Comment by mikkupikku
3 days ago
You are correct, but also it doesn't matter because the US has flaunted the constitution in precisely this way for every single war America has been in since WW2. Wars without congressional declaration are de facto legal and have been for as long as you and I have been alive.
This, of course, is one of the reasons why people's opinion of the USA has been steadily dropping.
They don't play by the rules that they themselves created. They are not a trustworthy partner.
Any country that can ought to be removing any and all dependencies on the USA as a matter of priority - as Europe is doing for military matters. It's actually pretty easy, you just schmooze the orange fuckwit and tell him everything's ok, and then you do what you want, incrementally so you can boil that frog.
Europe's defense newswires are full of interesting stuff supposedly happening, but until money is reallocated from welfare to defense, nothing is actually happening for all practical purposes.
In other words: a bunch of hot air. And will EU denizens agree to lowering their welfare spending to fund defense? Questionable, given the recent tantrums in France over raising the retirement age (which is objectively necessary for their budget.)
Finally, no superpower in the history of humanity has or will irrevocably bound themselves by the "rules they create" on the global stage. Expecting any superpower to do so is sheltered naïveté at best. The real world does not work that way, superpowers will do whatever they feel is in their best interest regardless of "international law" and this will never change so long as geopolitics exists.
This is factually incorrect.
The Gulf of Tonkin resolution authorized war in Vietnam. A Joint resolution authorized the Gulf War. Two of many counter examples.