· C) The
USA's military interventions
The USA a hyperpower with no equivalent. They consider the world
as their belongings. nation States, geographical boundaries, political
structures mean nothing for them. They behave as policemen of the Planet. From
1890 to 2001, the USA undertook 134 interventions in the world. The first focus
of US intervention was on East Asia (Korea, Vietnam...) ; the second was
on Eastern Europe ; the third phase was in Latin America and the fourth
phase focused on the Middle East and on west Asia, starting with Palestine and
Iran and moved on in the 1990's to Iraq, and at the beginning of the
21st century to Afghanistan. All their military interventions had
negative consequences. In Chile (1973), the USA allegedly toppled Salvador
Allende, the democratically elected President, and installed the dictator
Augusto Pinochet. Allende was assassinated, and the country was crushed by the
dictator. The other striking example is Grenada (1983), where the USA
intervened militarily to protect their interests. Innocent citizens of these
countries were slaughtered, imprisoned and tortured. Even the former UN
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali22(*) criticized the USA's military policy. He said that
the USA manipulate the world for the benefit of their own interest. He even
declared that when it suits the US, they use the UN to seek legitimacy for
their actions, to build coalitions and impose sanctions on « rogue
states ».
· D) The USA
and the worldwide policy
In this world, nothing seems to move without
America's involvement. They are the only nation or power that can resolve the
political issue in some countries ; without USA ratification, the Kyoto
Treaty on carbon dioxide emissions is not worth the paper it is written
on ; without an American nod, nothing moves at the WTO or the world Bank,
and without America, the UN ceases to be a United Nations Organisation.
Howerver, what is striking in American Policy is their incoherence. They are at
once judge and jury. It is the display of such standards that has made America
a global figure of hate. For instance, USA have imposed sanctions on countries
that seek nuclear weapons, and yet they have the world's largest stockpiles of
nuclear weapons, and are the only country in the world ever to have used the
atomic weapons in war. Moreover, while they force other countries to abandon
their nuclear plans, they continue to develop their own programme, developing
and designing nukes and restarting nuclear tests ; then the United State
of America declared that elections should be free and fair, yet they routinely
intervene in the elections of other countries, the US have supposedly perverted
elections and interfered with the democratic process of 23 countries to ensure
a favourable outcome23(*).
The United State of America demand discipline, while they are undisciplined and
undemocratic. Besides, their behaviour is deeply intolerable. At the end of the
Gulf War, the USA targeted civilian infrastructures : water treatment,
flood-control system... to keep their civilized image the USA removed the
civilians casualties from television screens. They also criticize some
countries about the management of their resources, while Americans continue to
trash their own environment on increasing emissions of global warming gases
such as carbon dioxyde.
Through all these examples we realize that the
USA, are so self-contained, so self-confident, so proud that they do not really
see their real feature, who they are really. It became obvious when Bush called
Bin Laden « assassin ». But the people are not totally
blind because they call Bush the « butcher ».
* 22
Unvanquished : a UN-US saga
* 23 William Blum, in his
book Rogue State
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