Post-WW II Japan, Germany, post-cold-war Russia, not to mention Panama, and a lot of others we had a hand in helping a new government to form, but hadn't fought a war with first. Would you care to retract your bogus statement?What on earth are you talking about? First, Germany and Japan, as already discussed, essentially rebuilt themselves without US assistance, most of which was political (denazification etc).
Oh, I'm sorry -- I didn't realize I was dealing with someone who was so massively ignorant of history...
Let's make Japan the object of today's lesson, shall we? You said that they "essentially rebuilt themselves, without US assistance".
I see.
So tell me, just what do you think Douglas MacArthur and the US occupation forces were doing in Japan from 1945 through 1952?
MacArthur was appointed the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers and set up shop in Yokohama. Most historians describe MacArthur as being the "virtual dictator" of Japan in the post-war years, and they're absolutely correct.
MacArthur ruled Japan by decree, his directives had the force of law.
On September 2, 1945, he issued General Directive #1, ordering the Japanese to disarm. Seven tons of samurai swords were confiscated and shipped to San Francisco.
By decree, he implemented women's suffrage and equality in the workplace, dismantled the war industry, implemented the country's first free elections (April 1946), formed labor unions, broke up monopolies (the Zaibatsu industrial cartels - Nov 6 1945), and implemented open instruction in schools and mandatory school attendance.
He dissolved the existing police forces and released all political prisoners.
He lifted all restrictions on political, civil, and religious freedoms.
He removed Shintoism as a state religion (Directive of December 8, 1945) and oversaw the conversion of two million Japanese to Christianity.
He "encouraged" the emperor to publicly renounce his divinity and reject the Japanese concept of racial superiority (January 1, 1946).
In February 1946 he personally wrote (with the help of his staff) the new Constitution for Japan which went into effect in 1947. It's strikingly similar to the US Constitution (free speech, sovereign power lies with the people, government broken up into legislative/executive/judicial branches, guarantees for human rights, amendment via bills passed in the legislative branch then ratified by the people, etc.) As a result it made the emperor purely a figurehead. The main departure from the US Constitution was Article 9, which outlawed any Japanese army or military action, clearly something the Japanese would not have adopted on their own initiative.
He and his office wrote over 700 new laws which were rubberstamped by the Japanse congress (Diet), including the abolition of the hereditary ruling classes and nobility, liberalized divorce, and massive land reform -- under the latter 89% of Japanese farm land was converted to ownership by the farmers who worked it. Five million acres changed hands.
He implemented public health programs including vaccinations, which saved an estimated two million lives (more than the Japanese war dead), helping to increase Japanese life expectancy by eight years for men, fourteen for women.
During the first half of the occupation, Japan's media was subject to a rigid censorship of any anti-American statements and controversial topics such as the race issue. MacArthur also placed restrictions on the Japanese Communist party.
In 1952, the San Francisco treaty ended the American occupation of Japan and returned the country to self-rule.
At the start of the occupation in 1945, Japan was a feudal dictatorship with a state religion. At the end of the occupation in 1952, due to the directives of American General Douglas MacArthur, Japan was a capitalistic democracy with a bill of rights, and has remained so for the next 49 years.
I'm sorry, what was that you were saying about how Japan "essentially rebuilt themselves without US assistance"?
What was that you were saying about how all the US attempts at nation building have been abject failures?
I repeat -- would you care to retract your bogus claims?
THESE are your counter-examples???
Yes, they are. Unlike you, I actually know a bit of history. I note that all *your* examples date back no farther than the Clinton administration. Gosh, maybe that might explain both the failures themselves, and your own short-sightedness.
A bit of advice -- history extends back just a bit farther than the Clinton inauguration. Go learn something about it (you'll find it those things called "books" in the library), and maybe your next pronouncements won't be so laughably ignorant and wrong.
Otherwise, I rest my case.
Good, because it would be sad to see you dig yourself any deeper.
MacArthur ruled Japan by decree, his directives had the force of law. On September 2, 1945, he issued General Directive #1, ordering the Japanese to disarm. Seven tons of samurai swords were confiscated and shipped to San Francisco. By decree, he implemented women's suffrage and equality in the workplace, dismantled the war industry, implemented the country's first free elections (April 1946), formed labor unions, broke up monopolies (the Zaibatsu industrial cartels - Nov 6 1945), and implemented open instruction in schools and mandatory school attendance. He dissolved the existing police forces and released all political prisoners. He lifted all restrictions on political, civil, and religious freedoms. He removed Shintoism as a state religion (Directive of December 8, 1945) and oversaw the conversion of two million Japanese to Christianity. He "encouraged" the emperor to publicly renounce his divinity and reject the Japanese concept of racial superiority (January 1, 1946). etc etc etc
You made my point entirely: the billions we spent "rebuilding" the world after WWII was primarily focused on de-nazification and de-emperorization. Where did I say otherwise? As far as building their modern industrial societies, they for the most part did it themselves. You can be as sarcastic as you like; that does not change the fact that the core of your argument is a complete non-starter.