Great American Myth
It is quite possible that the Americans themselves are sure that their country has unique advantages, but in reality this is absolutely not the case. Over the past few decades, famous American political and public figures have awarded the United States with such loud epithets as "the last hope of mankind", "The Empire of Freedom", "the irreplaceable country", and "the leader of the free world". All these stereotypes for the most part give an explanation to the fact that all candidates for the presidency consider themselves obliged to chant American greatness. The last candidate was the recent candidate Mitt Romney, who declared American exclusivity, implying that values, story and America’s political system is so unique that it deserves universal admiration, and even more so, at the behest of fate, America must play a leading role on the world stage. However, the problem lies in the fact that such ideas about the role of the United States in the world are mostly based on myths. Of course, no one will dispute the fact that this state has certain unique parameters and characteristics, in particular, a high level of religiosity and political culture. At the same time, focusing on their supposedly exceptional properties, Americans do not think about the fact that in many respects they are very similar to other nations.
Confidence in the exclusivity of the United States prevents its people from understanding why other nations perceive American hegemony with little enthusiasm, why the state’s foreign policy causes great concern to others, and why others see America’s compliance with international law and condemn the actions of others completely ignoring their flaws. Thus, a more realistic and much more critical analysis of the characteristic features of the United States of America is needed.
So ... One of the most common myths is the proposition that there is something exceptional about America’s very exclusivity. Thus, each time the American government speaks of the special responsibility of the state, as a rule, they mean that the United States is different from other states, and therefore it can take on special obligations. In fact, there is nothing unusual in this country. Moreover, the world knows many examples of when great states, considering themselves, like America, above their rivals, impose their “rules of the game” on others, believing that they serve some special good. Vivid examples of this are Britain, France, Portugal (with the seizure of colonies). Thus, for America, as for a great power, to consider yourself special is not an exception, but rather the rule.
Another American misconception is that they believe that the United States behaves more dignified than other states, that this state is more freedom-loving, peace-loving, respects human rights and adheres to laws to a greater extent. But in reality, things are not so good. Of course, America cannot be compared with the most cruel countries in the world in the entire history of mankind, but in recent history this state is one of the most expansionist. First of all, it must be remembered that the process of creating a country is associated with the unification of a large number of colonies and the extermination of the indigenous population. Secondly, America took part in a large number of military conflicts, some of which were unleashed directly by the Americans, and even more than that, in these wars the United States did not at all act as a model of humanity. Third, the current American Drones and special forces units staged a real hunt for persons "involved" in international terrorism, and during these operations many innocent civilians died.
The US government talks about human rights and compliance with international law, but at the same time, it has not signed almost any human rights agreement, does not recognize the International Criminal Court, and provides support to dictators. Moreover, in American prisons there is harassment and torture of prisoners (Abu Ghraib).
No less than Americans are confident that the country was able to achieve such significant successes on the world stage thanks to the political vision of the founders, the perfection of the legislation, as well as the diligence and creative abilities of the American people. Of course, no one is going to challenge the scientific and technical achievements that the Americans have achieved, but the state should be equally grateful for the successful coincidence of circumstances: the American continent is rich in natural resources, the country is geographically located away from other countries, which provided it with immunity from many European diseases.
The population of the United States claims that the world is changing for the better thanks also to his country. In recent decades, one could repeatedly hear the idea that America plays an indispensable role in the process of forming stable political international relations, that American hegemony is simply necessary for the future of democracy, freedom, international order and economic openness in the world.
Thus, the United States of America ascribes to itself excessive merits in terms of ensuring world progress, and are not willing to admit guilt in the circumstances when their policies are clearly counterproductive. Americans are not able to notice their own shortcomings and flaws, which often leads to dire consequences. Of course, America, like every other state, has its own special features. It is simply one of the states on the world stage, which is much richer and stronger than many, and has a much better geographical location.
The fact that such “unique” states may have problems is evidenced by the economic situation that currently exists in America. Housing prices have fallen in the country, the number of unemployed has reached almost 10 percent, every sixth citizen is not able to provide himself with normal food without food state coupons. The budget has a huge deficit.
It is believed that the US government will be able to overcome these problems, because the state takes the first place in the world in terms of GDP, has a reputation as a country that can update itself every 25 years in accordance with new realities, has the most powerful army and owns the key to the global reserve currency. Moreover, the government is trying with all its might to convince the population that only a temporary failure has occurred, and soon the crisis will be overcome. The last crisis was defeated in six months, but today, according to experts, the country will need at least five years to return to normal employment. High unemployment reduces growth and complicates the process of creating new jobs. Therefore, in order to achieve an unemployment rate equal to 5 percent, you need to create thousands of jobs for 187 every month, but it is obvious that this is not possible in the current situation.
In addition, half of the American population claims to receive a much lower salary than before the crisis, and therefore cannot ensure a normal life for themselves. As for business and entrepreneurship, it feels quite well, but no private company is in a hurry to spend money on its employees. In addition, the leadership of most large American firms will think three times whether to open a new enterprise in America if there is a good opportunity to open it in China, Brazil or India.
Thus, the bottom line is the fact that the US economy needs a serious shake-up. In order to bring the country out of the crisis, there are long-term and short-term solutions. And how effective they will be depends on the economic situation in the coming decades.
