HISTORY’S GREATEST AND MOST DANGEROUS HEGEMON

Chaitanya Davé

Now a days, one hears so much noise in American media about Russia spying on and trying to influence US elections of November, 2016. American politicians of both the parties are vociferously complaining about it and condemning Russia for her nefarious behavior of meddling in America’s elections. President Obama even kicked out several Russians from American soil putting in place sanctions on Russia. Currently, the US Senate and Congress passed with overwhelming majority vote, more severe sanctions on Russia. Mind you, they have not produced a single proof of Russia meddling in American elections.

Even if it is true, only a shameless nation will complain about Russia supposedly interfering in its elections when it is itself the uncrowned world leader in interfering in other nations’ affairs since two centuries and especially since World War-II.

Let alone the American people who are the most uninformed people amongst all the developed nations on earth, but even the ruling elite, from the president to most of the Senators and Congressmen seem to be unaware of the history of US foreign policy and those who know (very few if at all), conveniently choose to forget about the United States’ criminal behavior in the past. Let’s look at the facts:

As veteran journalist and author William Blum has pointed out in his amazing book (Killing Hope, p.392), from 1945 to 2003, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and tried to crush more than 30 populist –nationalist movements fighting against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US bombed some 25 countries, killed or caused the death of several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.

According to veteran Australian journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger, the United States has destroyed 50 national democratic movements around the world since 1945. This tells us how much America stands for democracy for others.

This is what a well-known historian has written about America:

America is today the leader of a worldwide anti-revolutionary movement in the defense of vested interests. She now stands for what Rome stood for. Rome consistently supported the rich against the poor in all foreign communities that fell under her sway: and, since the poor, so far, have always and everywhere been far more numerous than the rich, Rome’s policy made for inequality, for injustice, and for the least happiness of the greatest number.—Arnold Toynbee, 1961

William Blum, provides (his 2005 classic book “Rogue State”) the names of prominent foreign individuals whose assassination (or planning for the same) the United States has been involved in since the end of World War-II. (This type of operation was referred to by the CIA humorists as “suicide involuntarily administered”, to be carried out by the Agency’s “Health Alteration Committee”.):

• 1949………..Kim Koo, Korean opposition leader
• 1950s………CIA/Neo-Nazi hit list of more than 200 political figures in West Germany to be “put out of the way” in the event of a Soviet invasion
• 1950s………Zhou Enlai, Prime Minister of China, several attempts on his life
• 1950s, 1962…….Sukarno, President of Indonesia
• 1951……….Kim Il Sung, Premier of North Korea
• 1953……….Mohammed Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran
• 1950s (mid)…..Claro M. Recto, Philippines Opposition leader
• 1955……….Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India
• 1957……….Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of Egypt
• 1959/63/69….Norodom Sihanouk, leader of Cambodia
• 1960………Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem, leader of Iraq
• 1950s-70s……José Figueres, President of Costa Rica, two attempts on his life
• 1961………Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, leader of Haiti
• 1961………Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo
• 1961………Gen. Rafael Trujillo, leader of Dominican Republic
• 1963………Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam
• 1960s-70s…Fidel Castro, President of Cuba, many attempts and plots on his life
• 1960s…….Raul Castro, high official in government of Cuba (now President)
• 1965………Francisco Caamano, Dominican Republic opposition leader
• 1965-6…..Charles de Gaulle, President of France
• 1967………Che Guevara, Cuban leader
• 1970………Salvador Allende, President of Chile
• 1970………Gen. Rene Schneider, Commander-in-Chief of Army, Chile
• 1970s, 1981……General Omar Torrijos, leader of Panama
• 1972………General Manuel Noriega, Chief of Panama Intelligence, later President
• 1975………Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire
• 1976………Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica
• 1980-1986….Moammar Qaddafi, leader of Libya, several plots and attempts upon his life. Ultimately, he was killed.
• 1982………Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran
• 1983………Gen. Ahmed Dlimi, Moroccan Army commander
• 1983………Miguel d’Escoto, foreign Minister of Nicaragua
• 1984………The nine commandantes of the National Directorate of Nicaragua
• 1985………Sheikh Mohammed Hussain Fadallah, Lebanese Shiite leader
• 1991………Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq
• 1993………Mohammed Farah Aideed, prominent clan leader of Somalia
• 1998, 2001-2…….Osama bin Laden, leading Islamic militant
• 1999………Slobodan Milosevic, President of Yugoslavia
• 2002………Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Afghan Islamic leader and warlord
• 2003………Saddam Hussein and his two sons, Qusay and Uday, and his half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti; all had been senior government officials

Adding to the above ghastly record, in 2004, the United States landed its marines in Haiti to support the CIA-backed forces. With CIA inspired and orchestrated coup, its democratically elected and popular priest President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown. The CIA simply kidnapped Aristide and took him to Central African Republic.

Yet another example of US and Western Powers’ involvement in dirty work is the overthrow and killing of Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. NATO members especially France and the United States were deeply involved in his overthrow in 2011. He was overthrown because he wanted to use Libya’s resources—water, oil and financial resources—for Libyan people and for the reconstruction of Africa. Qaddafi wanted to build African Monetary Fund, an African Central Bank, and a common African currency. This was dangerous for Euro as well as for Dollar; not acceptable to the Western Powers. The West did not want any surprises where Libya would want to call on Africans to turn away from the dollar as the reserve currency and to use African resources such as gold as a new currency for all of Africa.

US predator drone along with French fighter jet were involved in the air strike on Muammar Qaddafi’s escaping convoy during the uprising and chaos created in Libya with the Western help in moments before his killing.

Then in 2013-14, CIA again carried out yet another coup; this one in Ukraine. Former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was democratically elected Ukraine’s president in 2010. His crime was, he was very close and loyal to Russia. In 2013, he rebuffed the European Union and its offer of an agreement similar to NAFTA or TPP with European Union forcing him to open its borders to Western exports and investment without a reciprocal opening of the EU’s borders to Ukraine. Naturally he rejected the offer. Ultimately, CIA got involved. It collaborated with opposition forces, financed them and succeeded in carrying out the coup. President Yanukovych was overthrown. Finally Russia was forced to get involved as this was going on its borders; it sent its troops and took over Russian speaking part of Ukraine called Crimea.

This shows that even today, no world leader and his government is safe from the diabolic actions of this hegemon if he dares to cross this nation’s vital interests (which are all over the world). Any nation, any government, any national leader, if his or her government is socialist and is not following the path of capitalism will be in danger of being overthrown if CIA has its way. It does not matter if this government is democratic. Even its leader’s life will be in danger; he could be overthrown by a CIA inspired and supported military coup, or even worst, he could be assassinated. History has proven this time and time again. Those leaders and countries who don’t learn from history will certainly suffer from dire consequences.