United States: the boomerang effect

(...) “The United States, where the first and most advanced liberal democracy was established, suffers from the problem of political decline more acutely than other democratic political systems.” (Fukuyama,2014)

 

"A weak king makes strong people weak." – (Luis de Camões)"

 

1. 1.    The Vulnerability of a Great Power

At the end of World War II, in 1945, when it emerged as an atomic power, the Americans decided to use their uncontested postwar power to intervene, directly or indirectly, in the countries under their presumed sphere of influence. Always in the preservation of the economic and geopolitical interests of the financial oligarchy that controls the country. Using as a pretext the “defense and expansion of democracy".

Taking on the role of “world's gendarmeWhich has been consolidated and expanded in recent decades.

It is quite likely that they used the same criteria in this expansionist process as they applied in their westward march through their territory, subjugating or eliminating native indigenous nations. And when they definitively appropriated valuable lands from neighboring Mexico, abusively incorporating them into their territory. This type of intervention is called ""Manifest Destiny"What could this strange concept possibly mean?

The clashes of the Cold War only exacerbated American interventionist fury. Always under the pretext of exporting its "democracia"For the whole world. Subjugating governments and nations to their interests. Cruel dictatorships were supported by..." Pax Americana, provided they were convenient to their economic and geopolitical interests. Of course, always in defense of the "democracia".

Since the second half of the 20th century, interventions in the internal politics of peoples and nations, in all corners of the world, have occurred in an uncontrollable crescendo, becoming something predictable and natural. Until the present day.

Iran, Korea, Guatemala, Paraguay, Cuba, Vietnam, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay. Until the fall of the “Berlin WallFollowing the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, these were among the countries that fell victim to the "democratic expansion"of the Americans."

 

1. 2.    Tasting their own medicine

 

The 21st century has brought about a diversification of interventionist methods and a broadening of the range of "enemies" to be neutralized/eliminated.

The attack on the “Twin TowersThe September 11, 2001 attacks introduced an unexpected element to the seemingly tranquil American domestic democracy. And they revealed the vulnerability of the once impregnable United States territory during times of war or attacks by “terrorist” groups.

The "September 11This thus ushered in a new era in American foreign policy. And the convenient inclusion of new enemies of democracy on its list: the Islamic State, or the “Axis of Evil", as former President Bush Jr. christened it."

As if the United States had absorbed all the misconceptions it spread throughout the world, the once-admired American democracy has been gradually undermined by authoritarian interventions originating from constitutional powers.

(It is worth remembering, due to its historical importance, the “House Un-American Activities Committee"…", originating from the American Congress, an initiative of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. Perhaps one of the most significant byproducts of the Cold War. This phase of political life would become known as McCarthyism. One of the strangest and darkest periods in United States domestic politics. A sign of things to come.

For keen observers, the most pronounced decline of American democracy began in the 1980s with the somewhat unexpected election of Ronald Reagan. This marked the hegemony of Neoliberalism as a doctrine adopted domestically, and which would then be exported by Americans: minimal state intervention and unlimited profits for speculative capital.

The election of Reagan, a former Hollywood star, caused astonishment and concern in many sectors, especially among American strategists and intellectuals. This led the writer Gore Vidal to say, in a famous interview, that- Reagan would not be elected.. – “Why? “The journalists ask.”Because this isn't Paraguay.“Vidal explained. After Reagan was elected, journalists sought out Gore Vidal again: - “What is your explanation for Reagan's victory? "- Welcome to Asunción..."The writer replied. With undisguised prejudice, heavy irony, but as one can perceive, in a prophetic tone."

It is likely that from that point on, American domestic politics began to be more visibly influenced by its erratic foreign policy, both in its day-to-day operations and in the broader political and electoral process. For example, in the important choice of its presidents.

Reagan, Bush Jr., and now Donald Trump would be the most likely and significant presidential models for countries.underdeveloped in the American government. Because of the strangeness of its governing figures and even the methods used to win elections.

