I agree but then we have to separate the narrative on the West between what is going on today and in the past.
When European great powers began colonizing the world from the 1500s to the 1800s that has to be treated much more like history.
The problem is that far too many try to make a moral judgement on the West today based on actions which happened over a hundred years ago. And also they are not analyzing those actions in a way that is very objective.
I am highly critical of the US for many of the same reasons you point out. But it is important then to point out that the West as a whole is not onboard with everything the US does. A key reason I have wanted Europe out of NATO is that I feel that the US does not really share our modern day ideals. Europe after 1945 is a very different place.
I think Europeans have been more accepting of the idea that colonization was a bad thing and that we were not the good guys. Americans in contrast still seem to cling to this idea and are much less ready to accept the wrong of their past.
Yet, America is still not as bad as Russia and China in this regard. There is still a debate in the US about the wrong things the US has done. Yet close to half of the population, the conservatives and republicans seem to not want to accept that things like toppling regimes, invading Vietnam etc was a bad thing.
A lot of what the US does is not driven by the same logic as say Mongols or Russian empire. The US never strived to run Vietnam a vassal state under the US, nor was that the goal in Iraq. It is a form combination of selfishness and misguided idealism which is rather unique to the US.
America thinks it can fix all sorts of countries, but do not let other countries decide what is best for them. Instead America believes American style freewheeling capitalism is the ultimate good, which will benefit all.
China and Russia does not even have misguided idealism like that. They simply want power, dominance and respect.
Yes the US is bad, but I would not agree that the values the US shared with the rest of the West are the key reason for that. Manifest destiny and American exceptionalism and a religious belief in capitalism is a rather American specific problem.
If you extract the subset of ideals Europeans, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders etc share then you get a number of good things: Individual freedom, free speech, democracy and human rights.
While the West should be criticized, there is a danger when it becomes the singular obsession to the point where people start excusing and minimizing the attrocities China and Russia commit.
One must strike a balance. I am not sure I know where that balance goes. I have myself alternated a lot in how strongly I have worded my criticism of these different parts of the world. Most of my writing has in fact been criticism of the US rather than China or Russia.
