I tried not to insult you. I really thought you know better.
I think you have an idealized view of your county's history. This is no insult. Most people have an idealized view of their own country's history.
We were successfully cooperating with Russia for some time already and Russia is our neighbor. Suddenly, we are being told that Russia is evil and Putin is a boogeyman (don't start with Ukraine, because this was an evil intrigue for this purpose, where Putin was surprised and forced to act, and where victims and perpetrators were swapped). Unfortunately, also not all european elites are pro-European. I think that enough people here already know this and they represent a significant obstacle for them.
Isolationism is not left wing but right-wing, and as an ideology originates in USA. Those conservatives who want war usually are acting because they believe it is in their own interest, not because of interventionism which is an idealistic stance (although many use idealistic excuses). Typical idealistic interventionism is left-wing, like Clinton, Blair, Power, Sanders, Soros, Glucksman, Henrí-Levy, many european Green Parties and most Trotzkyists. The Soviet Union itself was interventionist until the late 1940s. I personally prefer the conservative isolationists, in case you thought I'm left-wing.
There are also imperialists among left-wingers, who pretend to be idealists. There are anti-imperialists among the conservatives (libertarians, paleo-conservatives, ...). Pacifism is usually more prevalent among left-wingers. Some details are certainly debatable, yet I think I summed it up correctly overall.
Regarding being nazi, I don't know, if someone supports neo-nazis and islamists abroad, is he a neo-nazi then? I think it depends on the perspective. I would say no, because actual nazi-ideology is not necessarily shared. Hitler also was supported by many who merely sought their own benefit, not because they shared nazi-ideology. But I understand why Goga thinks this way. But I also think that he is exaggerating.
I don't know about anyone who claimed that Putin is a social democrat. He is a typical conservative, communists are his biggest opponents and russian nazis the loudest. He has more friends among US Republicans rather than Democrats.
Damn, I didn't want to write that much anymore.
I'm an American by naturalization, not by birth or childhood rearing. Plus, we arrived here recently enough that my university and post university professors presented virtually everything through the typical left wing, anti-American lens. My opinions changed as the result of extensive reading and, I believe, my own rather hard-headed, logic based way of approaching data and the world in general.
I actually think that like a lot of recent European immigrants I appreciate America more because I have a basis for comparison.
My particular academic interest was history both European and American, an interest I have pursued for years, and I also have personal and family history in Europe upon which to draw. All of that informs my opinion that anyone who looks at Russian actions vis a vis Europe whether in the past or in the present and who still thinks that they are cooperating with a benign partner and good neighbor is dangerously naive and should perhaps do some more reading in European history.
I'm afraid that likewise, from my perspective, your analysis of American political thought is rather superficial and obviously owes something to the kind of conspiracy based analyses which in Europe are thought to be a substitute for rational, fact based analysis.
I am telling you as someone who has lived here for years and someone who has studied American history in detail that Americ
a has been isolationist since it's inception. See George Washington's Farewell Address.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington's_Farewell_Address
The whole thing is a marvel and a testament as to why he is considered America's greatest president. I would recommend that everyone read it, but if you don't have the time, you can skip to the section about foreign relations.
In the twentieth century the mindset was still that America should hold itself aloof from all the ideological madness that periodically shakes Europe. It was summed up in the phrase, " The business of America is business."
The American people, even though they knew what was going on in Europe, didn't want to get into either World War I or II. They came in late and only after attacks on American citizens or American territory. What Roosevelt wanted is not what the American public wanted.
You are correct that
usually the interventionists of the 20th century have been Democrats. However, the first Roosevelt president, Teddy Roosevelt, who wanted to project American power not only in Central America but elsewhere, was a Republican. (He was also a progressive.) So, it's much more complicated that Europeans imagine.
At any rate, whatever the situation in the past, especially since 9/11 it has been the Republicans who have been more interventionist, but it's not because they necessarily want to be the world's policeman. It's because they'd rather fight the enemy "over there than over here." It was the left who turned against that interventionism first, but a majority of Americans, both left and right, turned against it. If that weren't the case, Barack Obama would never have been elected. To see flag draped caskets over and over, young men missing limbs trapped in wheel chairs, billions sinking into some hole in the desert or lining the pockets of some Afghani warlord, and men whom we spent our blood and treasure training failing to man up and defend their own country or still pursuing their asinine internecine squabbles rather than being concerned with the welfare of all their people was just too much. As I said, whether public opinion will now change only time will tell.
I think it's pretty clear that we will have to agree to disagree about these matters, so I'll leave it at that.
