Russia has been accused of
interfering with the US elections and engineering cyber-attacks on the US
systems. This was pronounced in terms of alleged Russian interference to turn
the mandate in favor of Donald Trump in 2016. There were constant accusations
within the US, within its intelligence community, its administration, security
apparatus, the Congress about the extent of Russian role and the internal
saboteurs who seemed to have helped Russia for their own ends. The US has been
obsessed with Soviet Union and later Russia since the Second World War. Its relationship
with China was primarily a function of containing the Soviet Union after their
famous split of 1968. In their pursuit to contain the Russian influence, they
turned a blind eye to Chinese expansionism. In the current geopolitical terrain,
Russia is fast emerging as a Chinese vassal rather than an independent
superpower it once used to boast of. Yet rather than seeking to co-opt Russia in
the larger battles against China, US has continued to remain obsessed with the
Cold War thinking.
Thus, there were no surprises when
the meeting between President Biden and President Putin in Geneva, their first
produced greater tensions rather than heartwarming gestures. Maybe it is do
with the Democrats unable to come to terms with their defeat in 2016 but the
influence on the foreign policy might prove counterproductive. News reports
suggest that President Biden being quoted as stating the impact of alleged
Russian interference in the US was similar to if US were to have intervened in
various degrees in different countries. There are numerous rumors with some
evidence that President Biden suffers from memory issues. This statement
perhaps stands as a testimony to the same. One does not know if it had to do
with memory lapses to President Biden or was it a naïve statement or perhaps it
was made in sincere intention but the very fact that statement was made
reflects the death of irony, if there were to exist one.
The US perhaps has a history of
interventions unprecedented in human history. Rarely has a country intervened
to such an extent as US has done not just in the Cold War but through its
existence. There are no doubt instances where US refused to intervene something
Biden seems to imply. The one instance that could be cited is the genocide in
East Pakistan in 1970-71 where it backed the occupational West Pakistani
forces. The fact that US refuses to recognize the genocide illustrates a dark
chapter in its history. US historically did not intervene outside the American
continent barring exceptions until the Second World War. It did intervene in
World War I but went back into isolation as manifested in its decision to keep
away from the League of Nations. It had its Munroe Doctrine where it refused to
allow other players to intervene in its backyard the American continent. For all
that Biden poses, the list of US interventions are endless.
There was the invasion of Grenada in
1983 and the invasion of Panama in 1989. There was active backing to the
militias in Nicaragua as in Honduras. The CIA involvement to assist United
Fruit Company to depose the rulers in Guatemala is well known. US has intervened
often in Ecuador as also in Bolivia something reflected in removal of Evo
Morales. It’s orchestration of the coup in Chile to overthrow Allende is
something that is defined as the bottom point at least to the critics of the US
policy. In 1963, there was the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion. In response to challenge
from Castro who had overthrown the US backed Batista regime, US sent half trained
forces to invade Cuba through marine landings at Bay of pigs where they
suffered a humiliating retreat. US backed coups were very common through the
American continent south of the US. There perhaps exists hardly any country in
the Latin American belt that has not suffered the US intervention directly or otherwise.
It might be Argentina or Uruguay or Colombia or any other Latin American
country that has not seen US backed regimes overthrowing some or other regime.
US has historically not intervened in Africa but their implicit backing for
certain regimes is evident.
There allegedly exists an US hand in
Indonesia when Suharto overthrew Sukarno. There have been US interventions in
the Philippines but the one which is conceivably most shameful was in Vietnam. In
response to the alleged danger of Communist spread in South East Asia, US sent
its troops which waged a battle for nearly ten years before having to withdraw
in humiliating circumstances. It was by far the worst US defeat in recent history.
The only other country that seemed to see an US defeat is Afghanistan as US
prepare to pull out its troops from the country. Not too long ago, US had
invaded Iraq ostensibly on the grounds of producing weapons of mass destruction
evidence of which sketchy at best. In India, through the decades after
independence at least till the late 1990s, it was common to accuse CIA of
having a hand in some or the other incident in India. The famous CIA hand was
used by Indira Gandhi to strike back at the opposition and in fact arresting
them during Emergency.
Thus the US interventions or
non-interventions have been the function of the nature of the regime or the
nature of the regime change. When it has suited US, they have steadfastly
refused to intervene like in East Pakistan whereas they have intervened on the
slightest pretext in many a country from Vietnam to Grenada to Iraq and what
not. In the Cold War it was not unusual for the US to use radio broadcasts into
the East European Iron Curtain to motivate the natives to revolt against the
Communist regime. Therefore, while advising Russia, it would have been
pertinent for the US President to have remembered bit of history. The instances
that have been cited above are merely recounting those rather than delving into
the details and the consequences these interventions brought about in those
countries. Either President Biden suffers from memory loss or he wilfully
believes that US has been non-interventionist throughout its history.
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