Questions tagged [united-states]
Questions relating to the government or the politics of the United States of America
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Has the US ever been sanctioned by another country? [duplicate]
The US and its Western allies use sanctions as an alternative to military action, or to express their displeasure. However, has the US ever been sanctioned? My search results only shows list of ...
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Why did Jimmy Carter appoint Paul Volcker as Fed Chair? [closed]
I associate tight money with Thatcher, and after Thatcher, Reagan (who I also associate with Thatcher). Therefore, it came as a surprise to learn that it was Jimmy Carter who appointed Volcker - who I ...
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Is the discontinuation of the petitioning system "We the People" constitutional?
On January 20, 2021, the day of the Inauguration of Joe Biden, the website of We the People petitioning system https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/about started redirecting to the main whitehouse.gov ...
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What practical difference would it make, over the existing US sanctions, if Russia's PNTR status were revoked?
Apparently there's a difference of opinion between the White House and Congress on whether to revoke Russia's "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with the US.
What practical difference ...
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Why is Taiwan strategically important to United States (besides being dominant in the semiconductor manufacturing)?
Based on Taiwan Relations Act, U.S. will help Taiwan defend itself. One important reason that Taiwan is strategically important to United States is that it has a very strong semiconductor industry. ...
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Why was the USS Kittyhawk sold for one cent for scrapping when the donation fund to turn it into a museum ship raised $5 million? [closed]
All I can find is that the Navy chose not to turn it into a museum ship, but I don't understand, and cannot find an official explanation why.
I thought maybe they were worried about classified tech ...
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How did the 2020s congressional districts so far vote for president in 2020 relative to the nation?
FiveThirtyEight has a redistricting tracker. It found that there are "181 Democratic leaning seats and 177 Republican leaning seats".
My issue is twofold: the data isn't just based off of ...
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Statistics by country/nationality of those sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act (incl. GMA)?
The 2012 Magnitsky Act and its 2016 "Global" [GMA] expansion allows the US authorities to sanction specific individuals for human rights violations. While there is a fairly detailed list on ...
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What is the public evidence about Russian claims concerning US promising non-expansion of NATO towards it borders? [closed]
During the recent 2022 conflict in Ukraine and the diplomatic talks preceding it, the Russian government kept saying that there were promises made by the US and the west that NATO would not expand ...
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How much coal, oil, and natural gas has the U.S. imported from Russia in recent years?
This morning, President Biden announced an executive order banning imports of fossil fuels from Russia. From the White House fact sheet (emphasis added):
Today, President Biden will sign an Executive ...
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Are families with trans teens who leave Texas counted as Internally Displaced Persons?
Internally displaced persons are defined as,
"Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a ...
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What is the basis for the Western leaders to believe that harsh economic sanctions will not lead to a nuclear war with Russia eventually?
It is clear at the moment that no Western countries will send troops to Ukraine or set up a non-fly zone in Ukraine because they worry that will lead to a WWIII.
But Putin already said Western ...
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Why does the United States make it public knowledge as to which generals are in charge of various operations?
Inspired by the question, Who is the Russian military commander in charge of the war on Ukraine?; this made me wonder why the United States makes it known who its generals are and what operations they ...
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Can the US send in troops to Ukraine by removing all markings [closed]
It seems like Russia sent troops to fight in Crimea without any markings. Why cannot the US send in a small force (for example just to take down Russian aircraft) without any markings? Also taking ...
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Was American Revolution a right-wing or left-wing movement? [closed]
I have thought about this issue many times for a few years, but I could never find a satisfying answer.
I tend to believe the American Revolution was a left-wing movement because it focused on the ...
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Why doesn't U.S. use "strategic ambiguity" on whether or not to send troops to Ukraine just like they do for the Taiwan situation?
United States has been using strategic ambiguity on Taiwan Strait issue by not clearly saying whether they would aid Taiwan with U.S. troops should Mainland China attack Taiwan, which intimidates ...
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Why did President Biden decline to put Ukraine's NATO membership on the negotiating table? [closed]
Despite applauding at Joe Biden's ascendency to President of the United States, I am puzzled by the lack of political savvy he displayed before Russia invaded Ukraine.
