“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.”
~Edward W. Said, author and professor.
We have heard many times that “America is an experiment” or that “America is a work in progress”, being a relatively new country. In theory this is true, but it is not the theory which has posed a problem. It is, unquestionably, the practices of this new nation which have led us to the point of even questioning whether it can sustain as a dominant superpower, rather, THE dominant superpower even in the next decade.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has perpetually projected evil on chosen targets. It began with the “evils” of Communism and the projection of all that is wrong and degenerate with the former Soviet Union, leading to the Cold War.
This gave rise to America’s modern day imperialism, following faithfully in the footsteps of its European ancestors, and the practice of waging of wars overseas began.
The United States felt it was absolutely necessary to get involved in Vietnam to stop the evils of communism from spreading. This being the first ever televised US war, gave rise to the massive anti-war movement and the US had to leave Vietnam in embarrassment. If that sounds hauntingly familiar and similar to the US exit from Afghanistan, a war which lasted even longer than the Vietnam War, that is because it is. The only difference is, the leaders sitting in Washington thought it would be amusing repeating the same mistakes again.
Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Therefore, what has ensued in the last 20 years with the constant wars the US has waged can and should be called “insanity.”
After the perceived threat of “Communism”, the new villain became “Terrorism”. More precisely, “radical Islamic terrorism”. With one imperial stone, it became possible to kill several birds, the “terrorists”, the “Muslims” and the “radicals”, i.e. all practicing Muslims were targets.
The rest, as we know, is history. The majority of the the Middle Eastern countries have been bombed to oblivion, millions of refugees have been created, millions of casualties, orphans, the list goes on. Let us bear in mind that the reason given to the American people and the international community to “invade” the Middle East was 9/11. There were 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were from Saudi Arabia. However, the US did not bomb Saudi Arabia, which remains one of its closest allies. Go figure.
However, just like with communism, the threat of terrorism caused the US and its allies to destroy the countries of Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, etc. That is just since the “War on Terror” has begun. Speaking of this war on terror, there were no suicide bombings before 2003 in Iraq (before the US invasion), ISIS did not exist at all and there was no Al Qaeda in Syria before the US and its allies decided to invade. That is just the diluted list.
The bottom line is that the US had to bomb extremely oil rich nations and make sure that it has access to that oil, while also making sure that Israel was protected. In destroying a potential threats to Israel, a massive Arab land mass of approximately 300,000 people, the Western powers are happy, as is Israel.
According to research done by Brown University, the cost of the infamous 20 year “War on Terror” cost $8 trillion and 900,000 deaths. Let’s let those numbers sink in. Meanwhile, “The War on Terror” has given rise to many, many more rebel and terror groups, one of which, ISIS-K, a new concoction, even caused an explosion at Kabul airport while people were being evacuated.
We are told that the US government cannot cover healthcare for all Americans, that higher education cannot be universal, that we can only now tackle childhood poverty and reduce it only by half. The US is the wealthiest nation in the world and just spent $8 trillion to destroy several countries who have never harmed it. These are astronomical figures for Americans to reckon with on their taxes.
The “War on Terror” is, from evidence of the past 20 years, an encouragement for terror. What is equally mind boggling is that the US planted the seeds of the Taliban by financing the Mujahedeen to fight the Soviet Union in 1979, waged war on them, just to have the Trump administration invite them (and not the Afghan government) to Camp David in 2020 and more talks in Qatar. What sense can anyone make of this?
All Americans and those who helped US forces are not even out of Afghanistan safely yet, but that has not deterred President Biden from engaging in a new endeavor to “counter China”. So, the US and its allies are to “counter China” in its own region of the South China Sea and provoke it. The threat of China is the new “evil” the US needs to fight and along with the UK, and Australia, they will be the ones to the rescue the Western world via AUKUS. No surprises there!
To answer whether the US will continue to dominate the global center stage as the only superpower into the next decade, we need to simply look at what history has taught us. Have any empires and imperialist powers sustained in a status quo for an unlimited period of time?
Depending on the reports, China will have a larger economy than the US by 2028 or 2032. It already possesses the world’s largest navy. In simple terms, while the US was busy invading the Middle East and ignoring infrastructure at home, China became emboldened. What annoys the US particularly about China is its entirely different model of foreign policy and interactions with the international community. There are no invasions, no wars, no plundering and no destruction of humanitarian principles. It is a model based on mutual gains and the lifting of poverty, quite the opposite of the imperialism the world has witnessed for centuries from the Western powers.
The leaders in Washington and the military industrial complex need to finally read the writing on the wall. 99% of Americans, whether Democrat, Republican, third party members or independents, do not want any more wars and humanitarian crises. The top 1%, however, do. That is why the US is where it is today.
Unfortunately, America has decision-makers who continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over again, expecting success. Insanity.
*The writer is the Aeditor-In-Chief of Aequitas Review.
October 1, 2021
