The ugly reality of the American empire by Alex Lo, October 20, 2021

The ugly reality of the American empire by Alex Lo, October 20, 2021

An American columnist says that building functioning, legitimate states is woven into the diplomatic DNA of the USA. That’s the beautification of empire. The reality of empire is how many dysfunctional and illegitimate states have been created by and through US intervention.

“For better or worse, nation building is woven into America’s diplomatic DNA. The effort to build functioning, legitimate states in troubled societies has been part of US foreign policy since America has been a global power.” – Hal Brands, Bloomberg opinion columnist, on the aftermath of the Afghanistan disaster.

Brands is being historically “modest”. The United States was frequently intervening throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, in what would become Canada, in Mexico, and up and down the entire South America. After all, the practice of the Monroe Doctrine, which treated the western hemisphere as its own geopolitical and economic backyard, was enunciated as early as the 1820s. And that was when the US was only a regional power. So, it’s hardly surprising the US began intervening everywhere around the world – once it became a global power. DNA indeed!
Have you ever wondered why and how the US has been at war in 229 years of its 245 years in existence, equivalent to 93 per cent of its history? This doesn’t count foreign subversions, coup sponsorships, assassinations and war by proxies.

Be that as it may, among many within the US political elite, Brands’ statement is self-evident. For most people in the rest of the world, though, it is arrogant, distasteful, repulsive. To be fair, most Americans I know would also reject the statement. But then, they are not part of the US elites.

Brands is articulating the logic of empire and its beautification. The first part (the logic of empire) is well understood by the ruling and military-industrial elites in the US; the beautification of empire is left to scholars and columnists such as Brands to sanitise the horrors, war crimes, suffering, poverty and mass killings the US has inflicted on the rest of the world. You need the second part to hide the first. In the modern world, it won’t do just to take over someone else’s economy and undermine their government and society. You have to do it for their own good, to give them freedom, democracy and free market, to protect their human rights.

“The effort to build functioning, legitimate states in troubled societies…”: That’s the beautification of empire talking. The reality or the logic of empire is how many dysfunctional and illegitimate states have been created by and through US intervention – by worsening already “troubled societies” and by collapsing otherwise functioning societies into troubled ones or even failed states.

Alex Lo has been a Post columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China. A journalist for 25 years, he has worked for various publications in Hong Kong and Toronto as a news reporter and editor. He has also lectured in journalism at the University of Hong Kong.