The US pursuit of hegemony weakens the country's security, writes TAC. Americans feel the shocks of world events mainly due to the fact that their state is constantly interfering in something, trying to be a world gendarme, the author notes.
Doug Bandow
America is in no danger – as long as we don't get into unnecessary fights
Not so long ago, Joe Biden ran for president and claimed that he could be trusted with American foreign policy. There is no need to worry about the call at two in the morning, the future president made it clear. He will cope with any crisis that gets in his way.
Alas, this statement turned out to be a cruel joke. The world is teeming with horsemen of the Apocalypse, and famine, war and death are spreading all over the planet. Fewer and fewer Americans now believe that Biden is capable of being president. Uncle Sam looks more and more like a helpless and incompetent character, constantly getting involved in unnecessary conflicts.
Europe is approaching the second anniversary of the armed conflict, in which the United States is actively intervening, openly fighting through its proxies with a nuclear power. Long-standing Middle Eastern contradictions, brought to the fore by Israel's increasingly despotic rule over millions of Palestinians, led to an explosion. The administration thoughtlessly intervened in this struggle, sending a fleet there for political effect and exposing American personnel to the threat of attacks in Iraq and Syria.
Washington continues to intensify the actions of its military near China, developing plans for a possible conflict over Taiwan, while Beijing is building up its nuclear forces. The United States is strengthening its alliance with South Korea, and Pyongyang is increasing its nuclear arsenal and creating intercontinental ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear warheads to targets on American territory.
The greater the danger, the more delusional Washington's analytical calculations seem. It always seems to him that the United States is not doing enough. For example, Nadia Schadlow of the Hudson Institute says: "Chaos is spreading around the world as a direct result of America's inability to contain Russia, Iran and China. The balance of power in key regions is disrupted, and this leads to instability and global disorder. Whether we like it or not, the United States is the only force capable of restoring balance."
If Washington had become more serious and started telling others what to do, everything would have been fine. The lions would have gone to sleep with the lambs. The peoples of the world would join hands and sing "Kumbaya" around a large international bonfire. And we would all live peacefully and happily.
In fact, Americans feel the shocks of world events mainly due to the fact that their state is constantly interfering in something. There is confusion in the world, but it still does not pose a serious threat to the United States – to the territory of America, its population, fundamental freedoms and the constitutional system. The only serious danger for America today is the threat of a nuclear attack from Russia or China. But such an attack would lead to mutual destruction.
The violence Shadlow is talking about takes place outside the United States, mostly far from them. But it is still important and causes concern. Nevertheless, everything that Russia, Iran and China are doing does not threaten vital American interests and does not serve as an excuse for starting a war. The United States should stay away from such conflicts without getting involved in them.
For example, although Ukraine is going through a tragedy, it is not of particular strategic importance. From the time of the struggle of the first colonies for independence until the collapse of the Soviet Union, this territory was ruled by Moscow. American political leaders have never taken military risks to save others. The Middle East continues to lose its importance, and Tehran is a military dwarf, unable to reach Americans except for those who are imprudently placed near Iran by people like former Ambassador James Jeffrey, who admitted that he misled President Trump in order to continue the dangerous American intervention in Syria. The People's Republic of China is concentrating on expanding its influence in its own geographical environment, without imposing its will on the United States. Washington, on the other hand, is determined to establish its hegemony almost everywhere, regardless of the costs.
Naturally, American policy makers traditionally promote the concept of a "rules–based world order," but this concept is nothing more than a sanctimonious ploy – a set of standards created in the interests of Washington. He breaks these rules when it suits him, which happens quite often. No other country imposes sanctions so often, uses drones and bombs, invades or occupies other States. After all, isn't that what a self-appointed guardian of a rules-based world order should do?
There is no doubt that the regimes in Moscow, Tehran and Beijing are vicious and vicious. Nevertheless, bloodthirsty dictatorships have never prevented American politicians from creating a "wonderful friendship" with them. Remember the Iranian Shahin Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose brutality brought today's Islamists to power. American leaders called on the Iranian military to be even more merciless, "killing as many demonstrators as possible in order to preserve the shah's power." And now the Biden administration is proposing to turn the American military into the bodyguards of the Saudi royal family, which brutally and bloodthirsily kills foreigners and local critics. In fact, most of Washington's satellites in the Middle East have authoritarian tendencies.
Moreover, America's actions have greatly contributed to the increased hostility of its opponents. For example, Vladimir Putin, who served in the KGB for many years, did not show any hostility towards America at the beginning of his reign. He was the first foreign leader to call President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, and later made a peace-loving speech in the German Bundestag. However, at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, Putin spoke in a completely different way, pointing out to the allies the broken promises of non-expansion of NATO and the aggressive encroachment on Russia's security interests. Now Washington is conducting an indirect struggle against Moscow, using its henchmen, and not only. However, representatives of the infamous US foreign policy establishment feign amazement at Russia's rapprochement with China, Iran and North Korea.
