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End of the US
Empire: Russian Warships Just Arrived in the Philippines
By Darius
Shahtahmasebi
January 06,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- "ANTIMEDIA"
-
Notable American foreign policy critic
and linguist, Professor Noam Chomsky, has stated
numerous times that the United States’ power has steadily
been declining since the end of World War II. As
Chomsky notes, in 1945, the United States had
“literally half the world’s wealth,
incredible security, controlled the entire Western
Hemisphere, both oceans, [and[ the opposite sides of
both oceans.”
In that context
– and in the context of the United States waging
war in multiple countries across the globe with the
most advanced military technology in the world – it is
hard to understand how this has happened. But Chomsky is
not wrong.
Beginning with
what was referred to as the “loss of China” in the
1940s, the United States slowly began to lose areas of
Southeast Asia, which led America to brutally launch the
Indochina wars. As Chomsky notes,
by
destroying South Vietnam in the heavily criticized
Vietnam War — a move designed to prevent Vietnam from
achieving
independence and perhaps becoming a Communist state
— the U.S. sent a message to the rest of Indochina that
if a nation attempted to break free of U.S-European
control, it would likely be bombed into oblivion. The
strategy worked at the time; as Chomsky notes, by 1965,
every country in the region had dictatorships that were
prepared to rule in a way suitable to America’s foreign
policy interests. As
recent developments in the Asian region have shown,
however, the success of this bully-style strategy has
been short-lived indeed.
Regardless, the
United States has also lost South America. According to
Chomsky, the “loss” of South America is easily
observable:
“One sign is
that the United States has been driven out of every
single military base in South America. We’re trying to
restore a few, but right now there are none.”
Over the course
of the last few decades, the United States has begun to
lose the Middle East, as well. In Iraq, the United
States helped
support Saddam Hussein’s rise to power and went so
far to support his
war of aggression against neighboring Iran. Then,
the U.S. turned its back on Hussein, attacking Iraq in
1991 under the presidency of George H.W. Bush. As a
result, the U.S. learned at least one valuable lesson
from bombing Iraq in the early nineties: that Russia
was not going to intervene in America’s ambitions in
the Middle East.
The Middle East
was, therefore, ripe for the taking, and this continued
to be the case up until the Syrian war. What people fail
to understand, however, is that the United States is not
bombing the Middle East into submission because of its
immense power, but because it is losing its power,
influence, and
control throughout the region.
As should be
quite clear to anyone following the conflict, Russia has
replaced the United States as judge, jury, and
executioner (and supposed peace
broker) in the five-year Syrian war, successfully
retaking the major
city of Aleppo from NATO-backed rebel groups.
Russia’s
advances in the Middle East have spilled over to the
rest of the world. In October of last year, the U.S.
officially “lost” its stranglehold over the Philippines.
Though it was
previously seen as an integral ally U.S. ally vital
to countering China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific
region, the Philippines openly and proudly boasted about
their new ties with Russia and China.
As it
transpires, the Philippines has put its money where its
mouth is.
Russian warships arrived in Filipino territory this
Tuesday. According to the Philippines’ Navy, the visit
is merely a “goodwill visit,” but the future of joint
exercises is to be discussed. A report
from Russia’s state-run Sputnik News seemed to
contradict this, stating the ships were there
specifically to conduct joint exercises with Philippine
forces for the purposes of fighting maritime piracy and
terrorism.
“You
can choose to cooperate with United States of America or
to cooperate with Russia,”
Russian Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov said,
speaking at the Manila Harbor.“But
from our side we can help you in every way that you
need. We are sure that in the future we’ll have
exercises with you. Maybe just maneuvering or maybe use
of combat systems and so on.”
Mikhailov also
seemed to indicate that other players in the region,
such as China and Malaysia, would coordinate with the
potential training exercises within the next few years.
Russia has also offered
the Philippines sophisticated weaponry, including
aircraft and submarines.
The United
States has only one
move left: surround Russia’s borders with NATO
troops and missiles, which they are doing quite rapidly.
Sooner or later, however, the United States will have to
admit its very real decline in world standing and will
have no choice but to learn to
coordinate global affairs with the likes of Russia
and China.
Let’s face it —
what is the alternative?
The views
expressed in this article are the author's own and do
not necessarily reflect Information Clearing House
editorial policy.
Duterte visits Russian destroyer,
wants Moscow to be ally & protector:
“We welcome our Russian friends. Anytime you want to
dock here for anything, for play, for replenish supplies
or maybe our ally to protect us,” Duterte said as cited
by Reuters |
