Invasion and interference are the true face of America
- The United States may think of itself as the greatest democracy, but what is beyond question is that it is the world’s most prolific invader
Powerful states do not invade and interfere by broadcasting their real intentions but will always profess the noblest motive. The more powerful a state is, the more highfalutin its excuses. In our age, the greatest excuse is the spread of democracy, and its most powerful promoter, the United States.
In practice, though, what is universal is not American democratic values, but empire.
A kind reader sent me a most enlightening book: America Invades: How We’ve Invaded or Been Militarily Involved with Almost Every Country on Earth, by historians Christopher Kelly and Stuart Laycock.
I have always known America has invaded and interfered around the world. What I didn’t know is that a country left wholly alone and untouched militarily by Americans is the rare exception rather than the rule. Of these, there are only three: Andorra, Bhutan and Liechtenstein.
In this context, my hate fans will forgive me if I often express outrage when the US Congress complains about China “interfering” in Hong Kong – like a serial killer reprimanding a petty criminal.
Since the US became a nation, it has invaded 84 out of 194 countries currently recognised by the United Nations, or 43 per cent of the total. And it has had some form of military involvement with a whopping 191 countries, not counting the US itself. That’s more than 98 per cent!
Now, “involvement” does not equate to invasion or occupation. The US has never invaded Portugal, for example, but has had military bases on the Azores since the second world war. More often than not, though, “involvement” involves some elements of military conflict. Granted, that is the price of empire.
Britain, for example, had invaded or fought in nearly 90 per cent of all countries on Earth throughout its history. That’s according to All the Countries We’ve Ever Invaded: And the Few We Never Got Round To, by Laycock, an earlier book on which the more recent co-authored one was based.
So, when I read the latest nonsense on Hong Kong from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an arm of the US Congress, I almost felt grateful. At least Americans haven’t sent in troops yet. Even so, I have read repeatedly on lihkg.com that many of our youth pray for a US invasion and would happily serve as local guides and translators for the American military.
Good thing the motherland is still in charge of Hong Kong’s defence!
