish to continue their freedom, they must seek protection. At the same time, you don't see Canada or Mexico seeking alliances against the US because the US does not pose a threat to them unlike Russia does to Europe. So the logic of these idiotic comments fall out of hand. The Russian/Chinese shills remarks are laughable. They should ask the Poles on what they think of Poland and previous Soviet occupation instead of spouting propaganda. The only faulty intervention is the Iraq War where Bush was given false intelligence that Saddam had WMDs. But even then, when choosing between removing the dictator vs risking him using those WMDs on the US its middle eastern allies, it's understandable why they choose option 1. At least the benefits are the dictator is now gone and Iraq no longer is a threat(because they did try invading Kuwait a decade prior).

    In the end, being world police provides far more benefits than harm. The ones who say otherwise are in bed with China/Russia that are wannabe superpowers themselves. At this very moment, we're keeping the Chinese from annexing the SCS and doing our best to prevent the invasion of Taiwan. By doing so, we keep the Taiwanese people free from tyranny which is the morally right thing to do.

  42. A complete hypocrite. Saving the balkan was the best line I have heard from someone who is representing a country which bombed the living hell out of Serbia. About Sadam what about the highway of death, Sadam was a puppet of US which is used by US to beat Iran. It is always about who will dominate the world