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)
