American

Empire in Decline?

How the US Creates ‘Sh*thole’ Countries

A new collection of essays, edited by former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, clearly shows that it is the U.S. that is largely responsible for the poverty and suffering in these very nations, says Robert Fantina. 

In two years, the world has become accustomed to being shocked by the words and actions of United States President Donald Trump. In January of this year, he again showed his lack of diplomacy, tack and common decency, when he referred to many poorer countries as “sh*ithole countries”, asking, “Why do we want all these people from sh*thole countries coming here?” Former member of the House of Representatives Cynthia McKinney, in the new book she has edited,  

How the US Creates ‘Sh*thole’ Countries, (Clarity Press) has gathered a collection of essays, including one of her own, that clearly shows that it is the U.S. that is largely responsible for the poverty and suffering in these very nations.  

 Major un/declared wars:

 
War in Which American Colonists or United States Citizens Officially Participated:

Major Combatants:

1675 – 1676 

King Philip's War…

New England Colonies vs. 

Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Nipmuck Indians

1689–1697  

King William's War…

English Colonies vs. France

1702–1713  

Queen Anne's War (War of Spanish Succession): 

English Colonies vs. France

1744–1748  

King George's War (War of Austrian Succession): 

French Colonies vs. Great Britain

1756–1763  

French and Indian War (Seven Years War):

French Colonies vs. Great Britain

1759–1761  

Cherokee War English:

Colonists vs. Cherokee Indians

1775–1783  

American Revolution:

English Colonists vs. Great Britain

1798–1800  

Franco-American Naval War:

United States vs. France

1801–1805; 1815  

Barbary Wars:

United States vs. Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli

1812–1815     

War of 1812:

United States vs. Great Britain

1813–1814     

Creek War:

United States vs. Creek Indians

1836       

War of Texas Independence:

Texas vs. Mexico

1846–1848     

Mexican-American War:

United States vs. Mexico

1861–1865     

U.S. Civil War:

Union vs. Confederacy

1898       

Spanish-American War:

United States vs. Spain

1914–1918     World War I    

Alliance: Germany, Italy, Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary vs. Triple Entente: Britain, France, and Russia. The United States joined on the side of the Triple Entente in 1917.

1939-1945      World War II

Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan vs. Major Allied Powers: United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia

1950–1953     Korean War

United States (as part of the United Nations) and South Korea vs. North Korea and Communist China

1960–1975     

Vietnam War        

United States and South Vietnam vs. North Vietnam

1961       

Bay of Pigs Invasion…United States vs. Cuba

1983       

Grenada…United States Intervention

1989       

US Invasion of Panama…United States vs. Panama

1990–1991     

Persian Gulf War…United States and Coalition Forces vs. Iraq

1995–1996     Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina:

United States as part of NATO acted peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia

2001–present Invasion of Afghanistan:

United States and Coalition Forces vs. the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to fight terrorism

2003–2011     

Invasion of Iraq:    

United States and Coalition Forces vs. Iraq

2004–present 

War in Northwest Pakistan:

United States vs. Pakstan, mainly drone attacks

2007–present 

Somalia and Northeastern Kenya:

United States and Coalition forces vs. al-Shabaab militants

2009–2016     

Operation Ocean Shield (Indian Ocean):

NATO allies vs. Somali pirates

2011       

Intervention in Libya:

US and NATO allies vs. Libya

2011–2017     

Lord's Resistance Army:

US and allies against the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda

2014–2017     

US-led Intervention in Iraq:

US and coalition forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

2014–present 

US-led intervention in Syria:

The third section of this informative book describes the United States’ mostly-successful efforts to camouflage its vile intentions and international crimes. Christopher Black, in his essay Western Imperialism and the Use of Propaganda”, clearly articulates how this is done: 

“The primary concern they [U.S. government officials] have, in order to preserve their control, is for the preservation of the new feudal mythology that they have created: that the world is a dangerous place, that they are the protectors, that the danger is omnipresent, eternal, and omnidirectional, comes from without, and comes from within. 

The mythology is constructed and presented through all media; journals, films, television, radio, music, advertising, books, the internet in all its variety. 

All available information systems are used to create and maintain scenarios and dramas to convince the people that they, the protectors, are the good and all others are the bad.  

We are bombarded with this message incessantly.” 

DYI:  Americans today are now bombarded with nonstop propaganda from every media outlet conceivable.  Only a tiny peep hole within the internet has allowed some level of truth to slip out exposing America’s empire and massive corruption.  If it isn’t one staged faked mass shooting then its missing 21 trillion dollars over the past 20 years from DOD and HUD.  Always the good guys – so the PROPAGANDA tells – for justification of one more war, in a list of one more wars, all for the benefit of the military industrial complex elites.  

Our memories are short, indeed, if we have forgotten both President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, telling the world from the United Nations the blatant lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, threatening civilization. We are not paying attention if we are unaware of the many innuendos given of the ‘dangers’ of all Muslims. Yes, the government fosters fear, proclaiming subtly and not so subtly that there is danger everywhere, and it is the role of the mighty United States to protect the world, whether or not such protection is wanted or needed.

DYI:  Let’s not forget 9-11.  Today almost no one believes the official report.  Those who do believe the official report simply don’t care enough to do research at an elementary level or are the dumbest of the dumb.  Clearly an inside job put together by elements within the U.S. government and Israel for justification to ransack all over the Middle East. 

 The final essay is the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights on his Mission to the United States of America, authored by Philip Alston. While Trump decries “sh*thole” countries, the conditions that the U.S. put those countries in are not unknown in the U.S. A few facts from Alston’s report will suffice:

• The U.S.’s “…immense wealth and expertise stand in shocking contrast with the conditions in which vast numbers of its citizens live. About 40 million live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty, and 5.3 million live in Third World conditions of absolute poverty. It has the highest youth poverty rate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the highest infant mortality rates among comparable OECD States. Its citizens live shorter and sicker lives compared to those living in all other rich democracies, eradicable tropical diseases are increasingly prevalent, and it has the world’s highest incarceration rate, one of the lowest levels of voter registrations in among OECD countries and the highest obesity levels in the developed world.”

• “The United States has the highest rate of income inequality among Western countries. The $1.5 trillion in tax cuts in December 2017 overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and worsened inequality.”

• “For almost five decades the overall policy response has been neglectful at best, but the policies pursued over the past year seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship.”

 DYI