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Clinton the Imperialist

by Berry Friesen (October 17, 2016)

I’ve posted about Donald Trump at least a half-dozen times since the beginning of 2016, but have posted about Hillary Rodham Clinton only once (“Picking our Poison”). It’s time to say more.

As stated in that previous post, Clinton is an imperialist.  She believes the US is exceptional, the “indispensable nation” with a duty to impose its will on the world through a combination of military and economic power.  We see this confirmed by her performance as Secretary of State (January 2009—January 2013).  In that position, she:

-- Pushed for sending 20,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan at the start of the Obama Administration;

-- Supported regime change in Honduras via a coup in 2009 that removed democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and inserted a violent, right-wing government that has turned Honduras into a narco-state and prompted thousands of Hondurans to flee north toward the US border;

-- Pushed for regime change in Libya in 2011 via a no-fly zone and “responsibility to protect” operation that quickly became a joint NATO/al-Qaeda invasion and left most of Libya in the hands of forces loyal to al-Qaeda and ISIS;

-- Pushed for expanded presidential use of kill lists and drone strikes to kill US opponents;

-- Starting in 2011, pushed for regime change in Syria via a strategy that entailed (a) training and equipping foreign fighters to invade that country and (b) enabling Salafist forces (i.e., ISIS) to establish a caliphate in western Iraq and eastern Syria;

-- Deployed the US diplomatic mission to Libya to help coordinate an arms smuggling operation into Syria, thereby creating the context for a 2012 attack in Benghazi on US diplomatic personnel and four US deaths;

-- Interfered in the 2012 Russian general election by alleging Russian officials had engaged in electoral fraud and manipulation; and

-- Laid the groundwork for regime change in Ukraine by appointing Victoria Nuland, former chief foreign-affairs advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, as State Department spokesperson and then recommending her to be appointed by President Obama as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.  From there, Nuland engineered the February, 2014 coup.

In her successful run for the Democratic Party nomination, Clinton has further distinguished herself by

-- Comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler;

-- Repeatedly calling for a no-fly zone over Syria, an action that would violate international law and bring the US and Russia into a direct military confrontation.

During Clinton’s four years within the Obama Administration, Clinton was known as “a hawk” who pushed President Obama and Pentagon officials to be more aggressive.  If she is elected President, we can expect she will govern with the same spirit.

War with Russia is a real possibility.  That thought is shocking in itself, but it becomes even more troubling when viewed in context.  Clinton’s no-fly zone would seek to ground the Syrian and Russian air forces and thus serve the purposes of the fighters on the ground trying to overthrow the Syrian government.  In the main, those fighters are al-Qaeda and ISIS.

To the typical American, this is baffling.  Risk war with Russia to help terrorists take over Syria?

Yes, that is exactly where a President Clinton is likely to go, not because she is evil, but because she is committed to the imperial agenda.  That’s where the evil lies.

October 18 update:  According to this Pepe Escobar essay, Clinton also launched the so-called "pivot to Asia" with her October, 2011 article, "America's Pacific Century." The "pivot" entailed a turn from the view that China is an economic partner of the US to the view that it is a strategic rival, which must be contained through military and trade alliances that exclude China.