One week before the invasion he ...
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Why would China not invade Taiwan given that the US did not send troops to Ukraine? What is different in these two geopolitical situations?
In February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine on account of "denazification and demilitarisation". In response to this, the United States and its allies did not send troops to fight in Ukraine (...
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Would NATO intervene in case of an attack outside of Europe and North America?
Today during a special session in the Spanish parliament about the Ukraine war, Santiago Abascal (VOX) claimed that NATO wouldn't defend Ceuta or Melilla if they where attacked. Those two are ...
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How would one go about getting the USA to brain drain Russia by giving out green cards?
It has been suggested that offering green cards to Russians with STEM degrees can be an effective sanction against Putin. What would the political process for that be? Which political body in the USA ...
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How is current Russian invasion of Ukraine different from what USA has done in past multiple times so that it has resulted in this much protest? [duplicate]
I see almost everyone protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It includes the USA too.
But the USA has a history of invasions or wars which also resulted in civilians deaths and violated human ...
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How could the US know so much about Russian intentions and battle plans about the Ukrainian War? [closed]
Ukraine war of February 2022.
With hindsight it seems that the Americans knew a lot about the Russian plans long before the war started. Sure, they saw them amassing the troops on the border, but it ...
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At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, which U.S. forces were immediately ordered to pull back, and from where?
Politico's 02/27/2022 article Pentagon wants Moscow back channels to prevent nuclear escalation includes the following:
When the Russian invasion began in earnest last week, U.S. forces in the region ...
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What's the point of banning a few 'selected Russian banks' from SWIFT?
I read that several Russian banks got banned from SWIFT (mirror) following the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. What's the point of banning a few selected Russian banks from SWIFT? I would ...
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Do export sanctions prevent web services or websites?
If the United States has economic sanctions against Russia, does this prevent American companies from serving websites to users in Russia? Will Google, Youtube, etc., have to be made inaccessible in ...
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What institutions are currently in place to prevent authoritarian militarism?
Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 without any real consequences as evidenced by their ability to pull this stunt again now. Maybe tomorrow China annexes Taiwan, Serbia annexes Bosnia etc.
Do we have ...
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Is it legitimate/constitutional for the White House to turn off the comments on their YouTube videos?
I wonder if it is legitimate/constitutional for the White House to turn off their comments on YouTube videos, as they are doing currently. In 2019. Trump was banned from blocking the critics on his ...
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Can political science gauge quantitatively the strength of US global leadership?
From my perspective, the headline coverage of the direction of the US on the global stage is mostly pessimistic. But I want to see if that is actually justified. I concede it's not an easy undertaking,...
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Do compactness requirements prevent gerrymandering?
One proposal for redistricting reform is the concept of "compactness". A "compact" congressional district was defined by Ballotpedia as "[a district where] the constituents ...
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Since the West will no longer allow Russia to raise money by selling sovereign debt, what alternatives does Russia have?
are there any precedents of this ? What is generally the alternative in such cases ? Do other authoritarian countries help you finance debt ?
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Why does the US treat the problems of Russia and Ukraine as its own?
In this question, I do not raise questions about the conflicts themselves. The question is different - how is the fact that the United States recognizes these problems as its own justified from a ...
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What are my odds of being drafted for US selected service currently? [closed]
So this is definitely a slightly paranoia induced question, but it has been on my mind recently (for obvious reasons) and was wondering what my odds are. Age wise I'm primed for the army; I just ...
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Can a person be elected U.S. President if his birthplace became part of the U.S. after he was born? [duplicate]
The person I have in mind is Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii in 1961, two years after it became the 50th state in 1959.
Suppose he had been born in 1957 (my birth year) that is, before Hawaii ...
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In what ways will the Russian-Ukraine war benefit/harm the United States?
At the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war this year (2022), I have seen rumors on Twitter saying that the United States could actually benefit from Russia's possible invasion into Ukraine. For ...
