mw13 – I realize the trail of tears and other grave injustices America brought on the native Americans was a long time ago – I was contrasting it to examples brought by charliehall some of which were equally as long ago.
I think your mention of crimea actually strengthens my point rather than refute it. Putin took over crimea and davka didn’t suffer any consequences! The world made very vocal protests, but on a practical level sat by and didn’t actually lift a finger to stop him. The US and Europe did institute several economic sanctions but as you can see from how beligerant Russia continues to be the obviously can’t be defined as “crippling.”
And no – silicon valley is not always “where the crucial stuff comes from.” Have you noticed how every few months there are headlines about silicon valley firms like Google and Facebook buying up Israeli tech companies like Waze for deals in the tens of millions of dollars? If all the crucial stuff comes out of Silicon valley why don’t they develop it all themselves instead of purchasing Israeli firms who beat them to it? And when it comes to technology there is no “cat out of the bag” New and innovative groundbreaking software is constantly being developed.