I'm going to ask one more time, as it is the central question of this thread (that was part of an argument in the Russiagate thread, namely that Russiagate shouldn't be about the Mueller investigation/Trump impeachment exclusively, but also about other things, like US meddling in other countries):
Is it okay when the US meddles/interferes in other countries?
If no one is willing to say 'yes' to this question and explain why (maybe Rob Dekker and Martin Gisser would like to), I would consider the matter resolved.
Sorry for the late reply, Neven, but I had to think about that question.
What I came up with is probably not surprising :
It depends.
There are different shades of gray here, and the US, as a super-power, has a LOT of programs.
For example, the US has humanitarian programs all over the world.
In my opinion, that's good, so if you consider that 'interference' the answer is YES.
Then there are humanitarian programs funded by the DoD.
Like building hospitals, and renovating schools and such. Here again, in my opinion the answer is YES.
Then there is promoting freedom of speech, and training independent journalists.
In my opinion that is also a good thing. So YES.
Then there is military training. The DoD trains almost every military on the planet, as long as the country they come from is not hostile to the US or has a record of gross human rights violations.
I believe that is a good thing, since a well-trained military is less likely to commit atrocities. So YES again.
Then there are open, UN approved military interventions, where we all (the UN) decide that some force committed a crime or poses a gross threat to world peace.
Here, I'd generally approve, but we need to make sure that the threat is based on real evidence.
So that's a general YES, with a 'be careful' notion.
Then there are covert operations, without UN approval. Could be anything from covert meddling in elections to covert support (like Nicaragua contras) to obtain a political objective.
These I disapprove of big-time. So the answer there is NO.
Any international 'interference' should be in the open, preferably approved by the UN, before it is acted upon.
So that's my opinion.