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Who are those paying the price in the Ukrainian crisis? [closed]
I don't know what is going to happen in the Ukrainian crisis, but I noticed that since the beginning of the cold war when the big guys stir and jostle the small guys in between get squeezed or crushed....
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Is tyrannicide (killing a tyrant) legal in America [closed]
Is tyrannicide (killing of a tyrant) legal in America? I was thinking about this after I heard it was legal in Julius Caesar era Rome. Also, how will we as a society decide when someone is a tyrant, ...
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What's the benefits of US strategic nuclear forces in Europe?
If I understand correctly, the US have long been capable of a retaliatory strike against the USSR / Russia that is powerful enough to nearly completely destroy the target state. (If I'm wrong on that, ...
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What does the United States have to gain by opposing the invasion of Ukraine with words, when they won't back it up with military actions?
The United States government is giving a great deal of attention to the situation in Ukraine, but it does not seem to be willing to threaten the sort of military action that would make an invasion ...
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What are former US judge J. Michael Luttig arguments for "why he thinks it’s time to reform the Electoral Count Act"?
Politico's The never-before-told backstory of Pence's Jan. 6 argument begins:
Former judge J. Michael Luttig shares the story of the run-up to the insurrection, and why he thinks it’s time to reform ...
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Why does the US keep announcing what they think Russia is going to do in Ukraine?
There must be some motive here that I can't understand. For one I can easily think of reasons why the US wouldn't want to make public the things that they know, if not for any other reason than to ...
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Does the US postmaster have the power to decide by themselves to whom to award a $6.5 billion contract?
Wikipedia's Louis DeJoy; Postmaster General says:
DeJoy received criticism for his decision on February 24, 2021, to award a $6.5 billion contract to modernize the USPS fleet exclusively to Oshkosh, ...
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What 1867 act of US congress entered this painting for the Southern District of New York? What did this act of congress actually do?
CNN's Abby Phillip's video Where the fight for the Black vote really started | History Refocused at about the 6 minute mark during a discussion of reconstruction, a work of art is shown during ...
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What are the potential strategic/economic gains of China for taking over Taiwan (with military invasion or not)?
My question is not about the net gain that China could have for occupying Taiwan. I understand with military invasion, China has to undertake huge financial and human resources cost, suffering from ...
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Does the US Air Force "Rocket Cargo" project have any notable proponents in Congress?
CNBC's June 4, 2021 article The Pentagon wants to use private rockets like SpaceX’s Starship to deliver cargo around the world says:
The U.S. Air Force said Friday is expanding a small development ...
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Do the sanctions on the leaders of China actually help them to deepen their autocracy?
Recently Mike Rogers et al introduced a bill to sanction senior leaders of CCP, claiming that the Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable for their egregious and disturbing human rights abuse....
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Is there a significant amount of donations to primary campaigns from the opposing party?
I heard tonight that Liz Cheney has a huge lead (like 10 to 1) in campaign donation over her competitor in the Republican Primary for the mid-term elections. And I got to thinking that Democrats would ...
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Are cities with nonpartisan mayoral elections more likely to elect Republican mayors?
I thought about the fact that cities in the US elect mayors in many different ways. Most notably for this question, some elect mayors on partisan ballots others do not.
Given that most or all of the ...
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What/when are the filing deadlines after which Alice Stewart predicts Republican congress members will start saying Let's stop talking about the past?
Political commentator Alice Stewart has made an interesting prediction; Republican politicians will begin to say "Let's stop focusing on the past" (Donald Trump's loss in 2020 and associated ...
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Was US Representative Liz Cheney able to start that DOJ investigation of foreign influence on environmental groups? If so, was any found yet?
Wikipedia's Liz_Cheney; Tenure says:
In September 2020, Cheney asked the Justice Department to investigate environmental groups such as the NRDC, Sea Change and the Sierra Club, saying that "...
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US Rep. Liz Cheney: environmental groups "often espouse views that align with those of our adversaries" and should be investigated; her evidence?
Wikipedia's Liz_Cheney; Tenure says:
In September 2020, Cheney asked the Justice Department to investigate environmental groups such as the NRDC, Sea Change and the Sierra Club, saying that "...
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