The Chinese often call this role reversal, that situation in which “flies catch the flypaper... "

To combat the extremist "Islamic State," extreme measures would be necessary, even bordering on the most brutal and primitive totalitarianism. And most seriously, this would involve carrying out terrorist acts in various countries under the pretext of "fighting terrorism," bringing back Nazi concentration camps to the 21st century, with new inmates.

Hence the grotesque idea of ​​Guantanamo, an American base located on Cuban territory. In this "special unit," abuse and torture against "Islamic enemies" would be permitted. And human rights could be conveniently disregarded by the Americans. After all, a war was being waged. Holy war against the axis of evil.That was the doctrine of President Bush Jr.

Interestingly, Guantanamo hasn't gained any media-driven label from political marketers, unlike what happened during the Cold War: "wall of shame," "iron curtain," "free world," or "red menace."

Guantanamo remained Guantanamo, period. No one dared to call the American base "New Auschwitz"For example. There was the complicit silence of the American media and sympathetic countries..."

Internally, American democracy began to suffer serious declines, with severe restrictions on individual rights. This time, at the initiative of the Executive branch, and with the support of Congress. Then-Republican President Bush Jr., like a traditional Latin American caudillo, began to decree "institutional acts," easily approved by Congress, restricting other rights in the name of "National Security." In practice, this created an authoritarian state, merely with the appearance of democracy, under the justification – perhaps a mere pretext – of combating the "Islamism", and other enemies.

In order, the following measures or "institutional acts" were enacted during the Bush administration in the first decade of the 21st century (Moniz Bandeira -1):

1. Suspension of the right of habeas corpus for "outlaw enemy combatants" and for those who helped them;
2. The outlaw fighters imprisoned in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo were barred from appealing to American courts, based on the Geneva Convention;
3. It gave the president the right to detain, indefinitely, any citizen – American or foreign – in possession of material supporting anti-American hostilities and authorizing the use of torture in secret military prisons;
4. Blocking any legal action that prisoners detained as "enemy combatants" might undertake due to injuries and abuses suffered during their detention;
5. Permission for American military personnel and CIA agents to engage in torture practices. And authorization for the use of testimony obtained through coercion.
6. It granted American military personnel and CIA agents immunity from prosecution for torturing detainees captured during 2005.

Any resemblance to Latin American caudillos is purely coincidental.

 

1. 3.    The election of Donald Trump and the future of American democracy.   

The recent election of Donald Trump, unexpected for many, has made more evident and shown to the world the complicated internal situation of American politics, which has caused great perplexity in all corners of the planet.

It is quite likely that American voters have grown tired of so much intervention around the world and have decided to change the pattern.

It's incredible how democracy and civilized standards have regressed in American life. A society once admired throughout the developed world. An example and model of civilized coexistence.

A Politics It does not always keep pace with the economic, scientific, and technological achievements of peoples and nations. It is likely that the long duration of the slave system in the USA influenced its future leaders.

Even the most astute analysts, in the American case, have difficulty understanding and interpreting for their followers what American foreign policy is and where it is headed. Its numerous mistakes and repeated blunders, in which Washington strategists are unsurpassed masters, are utterly incapable of learning the lessons of history.

It is perhaps unnecessary to list in detail the numerous places where Americans have been involved in "wars" and interventions in recent decades. Where they have managed to demonstrate an unsurpassed destructive capacity. With minimal strategic successes: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, in the future, may be "just photographs on the wall" of the Pentagon. But how many innocent lives have been lost. How many nations destroyed. Uselessly. Perhaps only to serve the interests of the "military-industrial complex." Far, far away from American strategic and geopolitical priorities.

It is expected that some of the teachings may have been assimilated.

Let's wait and see. Even with minimal hope in Donald Trump. Who isn't exactly a statesman. But he could surprise us.

(*) Lampião Institute

(1) Moniz Bandeira, in “A DESORDEM MUNDIAL” - O Espectro da Total Dominação - Ed. Civilização Brasileira , RJ - 2016