Politics, though often complex in action, are more often than not quite simple. The key to understanding American foreign policy is that everything the U.S. federal government does revolves around protecting or promoting capitalism, and this hasn't changed for over 100 years. Fancy words like globalization are used to obscure the spread of global capitalism.
The U.S. media makes it seem like all the coups and interventions this country's involved in, over 200 since WWII, just seem to happen through no fault of our own.
Why does it happen?
One thing's for sure, the federal government doesn't want to spread democracy or freedom, even though that's what the Bush and many other administrations in the past have claimed.
Since WWI, the US has tried to spread capitalism. Everywhere, every -ism but capitalism has to be crushed. A good socialist example is not good. It might work, and people might wind up being happier. So America doesn't want to see freedom and popular movements anywhere, because this usually gets the people interested in socialism and justice.
The WWI Marine General Smedley Butler once said he was nothing more than a gangster for capitalism.
Not much has really changed for America since his time, except for the additional 13 trillion dollars America spent on the military.
The military itself has been turned into big business in America. Military wares are sold like any other commodity in this country at hardware shows, with salesman and the whole bit. The American defense system is a war machine. We sell hardware packages around the globe, and then have to develop and spend more to insure that our military has the latest technology. Generals and soldiers retire and establish intelligence and rent a cop corporations, or become lobbyists for defense contractors, such as Dick Cheney did. It's a vicious cycle.
So until we stop spreading capitalism the world can expect more of the same from "Uncle Sam."
