“We are the indispensable nation.  American leadership is what holds the world together.”

– President Joe Biden, 2023.

 

“The United States is still…the ‘indispensable nation’ in the Middle East.”

–David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist, 2024.

There is no better declarative indicator of American arrogance and hubris than the self-appointed title of “indispensable nation.”  Liberal pundits and critics believe that the notion of the indispensable nation had its origins in the post-Cold War era following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  In actual fact, the ideological origins of the indispensable nation were “present at the creation,” if I can borrow the title of Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s trenchant memoir.

The idea of the unique international standing of the United States was part of the Founding Fathers’ debate over our global role in 1789.  Liberal pundits and critics argue that U.S. “internationalism” was unique to twentieth-century diplomacy, but our notions of free commerce and liberal democracy were there at the outset.  They cite former presidents Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman in their discussion of “internationalism.”  But John Quincy Adams, arguing that America “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy,” envisioned the United States as a threat to Europe’s autocratic regimes.  Adams added that the “influence of our example” would “overthrow them all without a single exception.”

The success of the Revolutionary War created a sense of American nationalism and internationalism that was manifested in our nineteenth-century wars against Britain (1812), Mexico (1846), and Spain (1898).  The Constitution has little to say about war, peace, and diplomacy: Article I grants Congress the power to declare war; Article II grants the president the power to serve as commander-in-chief.  But the Founding Fathers accepted George Washington’s dictum that “if you wish for peace, prepare for war.”  As early as 1783, Alexander Hamilton called for the drafting of our first national security strategy.

Ignatius’s notion that the United States is the “indispensable nation” in the Middle East is particularly naive.  In reality, the Middle East is our briar patch.  We have no influence over Israel, the region’s superpower; we have been unable—perhaps unwilling—to reduce the misery suffered by innocent Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; and we have been unable to deter regional actors from using force despite our military presence.

The United States and Israel are totally at odds on the post-war scenario; the idea of a two-state solution; the role of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza; and the role of the Arab states in the rebuilding of Gaza.  President Biden’s address on the 100th day of the Gaza war made no mention whatsoever of the more than 24,000 Palestinians who have been killed in the war, mostly women and children.

Biden’s decision to expand the war into the Red Sea last week was predictable in view of the naval deployments in the region, but it is unlikely to have any favorable impact on the actions and policies of Yemen and the Houthis.  The U.S. and British attacks could lead to a wider war, however, that involves Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border.  On January 16, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched missiles at an Israeli intelligence facility in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, not far from the U.S. consulate.

More terrorism in the region is also likely.

If there is one indispensable factor in this rapidly changing international environment, it is the need for global diplomacy and cooperation.  The key international challenges involve strategic stability; the proliferation of conventional weaponry; international terrorism, and climate change.  There are no single indispensable nations in these difficult geopolitical challenges.  We need skillful U.S. diplomacy and must stop resorting to such counter-productive bromides as the “indispensable nation.”

The ultimate irony is that a nation that is so secure because of friendly borders north and south as well as protective oceans east and west has become so insecure.  U.S. complicity with Israeli war crimes will compromise U.S. influence in other international situations, and the overwhelming evidence of Israeli genocide will create additional problems.  The United States will not be helped by the comments of President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, all of whom dismissed the charges of genocide as “meritless.”

The Biden administration wants Russia to follow the principles of international law in Ukraine, but has no stomach for getting Israel to do the same in Gaza.

Melvin A. Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University.  A former CIA analyst, Goodman is the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism. and A Whistleblower at the CIA. His most recent books are “American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump” (Opus Publishing, 2019) and “Containing the National Security State” (Opus Publishing, 2021). Goodman is the national security columnist for counterpunch.org.

 

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/01/19/the-dangerous-myth-of-the-indispensable-nation/

 

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I have come to the conclusion that the destruction of the AMERICAN POWER will be the beginning of Peace on the planet...

                                Emmanuel Todd

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

SEE ALSO: https://x.com/VincLapierre/status/2008823385896407130

 

Smashing the Rule of Law – Western Hypocrisy on Full Display OVER Venezuela!

Seth Ferris

The U.S. military operation in Venezuela is depicted as the point of the final collapse of international law and a symptom of Washington’s transition to open neo‑imperial coercion.

On Saturday, 3rd January 2026, the US carried out an unprovoked and illegal assault on Venezuela to kidnap its sitting president, Nicholas Maduro. Sold to the public as a “casualty-free” operation, the raid has killed at least 80 Venezuelan civilians and military personnel from both Venezuela and Cuba; many of the latter appear to have been executed in cold blood by US special forces operators from Delta Force.

The raid appears to have begun with a cyberattack shutting down power to air defences and communications in Caracas and the surrounding area, blinding the defenders and sharply limiting their ability to coordinate their defenses.

Approximately 150 aircraft were involved, launching strikes on numerous targets, including the bombing of the mausoleum of Hugo Chavez. Way to keep it classy, America.

Apparently the operation was planned for some time, and while initially presented as being in response to “narco-trafficking,” a post-raid press conference ended up with Trump talking mainly about how Maduro supposedly stole US oil and other resources and how the US was going to “run Venezuela” until a suitable (one can only assume he meant “puppet”) government could be formed.

