Why don't alliances work for the US?

Question

NATO--big fat failure.
UN---bigger, fatter failure.
Maybe we should stick to George Washington's idea of no alliances. But why? What is so fundamentally flawed about having alliances?

Answer 1

NATO was very successful--remember it was the military alliance that helped us contain the USSR. Since then it has doen very successful work--notably in the Balkans.

The UN also has many successes-they were instrumental in ending apartheid in Suth Africa, and in wiping out smallpox, to name only two examples. They also--correctly--tried to tell the Bush administratin that there were no WMD in Iraq.

Bush should have listened. 4000Americans died for his stubbornness. And if you look at the so-called "failures" of the UN or NATO that the right wing likes to gripe abbout-you willl find almost every single one is a situation in which they did not listen to people trying to talk some sense into them--or they didn't get their own way at everyone elses expense.

Answer 2

How on earth do you qualify NATO as a failure?

The only potential problem with alliances is their transitory nature. As the government of nations change, so do their priorities and strategies.

Answer 3

Because other countries only take from us. They expect us to be their servants but will never stand with us unless they feel they will profit.

Answer 4

Because we won't be satisfied unless they do it our way. We do not "play well with others".