KAMALIKA PIERIS

Revised 17.1.21

Sri Lanka is mainly concerned with American foreign policy, not America’s domestic policy. From the 1980s and especially in the 1990s, the American Neo cons shifted their focus from domestic issues to foreign policy. That is because they wanted a foreign policy which would further US economic interests.

 It is the neo cons who shape   foreign policy in Washington, said analysts. It is they who influence the direction of US foreign policy, not the President of the US. The neo cons carry out the foreign policy irrespective of who functions as President.   American Neo-cons remain the dominant foreign policy force in US, despite their record of unprecedented foreign policy errors and disasters, such as the utter chaos caused by US interventions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

The foreign policy of the American Neo cons is very clear and unambiguous. They want a world in which the US is the sole supreme power. They want the global domination of the US to continue. The rise of any rival power must be checked.  Neo-cons claim that the US does not seek to conquer and oppress, but rather to liberate and democratize. US is a benevolent force, neo cons said. Its foreign policy is intended to promote democracy and freedom.  American leadership is good for the world.  It is best for world peace.

William Kristol and Robert Kagan, two leading Neo cons, founded a ‘Think Tank’ in 1997 to promote the idea that American leadership is good for the world and morally desirable as well. In 2010 TIME spoke of Pax Americana, which TIME said, the world wants today. The American backed order has hitherto offered protection of smaller players by binding more powerful states to agreed rules of behaviour and process of dispute resolutions,  TIME said.

The Jewish population in USA is second only to that of Israel. There are 6.8 million Jews in Israel and at least 5.5 million in USA. The Jews have long exerted an enormous influence in the US.   They are influential in finance,   politics, science, architecture, literature, music, and dance. But they all changed their names on emigrating to the US, which indicates that non-Jewish America is very anti-Semitic. The name changing continues, because anti –Semitism continues. Robert Allen Zimmerman became Bob Dylan. Ralph Lifshitz became Ralph Lauren.

The Neo-con movement was originally initiated by a group of intellectuals from the Jewish community in New York and the majority of Neo-cons continue to be from the Jewish community. Therefore, the protection of Israel against its enemies is a leading objective of the neo-cons. That is why the Neo-cons have focused so much on the Middle East, particularly countries considered a threat to Israel.

The neo cons have a belligerent approach. US domination is to be achieved through strong US leadership backed by force. The use of military force is seen as the main option in foreign policy. Positioning American forces in strategic locations around the world to enable their rapid deployment is a part of this strategy. USA has military bases throughout the globe. US also gets military control of a country through its agreements such as ACSA and SOFA.

Neo-cons want political control over countries which it considers to be of strategic importance. They either obtain direct influence over the governments or set up proxy regimes which the US could control.  Neo cons advocate dictatorship.   USA has cozy relationships with countries that had right wing dictatorships, observed analysts. There were also backroom deals with ‘neutral’ countries.

US does not hesitate to change regimes in countries that are important to the US. US will try to destabilize a country which is perceived as posing a threat to the interests of the USA or Israel. US intervenes in foreign elections.

Regime change has  been followed by criminal prosecutions of the old regimes. International Criminal Court was asked to prosecute the earlier government of Ukraine for war crimes though there had been no war at all under it, but not the new regime installed by the US.  US also wanted to see Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Milosovec punished. They also tried this for  Rwanda. This punishment ethic” is now a dominant characteristic of US foreign policy, said analysts.

US also uses military intervention to achieve regime change. US also tries to tame a country   through economic warfare. They impose sanctions and say topple your government and economic sanctions will end.

US interferes in internal affairs of other nations through its embassies and intelligence agencies.  These agencies create divisions and conflicts. They send out spurious narrative about regimes they want to target.   They are also well known for toppling governments.

The Neo-cons also pursue their objectives through international non-governmental organizations [INGOs] which are mainly funded by the USA. These INGOs have gained a foothold in developing countries.

Special mention is made of the interventions by George Soros, a prominent and leading Neo con. When Soros-backed groups are entangled in the affairs of any nation, massive upheaval tends to follow and not for the better, said analysts.  Many Soros-linked organizations operate on behalf of the US agenda, working to foment dissent and revolution.

Soros utilizes a vast number of progressive organizations affiliated with Soros’ Open Society Foundation. Soros-affiliated organizations across the world are deeply connected to various color revolutions, the Arab Spring, and a number of other political uprisings across the globe. 

US has been largely responsible for creating terror groups in various countries in the latter half of the twentieth century and the early decades of the twenty-first century, said analysts.   These terror groups have been created by the United States and its allies, they emphasized.  US armed different Islamic groups and got them to kill each other.

