What Baltimore, Ferguson, And The Middle East Have In Common

For years the United States has tried to dictate the fate of nations around the world; from Korea to Vietnam, Cuba to Grenada, and Afghanistan to Iraq; all of these attempts have failed so far with the exception of South Korea. The most devastating effects of these “interventions” have been felt across the Middle East.

My question is how do we expect to be able to “help” other countries when we can’t even help ourselves? The recent protests in Ferguson and Baltimore have highlighted some major problems within our society. If we can't control violence in our own cities how are we going to control the violence in entire countries in the Middle East? The simple answer is we aren’t because we can’t; in order for an entire region to become stable change has to happen from within. The same goes for police and impoverished communities.
We can still help the Middle East and impoverished communities, but not with an Army of Soldiers or an Army of Police. All we have done is destabilize the both of them by feeding them bullshit politics and armed occupation.

People living in impoverished communities across the United States are subject to the ever changing regulations on welfare imposed by their states. Kansas recently passed a law that prohibits cash assistance from being used on dozens of items. We are not going to help the poor by placing regulations on them, instead we have to give them the support and opportunities that they need.

In the Middle East, Iraq in particular, we have the Bush administration who chose to invade the country in 2003 on the assumption that there were Weapons of Mass Destruction, and that these weapons the Bush administration swore were real could be a threat to national security. So we have the bullshit politics (WMD) and the armed occupation after the initial invasion. Then we have the Obama administration who ends the war and pulls our military out. Not long after we leave the Islamic State starts to gain a foothold in the region and Conservatives want to invade again. In case politicians didn’t know, the Middle East has people in it and we are never going to help if we keep treating it as just another political issue.

What Baltimore, Ferguson, And The Middle East Have In Common

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