For three centuries, from the start of the seventeenth until late in the nineteenth, the white settler colonies in what is now the United States expanded their realm through genocide, land theft, slavery, and wars of aggression against their neighbours. After the US Civil War, its’ elite’s eyes wandered abroad with their interference in the freedom struggles of those colonized by the Spanish to establish their own colonies in the Caribbean and with the Philippines. They also reinforced their dominance over the whole of the Western hemisphere. After the European fratricide of World War 1, the US became a world power and creditor to the world; including the unseemly refusal to forgive the allied war debts that directly lead to the destruction of the Weimar Republic and the opening given to the Nazis (not to mention the significant support ad aid given to the Nazi regime by US elites such as Ford). With a second fratricidal European war, together with the crushing of Japan, the US became the Boss of the “free” world outside the communist bloc; which included extensive interference to forestall the national sovereignty and independence of the newly decolonized nations and Latin America. It deconstructed the British Empire through once again refusing to forgive war debts and bring aid to the shattered British economy; this was a consciously built US Empire not some “accident” as court historians attempt to make you believe. The assigned role of other nations was as vassals, and perhaps nobles in the case of Western Europe and Japan, not sovereigns. Then in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union it seemed that the US elites had achieved their five-century project, to be the Boss of the World. As with most bosses, the decline sets in at what appears to be the apex of their power and influence. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for the self-adoration and hubris of the apex of power to fade away and reflect lessened circumstances.
The US frittered away its apex of power, treating Russia so appallingly that it has come to reject the West and rebuild some of its prior strength. While the US threw away the outpouring of global support after 9/11 through an illegal war of aggression against Iraq and a “war on terror” that abrogated the sovereignty of so many nations and lead to the death of so many innocents, China quietly grew its strength to the point where it would start to assert its own power. At the same time its elites squandered its industrial and cultural strengths in an orgy of profiteering, corruption, extraction, monopolization, class war and social engineering. The arrogance and profiteering continued in the 2010s, even after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, as Libya was destroyed on a bed of lies, Syria turned into a land of ruins, and the Trump administration walked away from the JCPOA agreement with Iran and stooped so low as to assassinate an Iranian leader on a diplomatic mission in a third country. Then also the stupidity of treating Pakistan with no respect, deepening its relationship with China. The Biden administration promised at least some reset from the arrogance, incompetence and near civil war within the Trump administration, but it was not to be. Instead, we have the incompetent man children Tweedledum and Tweedledee act of Blinken and Sullivan – each seeming to have just awoken from a coma that started in the mid-1990s. These two seem to have never seen an ally they can’t annoy the hell out of, an independent they can’t drive into the arms of their opponents, and an opponent they can’t not appear to be lost confused little children in comparison to. Overseen by a declining Biden father and utterly out to lunch Vice President who proves the Peter principle by her every action.
After over a decade of courting Russia and China confirmed their vows as best buddies during the recent Olympics, in the face of mounting Western abuse. They have worked well together to maintain a neutral ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), a generally aligned Central Asia, and an increasing presence in Africa and Latin America. In the past year they have been greatly aided by the US administration mixture of overwhelming incompetence and arrogance. The Belarus leader, who was attempting to balance between Russia and the West, is now a blood brother of President Putin after the Western attempts at colour revolution and regime change. The same goes for the leader of Kazakhstan after a Western coup attempt against its liberal and Western leaning government. Then of course there was the shambolic US retreat from Afghanistan, that both freed that nation to become part of the Eurasian bloc, and even managed to greatly annoy its NATO allies and greatly discomfort putative anti-China “Quad” (US, Japan, Australia, India) member India. Added to this was the treachery shown toward France in the submarine deal with Australia, and the slap in the face for an India which had been denied the nuclear technology made available to Australia. If this was not enough, there was the refusal to go back to the JCPOA with Iran, pushing that country even further into the arms of China and Russia.
And now the war in Ukraine, created by the West’s refusal to treat Russia’s legitimate security concerns seriously. In fact the US and the West have done the complete opposite in the post-2014 US-backed coup period; turning the country into a quasi-NATO member, supporting its refusal to implement the Minsk Accords and its murderous shelling in the Donbass, and refusing to rule out full NATO membership for the country. Russia gave them a last chance and then utilized the military-technical means that it has promised with an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Would this perhaps be a point of reflection for Tweedledum and Tweedledee, after a disastrous year as the head of the State Department and National Security Advisor? Of course, not even a nanosecond of such self-doubt would be allowed, instead it would be a propaganda, sanctions, and arm the Ukrainians double-down extravaganza! But, but there was a problem. The Rest of the World outside Europe, the UK and the white settler colonies wasn’t signing up and Russia had taken many steps to make itself sanctions proof as well as having the help of its best buddy China. In addition, the Sanctions From Hell seemed to promise more Hell for Europe and the US than a Russia that could trade with the Rest of the World (two thirds of the global economy) once alternative arrangements had been worked out. Also, doing naughty things like stealing Russia’s foreign exchange reserves made a lot of other nations a bit twitchy and of the mind that perhaps they should be making alternative arrangements in case the unpredictable and mercurial Boss decided to pick on them.
A time for Tweedledum and Tweedledee to reflect perhaps. No, reflection is for sissies (or at least those that have no need to prove that they aren’t man boys). Off they went to those that the US had bullied relentlessly (Iran and Venezuela) and disrespected (Saudi Arabia) to ask for help in weakening a friend of those nations. “Why weren’t they happy to see us” T&T asked themselves. Then they threatened Russia’s best buddy against helping Russia, but that didn’t seem to work either. They also threatened an India which was being careful to balance its position, forcing it to take a position; but the position wasn’t the one the US wanted, so much for the Quad! They even tried to trick Poland into launching fighter jets against the Russians in Ukraine from their own airfields, but the Poles have been around the block a few times and aren’t that stupid. They handed the planes over to the US and invited them to host them; showing the immediate hypocrisy and amateur-night deviousness of the US as T&T ran away from the thought of war with the Russians. Ok to fight the Russians to the last Ukrainian, and even the last Pole, but US blood was not to be shed.
The failing “Boss” doesn’t understand that his position has been much reduced, and he needs to be more of a team player, but T&T act like its 1995. At the same time the die-hard fans in Europe, Japan and the white settler colonies seem destined to continue to be unable to shed their abusive relationship and will follow the US into decline. The collective angst of the West, and the destructive denial of T&T and the rest of the US administration, will continue for quite a while. Denial loves company it would seem, and it is hard to leave its comforting cognitive blanket to brave the challenges of self-reflection and acceptance. In the meantime, the messenger of reality will continue to be denied and the Rest of the World will continue to take actions to buffer itself from its ex-Boss. The West has sanctioned itself, and the new Cold War places them in the place that was previously taken by the Soviet bloc. The Soviets went quietly into the night, hopefully they will too after a few more tantrums.
Then of course, there is that thing called climate change …. but that’s not really as important is it? Hell, even the Germans now seem to be reopening coal-fired power stations to increase their “energy security” against the Russian “threat”. The German delusional fever dream seems to be set in 1985, within a German version of “Red Dawn”.
The Fall Of The Boss – A Story Of Our Time
Hey I see you on “moon of Alabama” and while I often think you sound like a bit of a prick, you are quite well informed and your assessment of my country’s abysmal foreign policy is sadly completely accurate.