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The Confederacy of Beastland wrote:

What did Russia do wrong other than considering Ukraine to be apart of Russia? Seriously. I get tired of the anti-Russian propoganda.

Also, are they really pro Hamas?

I do not think or Israel, a country the world created after WW2, is some divine state that we have an obligation to help in every single affair: financial aid only teaches them to be dependent, continuing a cycle.

Also, are you referring to the accounting term "goodwill"?

Iran is a funder and military supporter of Hamas, though I don't think they're quite a proxy org, like the Houthis or Hezbollah. Not sure about Russia.

I don't think I am referring to the accounting term? Maybe accidentally, but definitely not knowingly. I know very little about accounting, per se.

Russia is doing something wrong by "considering Ukraine to be [a part?] of Russia." That is wrong. That's as wrong as us considering any other sovereign foreign state as being part of the United States, when they are in fact not. It is exactly the kind of aggressive war of territorial expansion that libertarians traditionally admit the righteous function of the State at home is to prevent and resist.

As for Israel, well, I also don't believe that we have a divine obligation. I am not what you would call a "religious Zionist," although I understand that is a popular belief set among evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants. To the extent I support Israel, it is moral and political for me, rather than theological.

Actually, you might consider that one of the major reasons we have so much global reach, is because of our interests in global trade. Ever since our wars with the Barbary Pirates, surely you can at least admit there's an obvious justification for global military involvement by the wealthiest, strongest countries (the UK in a previous age, the USA in this one) guaranteeing the safety of the world's oceans and trade routes. It just occurred to me, if I were a historian, it might be a fun academic project to analyze how many of our wars were in some major way caused by threats to American shipping. Certainly the War of 1812 and WW1 have causes of this kind, as does the War of Independence. Anyway, that's a tangential point. But Israel, and other American allies and sponsors of our bases, allow us real access to strategic points across the world. Even if we had dismantled everything strictly, only related to ""fighting"" the Cold War, there would still be a lot of bases and allies and partners we'd be involved with, just because we have a major, MAJOR interest in keeping the seas (and skies) SAFE—and almost every other country also wants us to do that. They don't want us involved in their domestic concerns, naturally, and I agree with that. I don't believe in unlimited intervention for intervention's sake. But, like, foreign aid is not really intervention.

I also am not sure that Israel is actually growing dependent on our aid. It's a valid concern, but I think to establish it, we would want to look at facts, rather than religiously generalizing from principles. Humans tend to follow economic laws, but they can make smart decisions to avert problems, if they are proäctive.