America  kills. President Barrack Obama and Secretary  of State  Hillary Clinton watched from the White House in Washington, in 2011, when Osama Bin Laden was killed in  Abbotabad, Pakistan. Then they distributed worldwide the photo of them seated in the White House, watching. On 3 January 2020, a United States drone strike near Baghdad International Airport targeted and killed Iran’s most powerful military commander  Qasem Soleimani. This was a triumph for USA.

Neo-con agenda includes manipulating the United Nations. Currently USA is the largest single contributor to the UN paying 22% of the budget. This gives them financial clout.  US makes the UN do as the US wishes. From its Secretary General downwards the United Nations is strongly influenced or controlled by the  US .  UN has been reduced to being a servant of Western interests, and the US in particular, said critics.

We lead the world in part by leading at the UN said Samantha Power. The United States needs the UN. The UN goes to places that the US will not go. The UN is   used to open doors for  US intervention in other countries.  

US  often throws its weight around at the UN , bullying and threatening  those who did not support UN policy.  In 2017,  US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley  issued a veiled threat to member states who defy Washington on US-sponsored resolutions. She spoke of ‘taking names’ of those who don’t do as she says and  singling them out for retribution”. If we are strong and stand by those loyal to us more countries will want to be our allies and those that challenge us will think twice before they challenge us, she said.

 US  uses its financial clout to threaten  developing nations who refuse to fall in line on critical UN voting in the Security Council, the General Assembly and Human Rights Council. In 1990, when Yemen, an American ally and  member of the Security Council, voted against a US-sponsored resolution to militarily oust Iraq from Kuwait, US  cut off  its aid to Yemen.

US also dominates other UN agencies. US engineered the appointment of a Japanese diplomat, Amano, to the leadership of the UN’s international Atomic Energy Agency, which was a key player in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme. The diplomatic cables leaked by Private Bradley Manning included reports on Amano’s secret collaboration with US and Israeli officials on the subject. The cables exposing Amano were published in The Guardian newspaper in the UK in 2011.

Mary Robinson, a former Prime Minister of Ireland, was prevented by the  US from being re-appointed as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights due to her criticism of human rights abuses by Israel.

Everybody knows that IMF is pro-US in its approach in matters of global finance and economy, said analysts. In the 1970s, the IMF and the World Bank were restructured to serve neo-liberalism. Neo liberal economics which the US and Europe embraced and forced on the rest of the world, let  loose  market forces which  ravaged the economies of the poor countries.

David Budhoo was  an IMF staffer whose job was designing Structural Adjustment Programs for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. When Budhoo quit in 1988 he wrote an  open letter to the Managing director of the IMF. He accused the  IMF of  manipulating statistics.

He  said he had been involved in making Trinidad and Tobago look far less stable in the statistics than they actually were, doubling labor costs and inventing huge unpaid debts. The bogus statistics made the financial markets cut off their financing. IMF  then moved in with its remedies, layoffs, wage cuts and the ‘whole gamut’ of structural adjustment. The letter was turned into a  Broadway theatre play  and a review of the play was the only mention ever made of  Budhoo in the New York Times said critics.

The Neo con movement, has a destructive agenda inimical to the interests of the majority of the world’s population  said critics.  Neo-cons have done untold damage not only through war, but by other means as well.  Also, Neo-cons are indifferent to the suffering which results from the  catastrophes they have caused.

USA‘s foreign relations have been heavily criticized. USA promotes wars and destabilizes countries, critics said. USA’s first target was Latin America. USA has engaged in direct military interventions in most of the countries of Latin America,  throughout the years making Latin America a region of political instability and economic chaos.

Between 1945 and 2005 the United States has attempted to overthrow more than 50 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against repressive regimes, continued critics. In the process, the US has caused  the deaths of several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.

USA does not want  partnerships. It wants subjugation or submission, said angry  critics. USA’s foreign policies and actions are authoritarian  and dictatorial. The US foreign policy consists primarily of destroying the countries and their will to survive.   No other country has  a  menacing foreign policy like this,  critics observed.

Today there is a huge anti American sentiment sweeping the developing world mainly because of its activity in the Middle East. US was the hidden force in every war that took place in the world during the recent times, said critics. As a result, USA is losing allies. Philippines is veering away from the USA, its long time ally.   President  Duterte visited Russia in 2017.

Foreign countries  love American technology,  music, movies and fashion but not interference in how they are governed, what their international friends should be and how they  should manage their money, said TIME.  ( Continued)