Thanks for your interesting and insightful comments, Joseph. Without getting too far into the weeds, I'd just say that I've often found that the U. S.'s actions as policeman of the world have been misguided and counterproductive.

If the U. S. had left the Soviet Union alone in Afghanistan, they might well have stabilized the country and the region. Instead the U. S. supported the jihadists and helped create Osama bin Laden.

Abandoning Lebanon to the jihadists just exacerbated the problem, in my view. And then, of course, George W. Bush made matters far worse by invading Iraq.

From my perspective, it seems like the U.S. consistently makes bad decisions.