Editor's Сhoice
January 17, 2022
© Photo: Wikimedia

By Andrew BACEVICH

Among foreign policy mandarins in present-day Washington, “spheres of influence” have become anathema. Prior generations of U.S. policymakers thought otherwise. Indeed, no great power in recent history has pursued the concept more assertively, albeit with mixed results. To pretend that spheres of influence are alien to the American tradition of statecraft is to engage in self-deception.

As interpreted today, however, the very phrase smacks of appeasement. It carries the suggestion of selling out the cause of freedom and democracy, a sin for which senior U.S. officials are keen to absolve the nation. A decade ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared categorically that “The United States does not recognize spheres of influence.”  More recently, Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed that statement. “We don’t accept the principle of spheres of influence,” he said. Some scholars go even further, Hal Brands of the Johns Hopkins University arguing that “spheres of influence clash with fundamental tenets of U.S. foreign policy.” Opposing them, Professor Brands asserts, forms an inherent “part of U.S. diplomatic DNA.”

In fact, the United States has historically shown considerable skill in creating and policing spheres of influence. It has done so not out of devotion to abstract principle, but for entirely pragmatic reasons: as a means to construct and uphold situations favorable to the United States. On that score, the Monroe Doctrine (1823) and its Roosevelt Corollary (1904), rate as Exhibits A and B.

Well, that was long ago, some might reply. Devoted more than ever to promoting freedom and democracy, Washington just doesn’t do things that way anymore. By extension, neither should Moscow, Beijing, or anyone else be permitted to do so.

According to Secretary Blinken, the very concept of spheres of influence “should have been retired after World War II.” In point of fact, the passing of World War II increased Washington’s appetite for carving out new spheres. The putative threat posed by international communism seemed to demand as much. The military and economic power wielded by the United States allowed it to flex its muscles on a scale far greater than anything John Quincy Adams (actual architect of the Monroe Doctrine) or Theodore Roosevelt ever imagined.

By the end of the 20th century, America’s spheres of influence spanned the globe, encompassing not only the Western Hemisphere, but also Western (and eventually Eastern) Europe, East Asia, the Persian Gulf, and large swathes of Africa. The chief substantive expression of these several spheres came in the form of proliferating U.S. regional military commands presided over by four-star viceroys. Whatever the euphemisms employed, each of these commands exists to prevent its assigned “Area of Responsibility” from becoming a source of trouble for the United States. To repurpose an old advertising slogan devised by the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company, the Pentagon’s Unified Command Plan “Covers the Earth.’’

It is fascinating to speculate how Washington would respond to Vladimir Putin announcing plans to permanently station Russian troops in, say, Managua, or to China’s President Xi creating a People’s Liberation Army South American Command, with headquarters in Caracas. To answer that question, look no further than the U.S. response to the Soviet deployment of offensive weapons to Cuba in 1962: Washington would go bonkers.

Yet the brush with Armageddon that was the Cuban Missile Crisis does not lessen the fact that respecting Cold War spheres of influence played a large role in averting World War III. Demanding the liberation of Eastern European “captive nations” formed a staple of U.S. Cold War propaganda. The Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the “Prague Spring” of 1968 offered U.S. presidents an opportunity to translate rhetoric into action. Yet Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon Baines Johnson each in turn passed on the opportunity, tacitly acknowledging that the far side of the East-West divide fell within the Kremlin’s sphere of influence. This was bad news for Hungarians and Czechoslovaks, of course. But arguably it was good news for the survival of humankind.

Building spheres of influence is an exercise in de facto imperialism. A perpetual challenge in empire-building is knowing when to stop, allowing further expansion to take a back seat to consolidation. The United States in our own time offers a master class on how not to do it. Until the last decades of the 20th century, the Middle East occupied the periphery of the American Empire. After 9/11, fully incorporating the region into Washington’s globe-spanning sphere of influence became a priority and the rationale for multiple wars of choice intended to establish American regional primacy. The result was a debacle.

Today Moscow and Beijing each seem intent on delineating a sphere of influence in their own near abroad. Sooner or later each of them will confront the question of where to stop. Who knows? They might even learn from the folly to which the American empire succumbed.

theamericanconservative.com

The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.
Knowing When to Stop

By Andrew BACEVICH

Among foreign policy mandarins in present-day Washington, “spheres of influence” have become anathema. Prior generations of U.S. policymakers thought otherwise. Indeed, no great power in recent history has pursued the concept more assertively, albeit with mixed results. To pretend that spheres of influence are alien to the American tradition of statecraft is to engage in self-deception.

As interpreted today, however, the very phrase smacks of appeasement. It carries the suggestion of selling out the cause of freedom and democracy, a sin for which senior U.S. officials are keen to absolve the nation. A decade ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared categorically that “The United States does not recognize spheres of influence.”  More recently, Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed that statement. “We don’t accept the principle of spheres of influence,” he said. Some scholars go even further, Hal Brands of the Johns Hopkins University arguing that “spheres of influence clash with fundamental tenets of U.S. foreign policy.” Opposing them, Professor Brands asserts, forms an inherent “part of U.S. diplomatic DNA.”

In fact, the United States has historically shown considerable skill in creating and policing spheres of influence. It has done so not out of devotion to abstract principle, but for entirely pragmatic reasons: as a means to construct and uphold situations favorable to the United States. On that score, the Monroe Doctrine (1823) and its Roosevelt Corollary (1904), rate as Exhibits A and B.

