The 'Exceptional' Imperialists

There is a direct relationship between the power of a superhero, and the bravado with which they wear their underwear on the outside of their pants. Captain America is no exception.

Captain America’s shield is brighter than a shooting star. He is brave, tall, strong, smart, courageous, heroic and clever. He is just, fair, sharing, caring and never leaves the toilet seat up. Whenever anyone’s in trouble, Captain America swoops in to save the day, get the cat out of the tree, unblock a pipe or banish the Taliban. Captain America is so special, in fact, that he’s coming to join… sorry, us? Little old Australia?

That’s right. On April 20^th of this year 2500 American marines landed in Darwin. The intention is to keep a lid on the Asian ‘threat’ that 76% of Americans believe to be posed by China. So the USA, the world’s protector, first avenger and great defender is cosying up to its little buddy Australia. After all, we’re in prime position to keep an eye on those reds up north. It’s only a small addition. 2500 troops, that’s small potatoes! Especially when you look at the grand scheme of things.

There are 255 000 American military personnel deployed worldwide, excluding those in Iraq and Afghanistan, at a total of 738 foreign bases. That’s four for every single country in the world. It has the largest defence budget globally. That’s OK though, Captain America has enough cash to fork out the $640 billion annual contribution. Again, small potatoes. Of course, he could spare $3 billion of that to feed every hungry school child in the world for a year… but obviously stockpiling weapons is more important.

All this military occupation makes us wonder, what are they waiting for? And the truth is, the Cold War never ended. So many of America’s foreign policy problems can be traced back to their Cold War expansionism, but the pundits, and even the commander in chief, suffer from a bit of geo-political amnesia from time to time.

Secretary of State Clinton admits that the US government created Al Qaeda in the fight against the Soviets in the first gulf war. It looks a little like Captain America created the very enemies he fights today. To adapt a quote from journalist Fareed Zakaria, ‘Military intervention can seem simple. But it is a complex affair with the potential for unintended consequences.’

Uncle Sam’s a little like the aggressive drunk at the bar, aching for a fight. Why else would the American government spend the majority of its foreign aid not on feeding hungry children or stabilising nascent economies but on arming other countries? Let’s not forget though, Uncle Sam is fighting for the good of the people. Nuclear disarmament, world peace, decreases in armed forces.

However, does it not seem strange that Captain America perceives himself to be above his own rhetoric. If the US can keep its nuclear weapons, why can’t North Korea or Iran, or China for that matter? Why is it that no one questions this ‘exceptionalism’, that the rules don’t apply to the States? Seems a little bit hypocritical to me, but maybe I’m just one of those radical, ‘subversive’ types. But ‘when asking an impertinent question, one is invariably greeted with a pertinent answer.’

The answer is that they do not want any nation to rival them as the reigning superpower. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, that hasn’t been a problem. But the world as we know it is a rapidly changing place.

Chinese products are outstripping the quality of those American. One such product is China’s brand of capitalism. While there are 43 million Americans living in poverty, the highest number on record, China’s poor has shrunk 76% since 1985. However, like all capitalist states, inequality persists, in fact it has doubled in the same time.

The richest 70 members of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, for example, are worth $90 billion combined. To put that into perspective, each member could buy themselves forty private islands each. In case they want to get away from the rat race or something. Forty private islands. Each. According to one of Bill Clinton’s former advisers, ‘If the Chinese Communist Party were called what it really is, it would be called the Chinese Capitalist Bureaucratic Party.’ Interesting… It sounds so familiar… the 99% having less money combined than the 1%... where have I heard this before? Who knows.

But it would seem that China has become a threat to the US because it is now better at doing what the US has always done best. It has the strength of a free enterprise economy harnessed by a government that never has to answer to the people. Therein lies the reality of the Chinese ‘threat’.

Though it has 1.5 million active personnel, the American army is only the second biggest in the world. The first? You guessed it! We have a winner ladies and gentleman! The People’s Liberation Army of China. It’s twice the size of Uncle Sam’s rabble, with three million active personnel. Chinese defence spending jumps 11% every year. And for some reason, Captain America’s biceps shrink a little bit every time he hears about that.

There are countless examples of the fabled ‘global police force’ abrogating its responsibilities; they intervene when it suits them.  Why is their status beyond question? They have not earned their position, and neither do they deserve it. Rather it has been taken and asserted with brute force.

Australia’s strength may not be militaristic. We may not have nuclear weapons, luckily for New Zealand. We refuse to stoop to intimidation tactics, which is convenient, because they aren’t at our disposal anyway. Australia’s strength is its international diplomacy.

We ought to aspire to fulfilling the overt framework of justice established by the United Nations and World Court. We ought to aspire to mature methods of dispute resolution, in lieu of needless violence. We ought to aspire to co-operation based on mutual respect for sovereignty and cultural difference.

Thus, the formation of the US marine base in Darwin should not be permitted. It was President Obama himself who said that ‘the institutions of democracy – free markets, a free press, a strong civil society – cannot be built overnight, and they cannot be built at the end of a barrel of a gun.’ As we encourage our own subordination at the hands of a superpower, we would do well to remember that the person with the biggest stick is not always morally superior.

It’s time to feel pride in our own autonomy. And why shouldn’t we? We have a larger income per capita than the United States. We have the second highest human development index in the world. We have the highest rate for tertiary graduation. We invented Ugg Boots.

We are a small nation. But we don’t have to be Captain America’s lowly little sidekick any longer. David stood up to Goliath, and so can we. We must remind the United States of America that the Cold War was supposed to have ended. We must remind them of the United Nations’ purpose. We must remind them of their violent history. We must remind them that adults wear their underwear on the inside of their pants. And we must invite them to meet the standard of diplomatic dignity the rest of us adhere to – why shan’t they?