Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

The Bretton Woods Agreement did yield a long lasting pact among Western nations and helped to provide an effective counterbalance (and then some) to the power of the USSR and allied states. The peace dividend post-Cold War improved that situation even more. Overall I think we can agree that deaths due to war post-1944 have trended down significantly. This does not mean that the USA "forced peace" upon the world.

The USA has been involved with many conflicts and supported bloody dictators around the world, including:

- Wars with Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Grenada, Libya, and more

- Supporting corrupt regimes including such gems Pinochet, Hussein, Bin Laden, Gaddafi among MANY others

- Supported destabilizing coups and (counter) revolutions, often with significant blowback (Iran, 911, etc)

Overall the post-WWII context was better than the eras that preceded it. This occasionally came with a very high cost to (mostly) innocent people in far away lands. The US did not 'force peace' upon the world, it pursued its interests, and humanitarian outcome was little more than an afterthought. The death toll in Vietnam and Iraq alone show this rather directly.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: