Never Trust a Superpower

Time to rethink how you make long term allies

Uncle Sam threatening a Scandinavian boy. A metaphor for American superpower threatening small nations like Denmark

Canada and numerous European countries are starting to realize that it was a massive strategic blunder to assume that the US would always be the “good guy.” We bought into the ridiculous Hollywood mythology the US built for itself.

We have overemphasized the aid the US provided in World War I and World War II. Yet, it should have always been clear that the US has long harbored a darker side: the genocide of Native Americans, the enslavement of African Americans, the overthrow of numerous governments around the world, the carpet bombing of North Korea, the prolonged Vietnam War, the unprovoked invasion of Iraq, and the disastrous invasion of Afghanistan. Not to mention the extensive use of torture under George W. Bush.

Had any other country engaged in similar actions, it would have faced massive sanctions and condemnation. But the US was given a free pass — partly because it bailed out Europe in World War II and partly because being aligned with the biggest bully in the room had its advantages.

My point is not to argue that the US is inherently good or bad, but rather that it is a country capable of being both. Yet somehow, Europeans, Canadians, Australians, and other Westerners have built their defense strategies on the flawed assumption that the US…