I think the comparison to WWII was a bad one, given that it was part of a major alliance of many, many nations, and was started, not to free Germany from Hitler, but to free Poland from Hitler.
One might point to the continued existence of U.S. military bases in Germany and Japan…except that they could ask us to leave at any time, and we’d leave. We left the Philippines, even though that weakened us (and weakened the Philippines, too) with regard to expanded Chinese claims.
Really, other than some trivial cases such as Guam and Samoa – which we would also leave if the people there really wanted us to – there aren’t any signal cases of U.S. “imperialism” left.
(Economic and Trade imperialism, yeah. We compete hard and dirty. But even that is starting to fade, with more and more free-trade agreements worldwide.)
I’m surprised you’re able to get an internet connection posting from 1973. What’s your next topical issue going to be? A call for American withdrawal from Vietnam?
Listen, it’s great to be aware of the sordid aspects of our national history. But don’t pretend it’s current affairs. Getting outraged over past problems means you’re not paying enough attention to problems that are happening now. Take the outrage you’re feeling over banana republics and put it to good use fighting for transgender rights or getting the police to stop shooting black men.
Overthrowing Saddam and trying to impose democracy was not the worst thing we’ve ever done. Yes, we bungled the job and we should be held accountable for the mistakes we made and, yes, it was wrong to invade a country on false pretenses - but Iraq was an absolute disaster long before we got there.
And if we stole all the Iraqi oil, why is it still there in Iraq?
It was already a absolute disaster, and democracy is better than a dictatorship with organized institutionalized torture, where he used nerve gas on his own people.
So there’s the answer to the OP’s question. How do we end American Imperialism? By being too incompetent to succeed as imperialists. Admittedly, it’s not a solution we can take much pride in but the problem’s been resolved and we can move on.
Longer ago than that. I suspect Trinopus was talking about the 1941 coup that put the Shah in power not the 1979 coup that kicked him out. But really that was more the British and the Soviets.
Our Iranian coup was in 1953, when we overthrew Prime Minister Mosaddegh.
Would you mind taking a second look at the history here? The Kingdom of Hawai’i did not beg to join the USA. The Hawai’ian people did not beg to join the USA. After the kingdom was overthrown, it was that group that begged to join the USA.
The person who griped about “coups” didn’t specify dates. Yes, those happened long ago, but they did happen. They aren’t something you put in scare quotes and ask “Are you serious.” They were deadly serious, and two of the biggest mistakes ever made in U.S. foreign policy.
Nope. The Queen unilaterally abrogated the democratic Constitution, trying to put in place a near absolute monarchy with race based requirements for citizenship, the Taboo system, etc. She was overthrown by men who were born in the islands, of parents who were born in the Island, men who had been helping run the government.
A small contingent of them removed the upstart Queen, with much support from the people and absolutely no opposition from anyone, not a single “native” raised a hand to stop them. They walked in. One policeman was shot, apparently mostly by accident.
No US troops took part in this. A small contingent was landed, some 150 men, to keep the peace. They didnt fire a shot, they didnt occupy any buildings.
Five years after the Republic of Hawaii,* in which Polynesians had a two-thirds majority voting block in the House, *asked the USA to annex Hawaii. The vote was unanimous. Note again- the Assembly was 2/3rd Polynesians. The Natives wanted to be part of the uSA.
When I was done in Iraq fighting to stop the Iraqis from murdering themselves I was given my own full oil tanker, didn’t everyone?
But seriously I’m so proud of the fact that in order to end American “imperialism” lots of those folks i fought so hard to save and whom many died protecting are now under the control of ISIS many of whom, especially the Christian and other religious minorities, are now being slaughtered in what had to be the most predictable outcome of all time. Go isolationism!
The Hawaii that “begged” to join the USA was the Hawaii that had already been flooded with American whalers and agricultural opportunists who pushed the native islanders out of the way to establish an American colony, staged a coup, found a couple of native Hawaiians to see the way things were going and persuaded them to oppose the monarchy, then have them “beg” for U.S. annexation.
It was rather like the way in which most of Western North America sought to join the Union–except that while the nomads of the U.S. West were not recognized as serious nations during the application of Manifest Destiny, Hawaii had an actual, functioning, recognizable monarchy before the U.S. immigrants began undermining that nation’s government.
Of course, ISIS arose in the vacuum created by the elimination of the actual Iraqi Army–several divisions, of which, had sought to remain active while promising to abide by the rules of the new government, (that the U.S. allowed to be manipulated by pro-Iranian con men), but were sent home (with their weapons) to be sucked into the sectarian violence.
Not going into Iraq, initially, would not have been isolationism.
Naah. It’s still an imperialist one, though (even if greatly reduced)
Yeah, after the sugar barons had already set up their coup…
Naah, they “just” stood around, conspicuously well-armed and backed with a warship…I highly doubt anyone is really that naive.
Still not got more than token representation in its own government, though. And I’m certainly not arguing that the subjects of the Imperium don’t have reasons to stay subjected. That’s completely irrelevant to whether they are imperial subjects or not. Gauls and Britons were mostly cool with being Roman subjects after a while, too. Hey, does that mean Rome wasn’t an empire?
Even less representation than PR. Also, 1/3 of the place is military base.
Full “citizenship” with no real vote in the actual government is token citizenship at best…
Look up the difference between “colonialism” and “imperialism” sometime…
Naah, it just “reserves the right” to make a claim and has several permanent bases there including the biggest one…
This wasn’t about stealing oil, it was about ensuring that oil would be kept being traded in dollars.
Saddam wanted to start trading in Euro’s. that was a direct threat to the dollar hegemony. Same with Ghadaffi.
As soon as it was anounced that Russia and China were going to cooperate to wriggle free of the dollar, the drums started to beat against Russia.
Very very often Stranger On A Train provides the intelligent post I wish I were articulate enough to write.
I would add that Russia and, increasingly, China will be pursuing their own imperialistic agenda. Expect bad outcomes if the U.S. does not counter their plans with all the tools available to it: diplomatic, intelligence-gathering, clandestine operations, and military.
