COLUMN: An Empire in Denial - Washington’s Dangerous Global Posture

The simultaneous escalation of U.S. military actions from Venezuela to Gaza to Iran signals not confident global leadership but the strain of an overextended empire. The alleged seizure of Venezuela’s president, unqualified backing of Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza, and unilateral airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities together reflect a foreign policy driven less by law or stability than by dominance and resource control.

Washington’s justifications often collapse under scrutiny. The intervention in Venezuela was framed as counternarcotics enforcement, yet critics across Congress openly rejected that narrative. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bluntly described it as a pursuit of “oil and regime change,” a view reinforced by former U.S. officials who have acknowledged Venezuela’s vast oil reserves as a strategic prize. Senator Bernie Sanders went further, calling the operation “imperialism” and warning against a return to the Monroe Doctrine’s most coercive impulses.

In the Middle East, the contradiction between rhetoric and reality is even starker. The United States continues to arm and diplomatically shield Israel amid a campaign in Gaza that prominent scholars and human rights observers describe as genocidal in effect. American vetoes at the United Nations and expedited weapons transfers have enabled devastation while foreclosing ceasefire efforts. At the same time, the U.S. has edged toward direct war with Iran. President Trump’s 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear sites carried out without congressional authorization violated both constitutional norms and international law, bringing the region perilously close to a wider conflict.

Across Africa, similar patterns emerge. From routine airstrikes in Somalia to strategic engagement in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo, U.S. involvement is increasingly tied to securing access to critical resources. Proposed “security-for-minerals” arrangements echo older colonial bargains, repackaged in the language of partnership and stability.

Even Europe now feels the pressure of American overreach. Trump’s renewed talk of annexing Greenland shocked U.S. allies and exposed the fragility of a rules-based order long bent to Washington’s will.

At home, the costs of the empire are mounting. Trillions spent on foreign wars have coincided with decaying infrastructure, soaring healthcare costs, and eroding civil liberties. Nearly $900 billion a year flows to the Pentagon, while inequality deepens and democratic accountability weakens. Endless war has become both a distraction from domestic failure and a driver of it.

History suggests empires do not endure such contradictions indefinitely. The choice before the United States is stark: dismantle the machinery of empire through democratic reform and restraint, or allow imperial overreach to hollow out the republic from within.