Doing the same thing again and again despite catastrophic outcomes is one of the definitions of insanity that Einstein used. The US has been an imperial power almost since its inception even though it masqueraded as a democratic republic. Desire for power, intolerance for British parliamentary subjugation, resentment of the deprived to restraint on usurpation of Indian lands by the British treaties and law, and treatment as yahoos by the British officials of the white American merchants and planters, were the main reasons for rebellion. Manifest Destiny and Monroe Doctrine were a form of expropriation and colonization no different from that of empire builders like Cecil Rhodes. The difference was that the Americans could not merge their ego with that of king and country and resented being treated as second class failures who migrated from Britain and lacked refinement and culture, the ruling class British officials believed was theirs.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the continent had been secured, the British thrown out of Oregon and Washington, the Spanish from California and half of Mexico expropriated and the US rapacious vision directed outwards. McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt turned their eyes to Cuba and used false pretexts to start the Spanish American War with the encouragement of media and sugar barons. When the resistance in Cuba and the Philippines sought independence, a form of occupation and regime change to install puppets began. It took decades before the puppet regimes of Batista in Cuba and Marcos in Philippines, the last in power under US supervision and exploitation were overthrown.

Woodrow Wilson indulged in regime change in Haiti, Mexico and other places. FDR had his SOB in Somoza of Nicaragua. Truman went for regime change in Korea, Eisenhower in Iran, Lebanon and Guatemala, Kennedy in Vietnam, Nixon in Cambodia and Laos, Carter in Afghanistan, Reagan in Granada and (failure) in Lebanon, Bush 41 in Panama, Clinton in Bosnia, Kosovo and Somalia, Bush 43 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrghyzstan, Pakistan. While earlier American manipulated regime changes lasted long enough to yield economic benefits of neo-colonial exploitation or political triumph for extended periods of time, the most recent Orange, Tulip and Pakistani regime changes have resulted in serious and rapid blowbacks of harmful nature within very short periods.

The arming of Afghan Mujahedeen by the US and Saudi Arabia led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but at the cost of spread of radical Islam and terrorism from Egypt to Indonesia. The radical Muslim allies morphed into terrorists of 9-11, London, Madrid, Bali and Mumbai. The US legitimately sought the downfall of the Soviets but after succeeding in Afghanistan aided its own capitalists and crooked Russian leaders and oligarchs to ruin the economy of Russia with the co-operation of a corrupt drink besotted leader like Yeltsin. Clinton reneged on his promise not to extend NATO into prior Soviet territory and pressured the EU to accept Georgia and Ukraine. The US and its institutions used money to overthrow Shevardnadze and replace him with a corrupt insane Sakashvili, who will fall sooner or later. In Ukraine they supported a president who was inept and corrupt by financing the orange revolution. Internal bickering between him and his prime minister Julia Tymoshenko has unraveled the revolution and now Ukraine is ready to revert back into the Russian fold after having had enough deprivation during its US inspired rekindling of resentment of Stalin’s genocide of Ukrainian kulaks. Ukraine’s economic problems and energy dependence on Russia and its intertwined geography, large Russian population, make it a natural ally of Russia.

Kyrghyzstan like its sister Stans and other Soviet block countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia was ruled by former communist leaders who now called themselves socialists or reformists. Many of them used their power to become obscenely rich after Soviet breakup. Askar Akiyev, the previous president was overthrown in the Tulip revolution orchestrated by the US under the pretext of installing democracy. They installed Bakiyev, a corrupt thug, by giving him bogus democratic credentials. Bakiyev extorted a larger rent for the Manas airbase which the US needed for logistical supply of troops in Afghanistan. He gave his son an exclusive monopoly to provision the base and be the intermediary for US purchases.

The people were pushed into abject penury. He raised the prices for electricity and gasoline to enrich his cronies monopolizing their distribution. He sought the backing of Islamists and ordered his troops to shoot demonstrators. Hundreds died and were injured. The opposition protested and overthrew him. He sought refuge in the less Russified and more Islamic southern half of the country. This could lead to civil war and breakup of the country and worsening resurgence of already prominent Islamic radicals in the southern half of Kyrghyzstan which is in close proximity to Ferghana valley parts of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, where Islamic radicalism is based. It also makes the US more susceptible to blackmail by Pakistan and Taliban, which control the Khyber and Boland pass supply routes, the only other logistical channel for US troops in Afghanistan. Similar events in Pakistan led to overthrow of Musharraf after he served the US purpose. Benazir Bhutto was brought in to replace him. She was assassinated by the Taliban with active negligence by Musharraf and the army. Zardari was elected and sidelined by the US after he served to get rid of Musharraf and eventually Kiyani, the new army chief was anointed as the real leader to do the US bidding leaving Pakistan and its people destitute.

Insane regime change policies lead to serious blowbacks detrimental to US power and economic welfare. The most recent foolishness has led to Germany wiggling out of the tight US embrace and becoming friendlier with Russia and Japan doing the same while making up to China. Only foolish India and its dumb leaders keep doing US bidding to their own country’s detriment. It is like a serious and tragic formulaic Hindi movie with the comic opera being provided by the plantation owner US intermittently ravishing its buxom female slave Pakistan forcibly between bouts of whipping her, and Manmohan Singh’s India trying desperately to get into the bed for a menage a la trois with orgasmic fantasies of becoming a superpower, but getting kicked out by the frantic convulsions of the writhing torsos of the US and Pakistan. In the meantime the lady of the plantation, China, the trophy second wife, makes sure that the family wealth remains in safe custody for its children by the first marriage, while ignoring the insanity of the dominant spouse now powerless because of his sexual addiction and sadistic tendencies. I think I will watch Tiger Woods instead.