Should the U.S. continue its role as a global police force
A brief look at the steady decline of U.S. hegemony
The origins of U.S. regional dominance in the 60s and 70s
Following the second World War, the U.S. suddenly found itself the dominant economic and military might in a devastated world. As the British Empire faded, into the vacuum a new empire arose and armed with a nuclear deterrent, the U.S began to exert its global influence.
Initially, this influence confined itself to a peace keeping role with bases in Europe and Asia, but as its influence and power spread, like every other empire, it’s policing began to resemble its foreign policy and took on all the aspects of interference. This interference started to become apparent in the 60s and 70s, when its business interests became threatened and it actively began to orchestrate coups to further its own economic interests.
CIA in South America
http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/us-interventions-in-latin-american-021/
"Fueled by the Cold War and transnational corporate interests, the U.S. has covertly tinkered with the governments of Latin American countries since World War 2, producing an extremely violent and unstable political climate."
Timeline of U.S. global destabilisation
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html
"This scenario has been repeated so many times that the CIA actually teaches it in a special school, the notorious "School of the Americas." (It opened in Panama but later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia.) Critics have nicknamed it the "School of the Dictators" and "School of the Assassins." Here, the CIA trains Latin American military officers how to conduct coups, including the use of interrogation, torture and murder. The Association for Responsible Dissent estimates that by 1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. (2) Former State Department official William Blum correctly calls this an "American Holocaust."
Post Soviet Union and the rise of U.S. global dominance
With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, the U.S. suddenly found itself without opposition and began to involve itself in the oil rich countries of the Middle East, where its destabilisation techniques of ‘Arab springs’, regime change’ and ‘removing dictators’ consequently opened up a pandora’s box of nightmare sectarian violence.
Whilst the west spent a large part of its GDP on trying to provide a welfare utopia for its citizens, China and Russia were perfectly aware that if they were not to eventually become a puppet satellite of the U.S. they needed to start upgrading their military for an eventual showdown.
By 2014, the new powers of Russia and China began to emerge and for the first time, Russia drew ‘red lines’ in the Ukraine, which contain the gas and oil pipes supplying Europe, as the European Union and the U.S. orchestrated a ‘regime change’ and China drew the same red lines in its own backyard in the South China Sea.
The present day scenario
As Russia and Iran become militarily involved in Syria and China sends the Liaoning and a cruiser missile ship to assist, this resembles a coalition in opposition to U.S. domination. Syria is both an economic trading partner and ally of both Russia and China and Iran is an ally. Neither of these countries is doing anything other than what the U.S. is doing in support of its own allies.
Having rampaged through the Middle East for over a decade playing off one sectarian group against another, removing dictatorships, but ignoring others when economic interests are best suited (Saudi Arabia); the U.S. now finds itself outmanoeuvred and increasingly isolated. Did ‘bringing democracy’ invasions and ‘Arab spring’ regime changes produce peace anywhere the U.S. became involved?
What is the real reason for current U.S. military expansionism. Arguably, it is no coincidence that Iran, Russia and China have all abandoned the U.S. dollar, as did Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran. Syria also remains a path to any future invasion of Iran.
"The real reason for singling out these countries is the petrodollar system, a scheme that enables America to stay afloat despite being more than $17 trillion in debt. The existence of petrodollars is one of the pillars of America’s economic might, because it creates a significant external demand for the American currency, allowing the U.S. to accumulate enormous debts without defaulting. "
The U.S. road to war
1. NATO expansion. The western occupation of the Ukraine would have left NATO only 400 km from Moscow. Western invasions of Russia twice in the last century entitles Russia to view a NATO build-up with suspicion.
2. The U.S. military bases surrounding China to the south and east, with a misleading statement that China is expansionist. Building islands in its own backyard is hardly expansionism. The excuse is that China might close international shipping lanes, which it could do without the islands and so they become an excuse, rather than the reason.
3. Iran in the middle, surrounded by U.S. military bases both to the east and west, plus economic sanctions.
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''US admits it has military plan to attack Iran. The United States has acknowledged the existence of a fully-fledged military plan to attack Iran, significantly increasing tensions with Tehran ahead of crucial nuclear negotiations next week. " Telegraph.co.uk October 28. 2015. Both Russia and China have publicly stated they will help Iran.
Just as the British empire and the Soviet Union collapsed, the U.S. is also now in a position where it can no longer police the world without consensus, but must soon decide whether it goes to war, or accepts a decline in its self-appointed role and begins to adopt a power sharing role with others. Currently, as NATO begins to surround Russia and the U.S. Navy purposely challenges China over the islands dispute, it appears that war, hopefully confined to a regional scale, is the likely option. However, fighting on its home ground, China is very likely to give as good as it gets and perhaps this will force the U.S. to the negotiating table, where a settlement is reached concerning spheres of influence and produce a much needed power sharing consensus.
Summary
With a collapsing economy and internal strife, the only things U.S. has left is its petrodollar income and technically armed superiority. The chances are unlikely that either Russia or China will bow to military aggression and with China holding around $1.2 trillion of U.S. debt, China has both the economic and military might to provide the checks and balances needed.
This is not to argue that the U.S. hasn’t been a much needed interventionist power on occasions and a steadfast provider of humanitarian aid, but when its survival as a hegemonic power depends on military aggression and its own society needs a Homeland Security Department for protection, now might be the time to bow out gracefully, as others have done in recent history.
There are new kids on the block (China, Russia). all Empires have a limited shelf life, the US is no different from the previous USSR, or the colonialism of Britain. The worry is will it go quietly as the previous two, or drag the world down with it.
Should or should not, it is objectively the world's major force. It cann't be wiped out by itself.
1. The U.S. has invaded, occupied or bombed 14 countries in less than 30 years.
2. For the first time (2014), China adjusted GDP at 16.48% is higher than the U.S.
3. The west is not creating jobs it is losing them. U.S. employment at 5%, but population on food stamps at 46.5m (2014). Youth unemployment in the EU at 23.7% (2014).
4. Poverty rates increasing U.S. 14.3% (2013) and UK poverty at 21.6% (2013/14).
5. With a debt of $18tr, the U.S. was recently printing $85bn every month (quantitative easing), just to keep itself afloat. Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus have financially collapsed.
The west is now suffering the fate of Empires and is imploding financially, morally and socially in a bizarre re-enactment of naked men parading down the streets, every day norm serial killings and mass government dependency. As it lashes out in a nuclear age, it is hoped that it doesn’t take the rest of the world down with it.
Fantastic piece. If it weren't for China and Russia the US probably would've already attacked Iran.
The "collapsing" economy you describe has the world's largest GDP, expected to reach $22 billion US dollars this year, 2015. Its corporations continue to have record profits and since the 2008-2009 recession, under President Obama, the US has created 12 million new jobs. "Strife" is nothing new in American society; in fact it is a feature of the society for the last half century. That said, most of its interventions have contributed negatively in economic growth and social development to the countries in which the US violated sovereignty and sent in troops.
US is very important for the global peace. US played a vital role contributed to global peace form World War II to now. Recent civilization derived from UK,but modern civilization derived form US mainly. Japan was defeated entirely by US in World War II,when US navy and air forces destroyed almost all Japanese warships. US beated Iraq easily when Iraq invaded Kuwait in Gulf war.Though US did many things out of equality between nation and nation,US acted a vital positive role in maintaining the world peace and promoting the global development.
Very good blog...hopefully the world will open their eyes and see what the US is doing to the planet!
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