Why US giving up on policy of direct military interventions

The United States is giving up on the neo-liberal policy of regime change, color revolutions and direct military interventions because its resources are getting depleted, says Professor Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.

Professor Etler said now the United States “wants to continue its imperialist agenda by pitting nation against nation and play the old game of power politics versus nation building.”

Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday while commenting on a statement by British Prime Minister Theresa May.

May told a meeting of Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia on Thursday that the “days of Britain and America intervening in sovereign countries in an attempt to remake the world in our own image are over.”

But then immediately she contradicted herself by saying, “but nor can we afford to stand idly by when the threat is real and when it is in our own interests to intervene.”

Etler said, “So the door is wide open for US imperialism to do as it sees fit to protect its own self-interest anywhere, anytime.”

“It may be recalled that the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq, which were joint ventures of the US and the UK, were justified by the very same rhetoric, namely that the interventions were called for because both countries represented very real threats to the national interests of the US and Britain and neither could stand idly by in the face of them,” he explained.

Return of Kissingerian balance of power policy

Professor Etler said both US President Donald Trump and British PM May are “merely stating that they have given up on the neo-liberal program of ideologically driven regime change and color revolutions which they have deemed ineffective and wasteful.”

“They would rather revert to a Kissingerian balance of power foreign policy based on Churchillian gunboat diplomacy. With Trump the old dictum ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’ has apparently been reversed to, ‘speak loudly and carry a limp rod.’  That's why he is so insistent on doubly the US war budget even though it is currently seven times that of all other nations combined,” he stated.

“The US can't go around fomenting color revolutions, palace coups, proxy wars and direct military interventions any longer. Its resources are getting depleted and the resolve of its people has diminished,” the analyst pointed out.

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He stated that the new strategy of power politics “fits in well with Trump's bombastic style and bullying personality. His rapprochement with Russia is based on a reverse Kissinger ploy of cozying up to Russia to shift the balance of power against China which the US now sees as its main enemy.”

‘It's now or never for the US’

“Russia is today a regional power intent on protecting its vital interests close to home. China shares that objective but also has larger ambitions. It wants to transition from being the factory of the world to being the leader of the world. Not based on military expansion like the US, but trade and commerce,” Professor Etler said.

“While the US spread its influence by establishing 700 military bases throughout the world, China is spreading its influence by extending its trade routes to the far corners of the world through infrastructure programs and expanded trade routes exemplified by its One Road One Belt trade networks,” he stated.

“China's economy will soon outstrip that of the US and leave it in the dust. It's now or never for the US, reestablish its industrial base, reinvigorate its military and bully all those it deems to stand in its way. US imperialism will not quietly leave the stage of world history. Right now it wants to cut its losses and pick its targets more judiciously,” he observed.

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“It’s easy to be fooled by the deceptive rhetoric of the US and Britain. Under Obama the US was the exceptional and indispensable nation that all must follow. Now it’s America First. Follow us or else,” the scholar concluded. 

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