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Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by roenxi on Saturday March 10, 2018 @05:21PM (#16560466)
The US has a great many resources; natural, produced and human capital. There are absolutely organised groups (some are nation states, some less powerful) that would come over and take those resources away if there was an opportunity.

In theory, soldiers of the US army will going to stop that thievery by any means up to and including giving away their lives for their country. This is a critically important role, and as a society you can't really afford to send mixed messages about how important soldiers are. This is doubly true because of the potential risks they face, they need to feel appreciated. They are filling a valuable role.

What the leadership does with those soldiers in times of relative peace, however, is highly questionable and open to the usual rough and tumble of political debate.

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by tomcooks on Saturday March 10, 2018 @05:38PM (#16560536)
Since i was born, US seems to be the only country actively and openly stealing other countries' resources (apart from Friendly Green Men in Crimea ofc)
Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by simonh on Saturday March 10, 2018 @05:57PM (#16560588)
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Serbian encroachment in Bosnia. Argentinian invasion of the Falklands. Chinese annexation of islands in the South China Sea. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (though I don’t know how old you are, likewise for Falklands). Russian occupation of territory from Georgia. ...I’m sure I’ve missed a few.
Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by jcranmer on Saturday March 10, 2018 @06:58PM (#16560802)
First and Second Congo Wars, a large part of which is battling for control of the mines in that region. It's one of the conflicts which gave rise to the concept of blood diamonds, which is to say, it's one of the few conflicts that's actually about control of natural resources.

(I'm assuming, of course, that the GP is largely talking about "wars I disagree with" when referring to "actively and openly stealing other countries' resources," because the number of recent conflicts that are openly about resource control is very small and the US is involved with none of them. The Iraq War is often claimed to be about oil grab, but that doesn't really make any sense when you dig into the history of the buildup to the war, and in any case, it certainly wasn't "openly" about it.)

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by tomcooks on Sunday March 11, 2018 @07:08AM (#16562551)
Indeed i forgot about those, you are correct.

A _tiny_ difference between those and United States of America is that USA crosses entire oceans to steal resources, where other invasions you mentioned are bordering countries; exception to that is obviously the Malvinas Island occupation by the British Empire - talking of which:

> Argentinian invasion of the Falklands Do you also consider Angola to be rightful Portuguese soil?

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by jcranmer on Sunday March 11, 2018 @02:33PM (#16564158)
Funny you should say that, because the last time the US crossed an ocean to steal resources was, uh... never.

The only US wars that are strongly arguably stealing resources would be the various banana wars (but the Gulf of Mexico isn't exactly an ocean), the Spanish-American War (ditto; note that the US never set out on the war to conquer the Philippines, the US Navy just happened to be in the area at the time), and the Indian Wars.

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by tomcooks on Monday March 12, 2018 @09:32AM (#16568004)
I suggest reading about how Gaddafi's came to power, who financed the Italian _anni di piombo_ or checking where the biggest US military bases have been built.

I guess they just happened to be there because of the nice weather.

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by gaius on Sunday March 11, 2018 @01:07PM (#16563766)
the Malvinas Island occupation by the British Empire

There was a British colony on the Falklands before Argentina even existed as a country. It was unnamed and unoccupied by anyone.

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by tomcooks on Monday March 12, 2018 @09:45AM (#16568065)
Then why not say they belong to the french, they were there even before the brits?

As far as I can read Las Malvinas were occupied by spanish and british forces, then the brits volountarily abandoned the place[0]

[0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands#cite_note-FOO...)

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by jhanschoo on Saturday March 10, 2018 @07:54PM (#16561039)
There's also the whole Middle East and N. Africa situation, where Islamic countries are funding insurrectionists in their Islamic neighbors.
Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by UnpossibleJim on Saturday March 10, 2018 @05:57PM (#16560589)
You shouldn't turn your eyes towards Isreal, Russia (as mentioned above), many of the central African nations, China's treatment of some of it's bordering states and the Korean Peninsula.
Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by tomcooks on Sunday March 11, 2018 @07:08AM (#16562552)
To me Israel counts as USA invasion.
Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by gaius on Sunday March 11, 2018 @01:06PM (#16563759)
I’m not sure that’s true in the pure economic sense. It would have been incalculably cheaper to simply go on buying Iraqi oil that they were more than happy to sell us.
Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by omegaworks on Saturday March 10, 2018 @06:15PM (#16560651)
This rosy fantasy army recruitment in many ways erases the actual lives of people that join. Army recruitment often targets the poor and marginalized. People that have few opportunities in their communities for stable, above-board middle class employment.

People get recruited for the front lines because the system we’ve built around them pushes them in that direction. Our public schools are increasingly defunded, and people from communities that suffered under redlining still find it difficult to secure credit for to this day. (1)

Soldiers suffer for our national wealth and more often then not have been excluded from spaces where that wealth is generated.

1. https://www.revealnews.org/article/for-people-of-color-banks...

Re:Palantir Wins $876M U.S. Army Contract by andrepd on Saturday March 10, 2018 @09:51PM (#16561475)
>The US has a great many resources; natural, produced and human capital. There are absolutely organised groups (some are nation states, some less powerful) that would come over and take those resources away if there was an opportunity.

Like the US did rape and pillage all over the world? Toppling regimes, bribing politicians, committing massacres, for the sake of the rich and powerful in the US?