Well, that was long ago, some might reply. Devoted more than ever to promoting freedom and democracy, Washington just doesn’t do things that way anymore. By extension, neither should Moscow, Beijing, or anyone else be permitted to do so.

According to Secretary Blinken, the very concept of spheres of influence “should have been retired after World War II.” In point of fact, the passing of World War II increased Washington’s appetite for carving out new spheres. The putative threat posed by international communism seemed to demand as much. The military and economic power wielded by the United States allowed it to flex its muscles on a scale far greater than anything John Quincy Adams (actual architect of the Monroe Doctrine) or Theodore Roosevelt ever imagined.

By the end of the 20th century, America’s spheres of influence spanned the globe, encompassing not only the Western Hemisphere, but also Western (and eventually Eastern) Europe, East Asia, the Persian Gulf, and large swathes of Africa. The chief substantive expression of these several spheres came in the form of proliferating U.S. regional military commands presided over by four-star viceroys. Whatever the euphemisms employed, each of these commands exists to prevent its assigned “Area of Responsibility” from becoming a source of trouble for the United States. To repurpose an old advertising slogan devised by the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company, the Pentagon’s Unified Command Plan “Covers the Earth.’’

It is fascinating to speculate how Washington would respond to Vladimir Putin announcing plans to permanently station Russian troops in, say, Managua, or to China’s President Xi creating a People’s Liberation Army South American Command, with headquarters in Caracas. To answer that question, look no further than the U.S. response to the Soviet deployment of offensive weapons to Cuba in 1962: Washington would go bonkers.

Yet the brush with Armageddon that was the Cuban Missile Crisis does not lessen the fact that respecting Cold War spheres of influence played a large role in averting World War III. Demanding the liberation of Eastern European “captive nations” formed a staple of U.S. Cold War propaganda. The Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the “Prague Spring” of 1968 offered U.S. presidents an opportunity to translate rhetoric into action. Yet Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon Baines Johnson each in turn passed on the opportunity, tacitly acknowledging that the far side of the East-West divide fell within the Kremlin’s sphere of influence. This was bad news for Hungarians and Czechoslovaks, of course. But arguably it was good news for the survival of humankind.

Building spheres of influence is an exercise in de facto imperialism. A perpetual challenge in empire-building is knowing when to stop, allowing further expansion to take a back seat to consolidation. The United States in our own time offers a master class on how not to do it. Until the last decades of the 20th century, the Middle East occupied the periphery of the American Empire. After 9/11, fully incorporating the region into Washington’s globe-spanning sphere of influence became a priority and the rationale for multiple wars of choice intended to establish American regional primacy. The result was a debacle.

Today Moscow and Beijing each seem intent on delineating a sphere of influence in their own near abroad. Sooner or later each of them will confront the question of where to stop. Who knows? They might even learn from the folly to which the American empire succumbed.

theamericanconservative.com

n="center"> SIGN UP!!! CLICK HERE TO GET 52 BOOKS FREE!!

SIGN UP!! FOR BOOKS AND REGULAR ARTICLES

https://againstsatanism.com/Prices.htm

 

HOW TO DEFEAT SATANISM AND LUCIFERIANISM AND BOOST YOUR EVOLUTION THROUGH ENERGY ENHANCEMENT MEDITATION

"I have experience of many forms of meditation and practices for self improvement including: Transcendental meditation (TM) 12 years, Kriya Yoga 9 years, Sushila Buddhi Dharma (SUBUD) 7 years, and more recently the Sedona Method and the Course in Miracles.

The Energy Enhancement programme encapsulates and expands all of these systems, it is complete and no questions are left unanswered."

Jean, NUCLEAR ENGINEER

 

Energy Enhancement Level 0 Super Chi Prana, Power, Strength, Immortality

https://www.energyenhancement.org/LEVEL-Energy-Enhancement-Super-Chi-Immortality-Prana-Meditation-Course.htm

Energy Enhancement Meditation LEVEL 1 Immortality - Activate the Antahkarana! Gain Infinite Energy from the Chakras above the Head - Power UP!! Open Your Third Eye, Gain Super Samadhi Kundalini Alchemical VITRIOL Energy. Ground All Negative Energies. Access Quantum Immortality

https://www.energyenhancement.org/Level1.htm

Energy Enhancement Meditation LEVEL 2 - The Energy Enhancement Seven Step Process to Totally Remove Energy Blockages, Totally Remove All Problems, Totally Remove Negative Emotions, Heal Your DNA, Remove your Karma - OPEN YOUR LIFE!!

https://www.energyenhancement.org/Level2.htm

Energy Enhancement Meditation LEVEL 3 - Eliminate even Deeper Energy Blockages - The Removal of Strategies. Quantum Integration. The Karma Cleaning Process to Totally Eliminate All Your Karma, all your Trauma, all your Energy Blockages from All your Past Lifetimes!!

https://www.energyenhancement.org/Level3.htm

Energy Enhancement Meditation LEVEL 4 - Stop the Suck!! Heal All your Relationships!! Find Your Twin Flame!! MASTER ENERGY CONNECTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS

https://www.energyenhancement.org/Level4.htm

 

OUR SPECIAL MEDITATION REVOLUTION OFFER!!

WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY

WE CAN REMOVE YOUR ENERGY BLOCKAGES, ENTITIES AND DEMONS

WE CAN RE-BUILD YOU..