Dominic Antonio
Despite priding itself as the paragon of democracy, the United States of America has largely been associated with double standards.
The US uses undemocratic means to unseat constitutionally-elected governments to enable it to install its own puppets and proxies with a view to having limitless access to the targeted countries’ resources.
The US Congress recently enacted the Countering Russian Activities in Africa Act (CRMAA). The act gives the American government the right to punish any African country, which it views as trading or sympathising with Russia. This is despite the fact that sovereign countries have the inalienable right to choose who to associate with without the Western power acting as the world policeman.
America is a nation that enjoys prying and preying on weaker and smaller sovereign nations while damaging their economies for its own economic and political gains. One would think that the country would revisit its foreign policy so that it learns from its past mistakes but that is just a dream in wonderland.
Over the past decades, the US invaded Somalia, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and, presently Syria. It has even tried to convince former South African President Thabo Mbeki to support its bid to invade Zimbabwe. One can almost run out of fingers to count the number of countries this nation has been involved in. No African country or the United Nations (UN) ever put in a place a law to deal with the US’ transgressions.
The thirst for meddling in sovereign nations’ affairs has, however, landed the US into a near-guaranteed doom. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has emptied a can of worms regarding the US’ perceived might. The hesitance to have a direct conflict with Russia has shown that US’ military might is just a façade. Its President Joe Biden may have chosen to avoid direct confrontation with Moscow to create the impression that he is the better guy, the truth is that he realised that his country was no match for Russia.
China and India are among the nations that remained neutral on the UN vote against the Russia. USA has chosen a subtle route to address its interests while unfairly threatening Africa with sanctions.
Why would the US have different approaches to one problem especially when faced with a smaller nation and a larger nation? This just puts to the fore the fact that the US either has double standards or it views its doom within the horizon.
The USA and its ally, Britain with the help of their local proxy, Nelson Chamisa have dragged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the Constitutional Court to try and nullify the 2018 presidential elections. Despite failing dismally to provide any shred of evidence to support their alleged vote rigging case in the court, they still question the ruling. The USA and its allies fail to respect and acknowledge the laws of any country that does not foster their empirical desires.
The US has often claimed that NATO, of which it is a member, is a non-aggressive alliance but a defensive alliance, which is in existence to protect would-be intruders against offenders. A look at the Russia-Ukraine war would just prove that the Western capitalists have their own definition of “defensive” and “offensive”. In this case, the US-led NATO is on the territorial offensive and this threatens Russia, which is simply defending itself from the potential NATO threat.
Millions of Zimbabweans were displaced from their land to pave way for the minority white man through the use of a barrel of a gun. To rub salt into the wound, the local African population was forced to pay taxes like hut tax, and dog tax to say just a few. Zimbabwe decided to reverse these land abnormalities within its borders through the liberation struggle. However, 20 years into independence, most Zimbabweans were still landless as the minority white former farmers held most of the prime land. Zimbabweans corrected this anomaly in 2000 by reclaiming their land under the Land Reform Programme. This was punished by illegal sanctions under the legal framework of the draconian Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA). International news agencies like Reuters, CNN, BBC and SkyNews continue to isolate the Zimbabwean Government in their slant and narratives without any justified reason except for solely advancing Western imperialistic objectives.
In Guatemala, the US imposed sanctions to the government after it had given land to landless peasants. A coup orchestrated by the CIA saw the reversal of the land distribution but still sanctions remained. The US was compensated but sanctions still remained. This situation is not unrelated to the Zimbabwe land issue. In July 2020, Government committed to pay the former farmers US$3.5 billion in compensation but sanctions remain firmly in place. What the patriotic sons and daughters of Zimbabwe ought to know is that, this battle is not just for land but rather “White man’s burden” by Rudyard Kipling. In this story, the US assumes colonial control of the weaker people and their country.
Although the US claims to have the interest of Zimbabwean people at heart, most people know that it is not true. The recent discovery of the oil and gas deposits in the lowveld in the Dande and Muzarabani areas is one of their main interests. The US’ only interest is to get its hands on these minerals. It can even create a narrative of corruption just to get its hands on the mining rights.
Recently, the US and its Norwegian counterparts invited CCC leader, Nelson Chamisa, to co-host a talk about corruption and government affairs. One would have thought that Government through the relevant ministry would be a better option to address corruption-related issues. One can, of course, conclude that the agenda is more to do with putting the opposition on a better footing ahead of the 2023 elections by spreading a corruption narrative against President Mnangagwa, ZANU PF and Government.
