The wolf and the lamb.

Ukraine is at war with Russia and "the steady concentration of power in Vladimir Putin's hands over two decades of his rule is largely to blame," fulminates an editorial in the Mint. "The US has not shown much restraint either, sure, but this is aberrative: its top elected leader gets scandalous leeway under its democracy to act imperiously abroad." The use of military force by the US against other nations is not aberrative but is in its genes because the US was born from repeated attempts at genocide against native populations by means of war, exploitation and deliberate infection with diseases like small pox. cs.mcgill.ca. 2.5 million people died in the Korean war, Britannica, around 2 million civilians and 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters died in Vietnam, Britannica, from 151,000 to over 1 million deaths in the Iraq war, wikipedia, over 30,000 killed in Libya, cbsnews.com, and not to mention countless numbers killed through clandestine operations such as Operation Condor, wikipedia, and indiscriminate drone strikes on civilians, Reuters, with complete impunity. "NATO integrated Air and Missile Defence (NATO IAMD) is an essential and continuous mission in peacetime, crisis and conflict, safeguarding and protecting Alliance territory, populations and forces against any missile threat or attack." NATO. It is brilliant strategy. Threaten other nations by placing missiles on their borders and then accuse them of aggression, CSIS, as they increase their own defence systems to protect themselves. It's the classic story of the Wolf and the Lamb in the Library of the US Congress. "Pundits reviewing 2022 are heaving a sigh of relief," wrote Pankaj Mishra. The West may think it is winning but "a general discontent with the old order, exacerbated by the pandemic, is fueling a revival of the Left in South America, Europe and Australasia." Hegemony does not last forever and aggression almost always has consequences, as a direct result or as unintended consequences. China has been expanding its influence right to the doorstep of the US. "Beijing has signed free trade agreements with three countries, Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru and begun negotiations with Ecuador last February." Forbes. Almost 50 years after the US support for the coup that brought the brutal rule of Augusto Pinochet in Chile. wikipedia. Ironic. "Chinese enterprises have directly invested the equivalent of some $17 billion in projects, mostly in South America. With the equivalent of $137 billion in loans to Latin American governments, the Export-Import Bank of China has vaulted itself into the ranks of the region's lending leaders." "The Biden administration is accusing Russia of moving to provide advanced military assistance to Iran, including air defense systems, helicopters and fighter jets, part of the deepening cooperation between the two nations as Tehran provides drones to support Vladimir Putins' invasion of Ukraine." cbsnews.com. After all, NATO's excuse for installing missiles on Russia's borders was to stop Iranian missiles. Providing proof to "What goes around comes around". Is the lamb choking the wolf?