For over two decades, more than 20 million lives have been lost, and 37 million people have been displaced as a result of post-World War II (1941-1945) actions by the United States.
As the world’s most powerful nation following World War II and the Cold War, the United States has boldly intervened in the internal affairs of other countries.
The United States has pursued, maintained, and at times, abused its power, utilizing subversion, infiltration, and even initiating wars, which have harmed the international community.
Two recent real-life examples of U.S. actions are through its active role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
First, the United States has launched a destabilization project against Russia since 2014, using Ukraine as a proxy tool to advocate for NATO membership.
This project began as early as 2010, with the genocide of Ukrainian Russian-speaking citizens and the rise of Neo-Nazi groups through the National Guard. Russia felt provoked as this violated the 1991 agreement stating that NATO would not expand into Eastern Europe. As a result, Russia took military action on February 24, 2022.
Secondly, the United States, in collaboration with Norway, was involved in an attack on Russia’s underwater gas pipeline, Nord Stream, located in Swedish waters on September 26, 2022.
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has exposed the details of this U.S. and NATO crime in his article published on February 8, 2023. Hersh mentioned that the plan to destroy Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipeline had been devised since late 2021.
The primary goal of the United States was to halt Western Europe’s dependence on Russian energy and, conversely, promote reliance on energy supplies from the United States. This plan had been in place before Russia initiated its special military operation in Eastern Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Although the Pentagon had considered the plan to destroy Nord Stream in 2021, it faced significant opposition. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) even warned the Pentagon that such actions could be exposed in the long term.
According to Seymour Hersh, in the end, President of the United States, Joe Biden, gave approval to execute this sabotage plan and formed a small planning team.
“Three months after the planning was complete, Washington pushed the button to destroy the Russian Nord Stream gas pipeline in Swedish waters,” wrote Seymour Hersh.
Seymour Hersh, an 85-year-old investigative journalist, previously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for exposing U.S. crimes during the My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam in 1969.
China Daily, in its publication on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, with the title “US Hegemony and Its Perils,” and The Global Research on Saturday, February 25, 2023, with the title “The U.S. Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 ‘Victim Nations’ Since World War II,” depict that the history of the United States is marked by acts of violence and expansion.
Since gaining independence in 1776, the United States has consistently sought to expand its territory through often coercive means, including harsh actions against Native American tribes, the invasion of Canada, wars with Mexico, the Spanish-American War, and the annexation of Hawaii.
After World War II, the United States became involved in various wars, either triggered or initiated by the country itself, including the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Kosovo War, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Libyan War, and Syrian War, all in pursuit of its expansionist goals.
In recent years, the annual U.S. military budget has exceeded $700 billion, equivalent to approximately 40 percent of the world’s total military expenditure, surpassing the combined military budgets of the world’s 15 largest countries. The United States also maintains around 800 military bases abroad and deploys approximately 173,000 troops in 159 countries.
According to the book titled “America Invades: How We’ve Invaded or Been Militarily Involved with Almost Every Country on Earth,” the United States has been involved in military conflicts or wars with nearly all of the 190 countries recognized by the United Nations, with only three exceptions, which are considered “safe” from U.S. military intervention.
As former U.S. President Jimmy Carter once acknowledged, it is undeniable that the United States has become one of the most frequently involved countries in military conflicts throughout world history.
According to a report from Tufts University titled “Introducing the Military Intervention Project: A new Dataset on US Military Interventions, 1776-2019,” the United States conducted nearly 400 military interventions worldwide between 1776 and 2019. Of these interventions, 34 percent occurred in Latin America and the United States, 23 percent in the Caribbean, 14 percent in East Asia and the Pacific, 14 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, and 13 percent in Europe.
Intervention in the Middle East
Specifically, U.S. military interventions in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa, have increased in recent times.
Alex Lo, a columnist for the South China Morning Post, describes that the United States has often blurred the line between diplomacy and military action since its founding. This has frequently resulted in the overthrow of democratically elected governments in many developing countries in the 20th century, replacing them with pro-American regimes.
Currently, in various countries such as Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, and Yemen, the United States continues to employ its old tactics in proxy wars, low-intensity conflicts, and drone warfare.
The military dominance of the United States has led to humanitarian tragedies with a significant loss of life. Since 2001, U.S. wars and military operations in the name of counterterrorism have claimed over 900,000 lives, with approximately 335,000 of them being civilians. Additionally, millions of people have been injured, and tens of millions have been forced to become refugees.
The Iraq War in 2003 alone resulted in approximately 200,000 to 250,000 civilian deaths, including over 16,000 killed directly by the U.S. military, and displaced over a million people.
According to reports from China Daily, it is estimated that the United States has created around 37 million refugees worldwide due to various conflicts and military interventions.
For example, since 2012, the number of refugees from Syria alone has increased tenfold. During the period between 2016 and 2019, an estimated 33,584 civilian deaths were documented in the Syrian conflict, including 3,833 killed in airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition. More than half of these victims were women and children.
According to reports from Public Broadcasting Service on November 9, 2018, airstrikes carried out by U.S. forces in the city of Raqqa, Syria, alone resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,600 Syrian civilians.
Furthermore, the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan has left the country in shambles with profound consequences. It is estimated that around 47,000 Afghan civilians have been killed, along with 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan soldiers and unrelated police officers since the September 11, 2001 attacks. During the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan, over 10 million people were forced to become refugees.