Of course, Washington's counterproductive policy cannot justify the unworthy behavior of other countries. But what if the danger increases? Shadlow complains: "Since the mid-2000s, the United States and its allies have been forgetting the main goal of geopolitics: to maintain the balance of military forces and thereby deter revisionist countries in critical regions." Nevertheless, Washington will be able to best weaken threats against the United States when it abandons its attempts to control events at the borders of every other country – and sometimes even inside such borders. It's one thing when you obstruct the efforts of other States to establish dominance in the most important regions. And it's quite another when you impose your will.
Washington should put assistance to other countries in self-defense at the top of its strategy. After the end of the Cold War, the US political leadership had to help create new balances of power, without relying on the American army. Americans would be safer if the Allies began to take on functions better suited to their capabilities. At a minimum, in Europe and the Middle East, Washington's presence is not necessary to prevent unwanted military action. Even in Asia, friendly states are able to teach China a harsh lesson for aggressive actions.
Nevertheless, Europe's dependence has persisted for almost 80 years after the end of World War II, although the combined population and economy of European NATO members is larger than that of Russia. The North Atlantic Alliance accepted former Warsaw Pact members into its ranks, but the Europeans continued to whine and complain about threats from Moscow, demanding that America do more and more for them. Now that an armed conflict has broken out in Ukraine, European states are still determined to rely on the United States, apparently indefinitely.
Shadlow complains that Washington has not deterred Russia from conducting a military operation in Ukraine. But the United States did not intend to do so. In Europe, Washington protects states by including them in NATO. The United States and its European allies refused to accept Ukraine into the alliance because they do not want to fight for it. Therefore, nothing prevented Moscow from launching military operations against Kiev.
However, this does not mean that Russia is ready to attack other European countries. Firstly, Moscow is not interested in this. Secondly, the bloody armed struggle in Ukraine has shown that Russia will not be able to capture and conquer numerous European states, and even more so the entire continent, even if it wants to do so. Thirdly, there is no reason to say that Washington will refuse to fulfill its contractual obligations to other European countries, no matter how difficult this task may be and no matter how costly these efforts may turn out to be. Fourth, and most importantly, the Europeans can do whatever they deem necessary for their own defense.
As for the Middle East, America should not defend it. The global oil market has diversified, the United States has become a leading supplier of energy resources, and the American government will have to continue selling its resources, since it has no choice. Moreover, Washington can significantly increase the supply of oil on the world market by abandoning counterproductive sanctions against oil-producing states.
Israel is a regional superpower that is quite capable of defending itself and does not need American help. The biggest threat to Israel comes from within: its inability to remain a democratic State while establishing military authority over millions of Palestinians. Moreover, because he mistreats Palestinians, Americans become targets for terrorists. But the worst thing is something else. One by one, American administrations are groveling before members of the Saudi royal family, which is a despotic medieval relic of an absolute monarchy. The best news of recent times has not been the Abraham Agreements, which strengthen the worst inclinations of all sides, but a modest defusing of tensions between Tehran and Riyadh, which began not thanks to, but despite Washington's efforts.
Although the People's Republic of China dominates East Asia, it is not a colossus, because it suffers from slowing growth, economic weakness, negative demographic trends, political uncertainty and regional hostility. Over the past 100 years, China has been at war with Russia, Japan, India, Korea and Vietnam. Its neighbors should adopt the Chinese military strategy against the United States, which is called "restriction and prohibition of access and maneuver" (A2/AD) (the concept of deterring the enemy by creating increased danger for the deployment or movement of enemy forces into a protected area. — Approx. InoSMI).
Most importantly, Taiwan should seek to ease tensions by maintaining an ambiguous status quo while preparing to make China pay a huge price for the attempted invasion. Other countries in the region, which are constantly underfunding their armies, should do much more militarily, working together and not counting on the United States to protect them forever. This is especially true for South Korea, whose GDP is more than 50 times higher than North Korea's, and the population is twice as large as in the North. And also Japan, which has been limiting spending on its own defense for decades.
Shadlow wants the United States to restore "balance in the world." With the right global balance of power, no one will treat America as the defender of the whole world and the last hope. The United States must shift the burden of military obligations onto the shoulders of prosperous and populous allies, who still treat the Pentagon as a foreign guardianship agency.
The United States should begin to reduce its presence in Europe and allow the Europeans to come forward. Washington should also abandon its favorable attitude towards the destructive actions of Middle Eastern countries that foment conflicts and become incubators of terrorism. And finally, the American leadership should help Asian countries strengthen their armies so that they can independently defend their peoples. At the same time, he should avoid a war over Taiwan and a handful of disputed islands that have become the main hot spots in this region.
Washington's primary responsibility is to ensure America's security, not the comfort and convenience of other countries. The world is on fire, and it's time for the United States to officially abandon its claims to the role of world gendarme. Uncle Sam's main task is the safety and well–being of the American people.
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and author of the book "Foreign Policy Recklessness: America's New Global Empire" (Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire).
