[ikalugin]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Methinks it would be better to have an own thread, for this

Well it is all about exceptionalism that rose after the end of the Cold War I think. Ie:

 

- it is fine to torture bad guys, it is fine to have your friend torture guys (but not you), but it is not fine when some one else torture some one (even other bad guys). Who is bad and who is good is very situational - best example is Osama.
- it is fine to spy on your citizens, it is fine to spy on your friends, it is fine if your friends spys (but not on you), it is not fine when some one else spies on people (even on the bad people). Known example - Snowden controversy (classification of his action is a separate matter - what is important is that he confirmed the extent of the US surveillance programs). Certain charter between major IT firms and USG doesn't help this moral dilemma.
- it is fine to invade other countries for bogus reasons, to supply arms to dangerous and unstable groups of people, to bomb other countries without declaration of War (Syria). It is not fine if anyone else does this.

The list goes on, but those are the most obvious points I think.