The days when America can dictate and bully
Latin American nations are over.
By Eamon McKinney
June 22, 2022:
Information Clearing House
-- "SCF"
-- Henry Kissinger once famously
said, “To be an enemy to America can be
dangerous, but to be a friend can be lethal.”
The aged but far from venerable Kissinger’s
words have never been truer than they are today.
America has a habit of redefining words to suit
its own purposes. What the word “friend” means
to America is interpreted differently by other
nations. Of course friend is not the only word
that means something different to America than
it does to everyone else. Democracy is easily
defined by most, but to America it means any
country that subverts its own national interests
to those of the U.S. The recent Summit of the
Americas held in Los Angeles hosted a number of
notable Latin America statesmen. There were
however many notable absentees, Cuba, Nicaragua
and Venezuela, the latter two are undeniably
democracies but by virtue of their independent
government policies they were not welcome at the
American-hosted summit. According to America’s
twisted version of democracy, only right-wing,
neo-liberal, America-friendly countries can
qualify as legitimate democratic governments,
and by extension “friends.”
The days when America can dictate and bully
Latin American nations are over. Though not as
intended by the hosts, there was much unity and
friendship in evidence at the Summit. The head
of Mexico’s socialist Government Manuel Lopez
Obrador refused to attend in protest at the
exclusion of the three absent nations, a
lower-level official was sent in his stead. The
heads of state of Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador also declined the invitation citing the
same reason. This principled and courageous
stance came with the understanding that they
would be positioning themselves as American
enemies, but they did it anyway. After two
hundred years under the imperialist Monroe
doctrine they will no longer tolerate being
considered America’s backyard. The message from
Latin America was clear, “we don’t need your
version of friendship, and we will take our
chances as your enemy.”
Although unstated, one of the main U.S.
objectives at the Summit was to dissuade further
Latin American engagement with China. The
problem for America is that “south of the
border” they prefer the Chinese version of
friendship. That entails actually listening to
the needs of their “friends”, something America
is lamentably bad at. All the Latin countries
are struggling with burdensome IMF debt and many
are seriously close to default. They need
investment in their economies and their
infrastructure. China offers both without the
internal interference in the nations’ domestic
affairs. Respect for sovereignty and
self-determination is what Latin Americans
having been fighting for since the Spanish
conquest more than 400 years ago. For the first
time in centuries countries can see how that can
now be achieved, and China is a big part of that
scenario. America only offers co-operation on
security, Latin America has security concerns
but most of that concern is directed at America.
The tone deaf empire needs to understand that
Latin America has a new, much better friend.
The message the U.S. got from the Summit was
a clear continent-wide rejection of American
policies and its attempts to create an
anti-China block. We can assume that American
officials are getting used to such rejection by
now. Attempts to create an anti-China alliance
in Asia have also failed miserably, for many of
the same reasons. No Asian country sees China as
a threat, they see it as a regional leader whose
economic miracle has concurrently raised the
economies of its neighbours. The U.S. attempts
to create security concerns where they don’t
exist has gained zero traction among Southeast
Asian nations. With the exception of the
occupied nations of South Korea and Japan,
China’s relationships with its Asian neighbours
are excellent. “Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail
Jaakob said that “When Americans come to Asia
they only want to talk about security, we have
no pressing security concerns, when Asian
nations get together we talk about trade, any
problems can be resolved through negotiation and
diplomacy”. The main security concern among
Asian nations is the talk of the need for an
Asian NATO. The recent U.S. attempts to place
missiles aimed at China in six Asian countries
unsurprisingly found no takers. If America was
listening (doubtful), they would have heard that
it is neither needed nor wanted in a region that
just wants to do business. American friendship
in Asia means making any enemy of China, and
none consider that worth the price.
Another of America’s enemies, Russia has
defied all attempts to destroy its economy and
has rebounded to have the world’s strongest
currency. The transparent motivations behind the
Ukraine conflict have many nations quietly
cheering Russia on in their fight against the
common enemy, the Empire. The sanctions designed
to destroy Russia found little support outside
the usual suspects in the NATO clique. With the
world facing catastrophic shortages of food,
energy and capital it is increasingly Russia and
China that countries are turning to for help.
While America’s enemies continue to enjoy
much goodwill, how are America’s friends doing?
Not so good. By joining in the absurd Anti-China
Covid rhetoric spurred by Trump, Australia,
Canada and Britain have committed economic
suicide by alienating a valuable trade partner,
just to please America. American friends in
Europe will suffer through horrific food and
energy shortages together with rapidly
increasing inflation, all largely a result of
the Ukraine provocation. Not forgetting the
instigation of an unnecessary and dangerous war
in their neighbourhood, a war that no one but
America (NATO) wanted. And of course the Ukraine
itself, goaded into a disastrous war against a
much stronger foe, now finds itself facing
defeat and destruction. All attempts by the
hapless Zelensky at a negotiated peace are
blocked by the West. Not while there are some
Ukrainians still alive apparently. Despite the
encouraging words of his American masters, the
disposable Zelensky finds himself very much
alone. The once prosperous post-Soviet Ukraine
has turned into a bankrupt, burned-out shell of
its former self. Zelensky may well retreat to
his $45mil in Miami when it is all over, but the
unfortunate Ukrainian people will suffer the
consequences of American friendship for
generations to come.
If America has its way, its “friends” in
Taiwan will soon suffer the same fate as the
Ukraine. Despite all attempts to provoke China
into an action that would draw International
outrage, and presumably sanctions, China has
demonstrated considerable restraint. It
understands the game being played and absent a
foolish Declaration of Independence from Taiwan,
it is unlikely to be drawn in. South Korea and
Japan have been occupied nations since 1944. The
American presence is overwhelmingly objected to
by the citizens, yet they owe fealty to America.
In the event of a China conflict, their U.S.
bases would likely be the first targets in any
China response. Yet both nations declined
American requests to host China facing missiles
in their countries.
The loss of American influence has
accelerated tremendously in recent months, and
it came at a bad time. America needs friends
more than ever now and it is finding them
increasingly hard to come by. Even long time
“friends” and supplicants like Saudi Arabia and
the Gulf states are shunning America’s call to
produce more oil. Biden couldn’t even get MBS to
take his phone call. Shamelessly they also
turned to Venezuela to ask for oil,
unsurprisingly they found no friends or
solutions there either.
Returning to Henry Kissinger, by his
definition, being a friend or enemy of America
can be equally dangerous. “America has no
permanent friends or enemies, only interests”
Those that consider themselves American
“friends” should heed his words.
But credit where it is due, the U.S. is
indeed inspiring a new spirit of friendship and
co-operation among the nations of the world.
Economic and security blocs of like-minded
countries are expanding in Central Asia, Africa,
Southeast Asia and Latin America. All of these
blocs are anti-imperialist in nature, and by
definition anti-American. More than a century of
American imperialism is coming to a rapid end.
The views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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