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What followed is well known: massacres in Central America, brutal coups and fascist dictatorships in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and elsewhere; tens of thousands of men, women and children 'disappeared'. Death squads murdering, raping and torturing everywhere, from Guatemala and Salvador to Argentina and Chile.
The fight for US hegemony was basically and cynically named as a 'fight for democracy'. Slavery was defined as 'freedom'. The 'Monroe Doctrine' became synonymous with Plan Condor, with monstrous torture chambers and with people being thrown alive into the sea from helicopters.
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Now the Trump administration is re-deploying those old and fatal Cold War warriors, elevating them to high positions. The same people who were murdering, plotting and cheering assassins. The list reads like a "Wanted for Genocide" catalogue: Elliott Abrams, Michael Pompeo, and yes: John Bolton.
These individuals are, of course, unapologetic.
Just recently, John Bolton declared:
"In this administration we're not afraid to use the phrase 'Monroe Doctrine'. This is a country in our hemisphere and it's been the objective of American presidents going back to Ronald Reagan to have a completely Democratic hemisphere."
He was talking about Venezuela, of course.
And so, the almost 200-year-old 'Monroe Doctrine' has been revitalized; put to deadly work once again.
As reported by the Daily Star:
"Mr. Bolton said the Donald Trump administration was 'not afraid to use the phrase "Monroe Doctrine",' when asked why it was targeting Venezuela while maintaining close alliances with tyrannies such as Saudi Arabia. The doctrine, dating back to the 1820s, denoted the Western hemisphere as a zone of US influence."
It is clear that this time, what Mr. Bolton envisions under the 'Monroe Doctrine' has nothing in common with the fight against European colonialism. It is a bellicose 'modern-day' interpretation of the doctrine: the justification for Western imperialism all over the hemisphere. And perhaps, all over the world.
Sergei Lavrov correctly defined Bolton's remarks as 'insulting'. They are also deadly. As they are indicative of what Western foreign policy may soon become, or has already become: an unapologetic and uncompromising return to the harshest form of expansionism.
What the US tried to avert (perhaps) some 200 years ago, it at some point joined, and then 'perfected'. Now, it is trying to bring it to an absolute extreme.
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[First published by NEO New Eastern Outlook]
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