At least they are being honest, I guess…

What we are seeing is the US putting the final nail in the coffin of international law, the burying of which began with the US bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 

Trump, Rubio, and Hesgith then went on to threaten Mexico, Columbia, Cuba, and Greenland in rants that became increasingly deranged, while the White House posted memes of Trump with the acronym “FAFO” (Fuck Around and Find Out), which shows the degeneracy of US governance, which has descended into government by social media memes.

Needless to say, Zelensky immediately called for the same sort of operation against Putin, which is, to be quite frank, asking for a global thermonuclear war, but what else can we expect from the dictator of Ukraine.

What is more concerning, is that Trump is currently denying the Ukrainian/CIA/MI6 attempt to strike Putin’s residence in Novgorod with his attempts to claim that the attack was “nearby but nothing to do with it [Putin’s residence and nuclear command center]” despite the fact that the Russian government handed over navigational data extracted from Ukrainian drones, which confirms that the residence and command center was, in fact, the target.

Trump is Dick Cheney 2.0

It is becoming increasingly apparent that it is not Trump in charge, but the CIA, and that Trump is morphing into Dick Cheney 2.0 as a result.

The same MO of previous regime change operations has the CIA’s dirty fingerprints all over it. And the result of this one may be the same too, with Maduro being offered up as another victim of character assassination, along with his wife, by the US. This is the same as they did to Gaddafi and Hussein, etc.

They are blaming him for the nationalisation of the oil fields that happened in 1975, lol.

Let us not forget about Cuba and what Castro did. They, too, kicked out US corporations that were robbing Cuba blind, restoring state ownership of national resources and assets. Needless to say, Rubio and the perfumed princess Lindsey Graham are salivating at the prospect of overthrowing the Cuban government.

The usual psyops are in full swing, with US media portraying film of Venezuelans in the US celebrating as film from Caracas and completely ignoring the massive protests IN SUPPORT of Maduro that are taking place, with hundreds of thousands of working-class Venezuelans in the street protesting the assault on their nation’s sovereignty.

Double Standards

Talking heads, such as the reprehensible Jack Keane, a former US general, let the cat out of the bag, when during an interview he let slip that the capture of Maduro would be “Good for the people of Israel”, and the media adulation of the opposition “leader” Machado, who received the so-called Nobel peace prize for calling for intervention to overthrow the government of Maduro, glosses over her rampant Zionism and promise to put a Venezuelan embassy in Jerusalem and privatize Venezuelan natural resources.

All the while, apparently, US SF are on their way to the Middle East through the UK. I suspect Trump is going to try the same thing in Tehran. If they do, I suspect a lot of US SF will die for a lost cause, and one can only hope that US casualties will be a learning experience, as it is the only way Americans will learn.

While US talking heads gloat over the rapid operation, they miss the point that it was done against a country that has not weathered US sanctions well, that has limited air defense systems that were not given backup power, and that has limited ability to retaliate.

Iran has proven, particularly during the 12-day war, to be far more resilient and was able to effectively strike back at both Israeli and US targets, something the arrogance of American leaders has failed to absorb into their thinking.

The US obviously hopes to use Venezuelan oil reserves to offset economic chaos that would be caused by Iran shutting the Straits of Hormuz in retaliation to any US-Israeli attack. This seems stupid beyond belief, as Venezuelan oil infrastructure is in a severely dilapidated state due to decades of US sanctions making it impossible to maintain, let alone modernize, the extraction infrastructure, and it will require billions of dollars of investment and years of work to overcome the decades of neglect, and that assumes a peaceful situation, whereas it is far more likely that any US companies working in the oil fields will face relentless attacks from pro-Maduro militias.

Hypocrisy of the EU and UK

Meanwhile, the hypocrisy of the EU and UK is on full display, with Kallas, the EU foreign relations chief, describing Maduro as “illegitimate” (somehow Zelensky, who cancelled elections and banned opposition parties, is still legitimate, though), while Starmer, the UK Prime Minister and supposed defender of international law, said he would need to check with the US about their reasoning for the attack before making a judgement on its legality.

Both the EU and the UK have totally lost any credibility they had regarding “defending the rule of law,” and that was little enough after their support of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.

The BIG takeaway is that “might makes right,” and I am sure the lesson has not been lost on either President Putin or President Xi. If Russia chooses to arrest Zelensky, or China launches an operation to take under arrest the Taiwanese “president,” what will the US do, say.

“But that is illegal!”?

What we are seeing is the US putting the final nail in the coffin of international law, the burying of which began with the US bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.

Buckle up; it’s going to be a wild ride. It is not hard to understand how Americans plan to run Venezuela, running it into the ground; one only has to listen to the renowned experts. But the difficult question — with answers few and far between — is this: How is Trump planning to ‘run’ Venezuela? (With Anne Applebaum), as she has all the imaginary insight.

I suspect Trump thinks this will somehow help secure victory in the midterm elections this year, and this is part of that plan; however, if oil prices don’t go down, not to mention inflation and the cost of everything, the effect will be just the opposite.

 

Seth Ferris, investigative journalist and political scientist, expert on Middle Eastern affairs

https://journal-neo.su/2026/01/09/smashing-the-rule-of-law-western-hypocrisy-on-full-display-over-venezuela/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.