For completeness, it is necessary to mention the all-powerful American army. The existence of this myth is not surprising, because the very history of the country, and the emergence of its armed forces are shrouded in myths. Regular army appeared in America only with the beginning of the Civil War 1861-1865. Until that time, there were semi-partisan rebel groups from among the colonists. By the way, even during the years of this military conflict, the American generals had very little idea not only about the tactics of warfare, but also that such military operations were generally. During the years of the American-Spanish war, which began in 1898, the American forces also failed to show their best. They practically met no resistance on Spanish territory, but in Cuba they did not succeed in breaking the resistance of the enemy troops. The forces of the Americans were in a very difficult situation, and the food shortages and tropical diseases made them think about surrender, but the Spanish command did not hold out first, offering their own surrender more quickly.
After that, the government tried not to interfere in the problems of Europe, preferring to solve its own problems. However, when the First World War began, it became quite obvious that it promises considerable economic benefits to those who will be in the victorious circle. The Americans, being very practical and cunning, entered into a military confrontation only three years after the start of the conflict, that is, a year before its completion, when the winner was already decided. But American reinforcement began to arrive at the front only in 1918, almost six months before the end of the war, its number was about one million people, and it should be noted that these soldiers were incapacitated. They had no rifle weaponsnor artillery. When, with the help of the French and British allies, they received weapons and entered the battle, the results were terrible - in a few months of hostilities the Americans lost about 200 thousand people killed, about 600 thousand people wounded. Thus, the American army in World War I practically ceased to exist.
When World War II broke out, the American government was neutral, right down to the Japanese strike. aviation by Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Only then did American troops join the anti-Hitler coalition and begin hostilities. And thanks to the presence of the atomic bomb and its use in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, America has managed to gain a leading position in the world after the end of the war. And the country's population believed that America was omnipotent.
The war in Iraq (1991) helped to debunk another American myth. Its results for the United States were very serious - in the first week of fighting alone, US troops lost 10 thousand soldiers and about six dozen tanks. Despite this, then it was possible to convince the whole world of its victory, although in reality there was no victory: the goals of the war were not achieved, the Iraqi troops could not be destroyed, just as they failed to overthrow the regime of S. Hussein. Due to the impossibility of defeating the enemy, the American government decided to bribe the enemy so that he surrenders, and the United States could once again demonstrate military power. Something similar could be observed during the Iraq war in 2003. But the situation was such that the regime in the country was not so totalitarian: solid accounts with foreign banks and no less solid relations with Western states became the main reason for the desire to surrender to the ruling Iraqi elite. Despite the fact that the regime was overthrown, the country was destroyed and plundered, the Iraqi people themselves did not think of giving up, in the end - instead of victory, the mass movement of rebel forces against the American occupiers. And if at the beginning of the war about 20 attacks on American soldiers were carried out daily, then over time this number increased to a hundred attacks, and at the end of autumn this figure reached 200 attacks per day.
Do not forget about the losses of the United States in this war. During the months of conflict, the US military lost at least 30 thousands of soldiers killed. The main reason for such large losses lies in the fact that both soldiers and officers had a very low level of professional skills. Ordinary soldiers did not know how to operate in a real battle, they did not have a clue how to use shelters. As for the officer corps, outwardly, all military training in America looks very, very solid. But in reality, approximately 70 percent of all officers are graduates of civilian educational institutions in which they took military training courses, in other words, the military department. This training resembles the lessons of elementary military training in secondary school that existed in the USSR.
Another problem is the people who take these courses. The fact is that in the United States is very expensive training, so not everyone can pay for it. To become one of those for whom the state pays, you need to either study very well, or be an athlete, or go to a military department. Thus, it turns out that the future military are malosportivnye not very educated people from poor families, that is, the intelligentsia with a large number of medical, financial and other problems.
Of course, there are professional universities, but they play a minor role in the training of personnel officers. So, for example, an officer officer’s school in Fort Benning trains about 5 annually hundreds of graduates who are trained for three months from among the soldiers, warrant officers and sergeants who wanted to become officers. After training, they are sent for training in their specialty for several months.
There is also the West Point Military Academy, but it is almost impossible for an ordinary person to get through here. First, the recommendation of someone from the government or government officials is needed, and secondly, a lot of money, because the training lasts 4 for a year and costs about 250 thousand dollars. However, all this does not mean that at the end of the institution a person will receive a full-fledged military education and the corresponding specialty. There is simply no special training for officers for a certain kind of troops.
As for the increase in the level of military education, it is necessary to say that there are no military academies in America - here they manage with advanced training courses for commanders called “Military Colleges”. Training in them lasts less than a year.
Thus, certain conclusions can be drawn from the foregoing.
America is far from superpower. It outlines signs of a crisis caused by political leadership mistakes. Despite the fact that the state plays a very important role on the world stage, and few events in the world take place without the participation of the Americans, they have lost their former influence. And the US military, in particular, its personnel, suffers the same complexes as all other normal people: they also want to live, are unprotected from infections and suffer from pain. And consequently - the American army can be defeated ...
Materials used:
http://genocid.net/news_content.php?id=1887
http://topwar.ru/12235-samyy-bolshoy-mif-amerikanskaya-armiya.html
http://www.koleco.info/page_arch.php?id=245
http://www.warandpeace.ru/ru/reports/view/33430/
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