Americas Global Hegemony

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality judiciously, as you will, we will act again, creating other new realities, which you can study, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” —Senior adviser to President George Bush.

Realising why American foreign policy, since the dawn of the republic, has been time and again expansionist is one of a complex nature. We must begin from, well, the dawn of the republic itself, that American imperialism is rooted by design in the origin of the nation.

Initial examples of this can be found in John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity”, where he stated that the colonist’s new address would be a “city upon a hill” and that “the eyes of all people are upon us.” This presumption of a divinely sanctioned land became especially entrenched within colonies after the Revolution, highlighted by Thomas Jefferson in his 1801 foundational address that their government is the “world’s best hope”. The Founders were convinced that others would pursue in the footsteps of the “perfect” revolution but insecurity arose when few actually did. This led to as Albert K Weinberg states, a “hysterical apprehensiveness” bordering on a “progressive madness” about national security which translated into expansion as security, take the conquest of the Florida’s, the Louisiana and Madison’s attempt to take Canada in the War of 1812 as early examples of continental imperialism. Actual brutal steps for global hegemony started with the end of World War 2, the United States became progressively more interventionist in the dealings of other nations, both economically as well as physically. With resources such as thriving post-war economy, a vigorous military and the skill to reconstruct Europe under its own conditionality, the US undertook the hegemonic project, the quest to dominate the world market. The first step was to eradicate Soviets whose centrally-planned economy was not open to trade or which would later emerge as an area of great concern, foreign investment and whose economic model could serve as an example for other developing nations to follow. Even if it was only to the least extent such as nationalizing a certain industry perhaps Americans intervened typically with the use of the CIA to overthrow communist rule and proxies of Moscow and install leaders loyal to economic interdependence and American ideals, while showing the world there is no alternative to Capitalism.

American Intervention’s Post 1950’s

The glide of American foreign policy has been fueled not by a loyalty to any kind of decency, but rather the necessity to serve other imperatives, which can be summarized as follows:

Creating the world safe and sound for Americans corporations.

Forbidding the rise of any civilization that might serve as a successful example of a substitute to the Capitalist sculpt.

Increasing political and economic hegemony over as wide a region as possible, as befits a “Greater Supremacy.”

The United States carried out enormously severe interventions into more than 70 nations in this period. Some of the major intervention happened in China, 1945-49; Germany, 1950s; Iran 1953; Vietnam, 1950-73; Cuba, 1959 to present; Iraq, 1990s to present; and Afghanistan, 1979 to present.

America and Middle East

Noam Chomsky has written: “it’s been a leading, driving doctrine of US foreign policy since 1950’s that the vast and unparallel energy resources of the Gulf region will be effectively dominated by the United States and its clients and crucially that no independent indigenous force will be permitted to have a substantial influence on the administration of oil production and price.”

American imperialistic goals and resource wars in Middle East started way back in 1950’s when elected Prime Minister of Iran Mossadegh was overthrown by a British operation led by CIA. Mossadegh had been nominated to his position by a large majority of parliament, but he has made the critical mistake of spearheading the movement to nationalize a British owned oil company, the sole oil company operating in Iran. The Coup restored the Shah to absolute power and began a period of 25 years of repression and torture. Iran was one of earliest intervention by US. The Eisenhower Doctrine stated that the United States “is prepared to use armed forces to assist any Middle East country “requesting assistance against armed aggression from any country controlled by international communism.” In other words this was that no one would be allowed to take over or have disproportionate influence over the Middle East and its vastly rich “Oil Fields,” except the United States, and that anyone who tried would be by designated “Communist.” In keeping with this strategy the Americans twice attempted to overthrow the Syrian government staged several shows of force in the Mediterranean to intimidate movement opposed to American supported government in Jordan and Lebanon. US landed 14,000 its troops in Lebanon and conspired to overthrow or assassinate Nasser of Egypt and his troublesome middle-east nationalism. While as Libya refused to be a proper Middle East customer to Washington. Its chief, Muammar el Gaddafi was conceited. He would have to be punished. US planes shot down two Libyan planes in what Libya regarded as its air space. The US also dropped bombs on the country killing people including Gaddafi’s daughter. There were other attempts to assassinate Gaddafi and other various covert operations to overthrow him, but all in vain till 2011 till he was assassinated by imperialistic forces called as NATO. Right from 1950’s there has been no end to American hegemonic goals in Middle East which are yet going till date.

American Intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan

Americans started their policy of “New World Order,”  immediately after the fall of Communist Soviets, when senior Bush in his address to Congress Session on 11 September 1990 he said a New World Order is needed. And soon immediately the first Gulf War started in which Iraqi’s were murdered countless. Persistent bombing for more than 40 days and nights against one of the most sophisticated society in the Middle East, devastating its ancient and modern capital city; 177 million pound of bombs falling on the people of Iraq, the most concentrated aerial onslaught in the history of the humanity, depleted uranium weapons, causing cancer, blasting chemical and biological weapons storage and oil facilities, poisoning the atmosphere to a degree perhaps never matched anywhere, burying soldiers alive, deliberately the infrastructure destroyed with a terrible effect on health sanctions continued multiplying the health problems perhaps a million children dead. Iraq was the strongest military power among the Arab states. This may have been their crime. In 2003, finally American had their hands on oil fields Iraq and their hegemonic goals severed.

According to former National Security Zbigniew Brezezinski, the CIA’s intervention in Afghanistan preceded the 1979 Soviet incursion. This decision of the Carter Administration in 1979 to intercede and destabilize Afghanistan is the root cause of Afghanistan’s demolition as a nation.  “Robert Gates”, states in his memoir, that American intelligence service began to assist the Mujahideen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet involvement. It was July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul to preserve their hegemonic goals in Central Asia. This American funded so called “Jihad”, left Afghanistan with severe political, economic and ecological problem. More than 1 million Afghans died in the war and 5 million became refugees in neighboring countries. The disparate guerrilla forces that had triumphed proved unable to unite and Afghanistan became divided into spheres of control.

Following the attacks of 9/11, President Bush declared and subsequently launched an attack on “The Axis of Evil”. National as well as international spotlight shifted to Afghanistan, where symbol of resistance Osama Bin Laden the presumed mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, was believed to be harbored. In the following months Afghanistan became embroiled, for the second time in a century, in yet another major war. In a bid to enforce their client rulers and contradict the real meaning of mass participation or people verdict to have their own figures in the government.  America aims at controlling the states through their puppet regimes. Afghanistan intervention was aimed at making scapegoat that they did to achieve their hegemony goals in which they miserably failed. It was an aim to militarily beat a resilient nation to show that no other can defeat and surpass Americas so called superpower attitude and whatever happens they will militarily protect their hegemonic values be it culture, economy and political but again they are in death trap in Afghanistan as a neo Taliban insurgency is already growing

Author has Masters in International Peace and Conflict Studies. he can be reached at: [email protected]

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