Wars and Empire | Page 3

resistance to and indefatigable obstruction of
the International Criminal Court.
Opportunistic multilateralism notwithstanding, the USA still owes the
poorer nations of the world close to $200 million - its arrears to the UN
peacekeeping operations, usually asked to mop up after an American
invasion or bombing. It not only refuses to subject its soldiers to the
jurisdiction of the World Criminal Court - but its facilities to the
inspectors of the Chemical Weapons Convention, its military to the
sanctions of the (anti) land mines treaty and the provisions of the
Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, and its industry to the environmental
constraints of the Kyoto Protocol, the rulings of the World Trade
Organization, and the rigors of global intellectual property rights.
Despite its instinctual unilateralism, the United States is never averse to
exploiting multilateral institutions to its ends. It is the only shareholder
with a veto power in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by now
widely considered to have degenerated into a long arm of the American
administration. The United Nations Security Council, raucous
protestations aside, has rubber-stamped American martial exploits from
Panama to Iraq.
It seems as though America uses - and thus, perforce, abuses - the
international system for its own, ever changing, ends. International law
is invoked by it when convenient - ignored when importune.
In short, America is a bully. It is a law unto itself and it legislates on
the fly, twisting arms and breaking bones when faced with opposition
and ignoring the very edicts it promulgates at its convenience. Its
soldiers and peacekeepers, its bankers and businessmen, its traders and
diplomats are its long arms, an embodiment of this potent and
malignant mixture of supremacy and contempt.
But why is America being singled out?

In politics and even more so in geopolitics, double standards and
bullying are common. Apartheid South Africa, colonial France,
mainland China, post-1967 Israel - and virtually every other polity -
were at one time or another characterized by both. But while these
countries usually mistreated only their own subjects - the USA does so
also exterritorialy.
Even as it never ceases to hector, preach, chastise, and instruct - it does
not recoil from violating its own decrees and ignoring its own teachings.
It is, therefore, not the USA's intrinsic nature, nor its self-perception, or
social model that I find most reprehensible - but its actions, particularly
its foreign policy.
America's manifest hypocrisy, its moral talk and often immoral walk,
its persistent application of double standards, irks and grates. I firmly
believe that it is better to face a forthright villain than a masquerading
saint. It is easy to confront a Hitler, a Stalin, or a Mao, vile and
bloodied, irredeemably depraved, worthy only of annihilation. The
subtleties of coping with the United States are far more demanding -
and far less rewarding.
This self-proclaimed champion of human rights has aided and abetted
countless murderous dictatorships. This alleged sponsor of free trade -
is the most protectionist of rich nations. This ostensible beacon of
charity - contributes less than 0.1% of its GDP to foreign aid
(compared to Scandinavia's 0.6%, for instance). This upright proponent
of international law (under whose aegis it bombed and invaded half a
dozen countries this past decade alone) - is in avowed opposition to
crucial pillars of the international order.
Naturally, America's enemies and critics are envious of its might and
wealth. They would have probably acted the same as the United States,
if they only could. But America's haughtiness and obtuse refusal to
engage in soul searching and house cleaning do little to ameliorate this
antagonism.
To the peoples of the poor world, America is both a colonial power and
a mercantilist exploiter. To further its geopolitical and economic goals
from Central Asia to the Middle East, it persists in buttressing regimes
with scant regard for human rights, in cahoots with venal and
sometimes homicidal indigenous politicians. And it drains the
developing world of its brains, its labour, and its raw materials, giving

little in return.
All powers are self-interested - but America is narcissistic. It is bent on
exploiting and, having exploited, on discarding. It is a global Dr.
Frankenstein, spawning mutated monsters in its wake. Its "drain and
dump" policies consistently boomerang to haunt it.
Both Saddam Hussein and Manuel Noriega - two acknowledged
monsters - were aided and abetted by the CIA and the US military.
America had to invade Panama to depose the latter and plans to invade
Iraq for the second time to force the removal of the former.
The Kosovo Liberation Army, an American anti-Milosevic pet,
provoked a civil war in Macedonia two years ago. Osama bin-Laden,
another CIA golem, restored to the USA, on September 11, 2001 some
of the materiel it so generously bestowed on him in his anti-Russian
days.
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