The war in Afghanistan has also shattered the country’s economic foundation and plunged its people into deep poverty.
In 2021, following the “Kabul disaster,” the United States announced the freezing of a substantial amount of assets, approximately $9.5 billion, held by the Central Bank of Afghanistan. This action was regarded as an act of “pure looting.”
Turkish Interior Minister
Additionally, Turkey’s Interior Minister, Süleyman Soylu, criticized the United States during a public meeting in September 2022. He stated that the United States had been involved in proxy wars in Syria, turned Afghanistan into a field of opium and heroin production, stirred chaos in Pakistan, and left Libya in a state of ongoing civil unrest. This criticism reflects the view that the United States has engaged in various actions to exploit natural resources in various countries at the expense of the local population.
Throughout its history, the United States has employed dreadful methods in various military conflicts, including the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Kosovo War, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War. In these conflicts, the United States used chemical and biological weapons, as well as large bombs like cluster bombs, fuel-air bombs, graphite bombs, and uranium bombs, which resulted in extensive damage to civilian facilities, countless civilian casualties, and long-lasting environmental pollution.
The United States has long sought to shape other countries and establish a global order that reflects its own values and political system, often claiming to promote democracy and human rights. However, there are numerous examples of U.S. interference in the internal affairs of other countries under the banner of “promoting democracy.”
In Latin America, the United States has implemented what is known as the “Neo-Monroe Doctrine,” which has often sparked “Color Revolution” in Eurasia and orchestrated the “Arab Spring” in the Middle East and North Africa. These interventions have frequently led to chaos and disasters in many involved countries.
One key moment in the history of U.S. interference is the announcement of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Although often trumpeted as “America for Americans,” its essence was to create a situation where “America for the United States.”
Since then, U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean has included political interference, military interventions, and regime subversion, including the 61-year hostility and blockade against Cuba and the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile.
Color Revolution
U.S. foreign policy in various regions often relies on a simple principle: “Those who submit will prosper; those who resist will perish.”
The year 2003 marked the beginning of a series of “Color Revolution,” including the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia, the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine, and the “Tulip Revolution” in Kyrgizstan. The U.S. Department of State openly acknowledged its central role in these regime changes.
The United States has indeed intervened in the domestic affairs of the Philippines, leading to the ousting of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 through the “People Power Revolution.”
In January 2023, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released his book titled “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.” In his book, Pompeo revealed that the United States had planned to interfere in Venezuela to pressure the Nicolás Maduro government into reaching an agreement with the opposition. The plan involved restricting Venezuela’s ability to sell oil and gold, exerting significant economic pressure, and influencing the presidential election in 2018.
The United States has also been known to apply double standards in international regulations, often placing its own interests above international law. This includes the withdrawal of the United States from various international agreements and organizations, such as defunding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on grounds of involvement in forced abortion or forced sterilization programs.
Furthermore, the United States withdrew twice from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1984 and 2017, as well as from the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2017. In 2018, the United States also announced its withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council. All of these actions reflect a controversial foreign policy that often disregards international law.
The United States has taken several actions that have affected the dynamics of international agreements and arms control. In 2019, the United States announced its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which had previously restricted the development of intermediate-range nuclear weapons.
In 2020, the United States also announced its withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, which allowed participating countries to conduct reconnaissance flights over each other’s territories to monitor military activities.
Chemical Weapons Destruction
Furthermore, the United States has been an obstacle in efforts to control biological weapons. The country has opposed negotiations on the verification protocol of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and hindered international verification efforts related to biological weapons.
The destruction of chemical weapons is also a significant issue. As the only country with a stockpile of chemical weapons, the United States has repeatedly delayed the destruction of chemical weapons and been reluctant to fulfill its obligations to create a “world free of chemical weapons.”
The United States has also used its alliances and geopolitical strategies to influence the Asia-Pacific region. This includes creating alliance systems such as the Five Eyes, Quad (comprising Japan, India, the United States, and Australia), and AUKUS (involving Australia, the UK, and the United States). The United States has used these alliances to push countries in the region to align with its positions.
Such practices are often intended to create divisions in the region, provoke confrontation, and disrupt peace. The United States has also frequently passed judgment on the political systems of other countries and created narratives of “democracy versus authoritarianism” that can fuel competition and confrontation.
In December 2021, the United States hosted the first “Summit for Democracy,” which garnered criticism and opposition from many countries for being seen as interference in the internal affairs of other nations and causing controversy.
China Daily highlights concerns and criticisms of the United States’ actions regarding hegemonic practices, domination, and intimidation, as well as their negative influence on the spirit of democracy and world peace.
In March 2023, the United States hosted another “Summit for Democracy,” although such events remain controversial and lack widespread support.
Serious Soul-Searching
China Daily underscores the importance of mutual respect and treating other countries as equals in international relations. Major powers are also expected to act in line with their status and lead by creating a new model of international relations based on dialogue and partnership, rather than confrontation or alliance-building.
China, as emphasized by China Daily, opposes all forms of hegemonism, power politics, and interference in the internal affairs of other countries. The final message conveyed is that the United States needs to engage in serious soul-searching, reflect on its past actions, and change its hegemonic, dominating, and intimidating practices to support world peace and cooperation.
