The Global Hegemon That Is The Militaristic US

The United States is a global hegemon that proudly wears its hyper-militarism like a badge of honor. Best characterized as being bellicose, belligerent and brazenly confrontational. 

Indeed, the combative country has a hubristic history of military interventions and an indefatigable involvement in color revolutions and regime change, whether overtly or covertly. 

The same jingoistic country maintains a vast worldwide network of between 750 to 800 military base sites in at least 80 countries and territories to enable power projection and facilitate its military's global strategic objective of imperial and imperious domination. 

In this century alone, already ten countries have been at the receiving end of US aggression:

If you haven't already noticed, trigger-happy Donald Trump is involved in every one of them!

[Note: The above doesn't include the "proxy" war in Ukraine between the US and Russia – an admission made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio himself to Fox News on March 05, 2025].

Among the roster of hawkish US presidents, one is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2009 (i.e., Barack Obama!) and another (Trump lah, who else!) who literally begged for the award in 2025! (He didn't get it though – but the "unfit" winner still presented it to him, even if it means breaking the rules).

["Unfit" because she exhorted the US of A to attack her own country, i.e., Venezuela, so that she can be installed as president].

American foreign policy, after all, is engineered to maintain absolute global dominance, willingly triggering conflicts to ensure that both allies and adversaries recognize the US military as the undisputed numero uno!

The world will be in a better place if the US ceases to exist. Just saying.

US Kidnaps Venezuelan President And Wife

At 11:46 PM local time on Friday (03:46 GMT on Saturday), US President Donald Trump gave the green light to bomb Venezuela and kidnap President Nicolás Maduro (and his wife). 

Operation Absolute Resolve, carefully rehearsed for months, supposedly involved about 150 aircraft, taking off from 20 different airbases across the Western Hemisphere. US forces disabled Venezuela’s air defence systems, with Trump saying the “lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have”, without elaborating. The Venezuelan government reported that US strikes hit Caracas as well as the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. 

US helicopters were said to have touched down at Maduro’s compound in the capital at 02:01 AM (06:01 GMT) on Saturday, and the president and his wife were forcibly taken. At 04:29 AM (08:29 GMT), just two and a half hours later, they were put on board the USS Iwo Jima, en route to New York. Trump later posted a photograph of the Venezuelan leader on his Truth Social social media platform, blindfolded, wearing a grey tracksuit.

While official casualty counts have yet to be released, a Venezuelan official told The New York Times newspaper on condition of anonymity that at least 40 people had been killed in the US attacks. 

Following Maduro's abduction, Trump says the US will run the country, including taking care of the country's oil infrastructure. 

[Note: It is unclear how Trump plans to oversee Venezuela. US forces have no control over the country itself, and Maduro's government appear not only to still be in charge but to have no appetite for cooperating with Washington].  

The latest episode has shown the US to brazenly disregard a country's sovereignty, blatantly dismiss international law, brashly violate the UN charter and boldly engage in “hegemonic acts”. This evil empire wreaks havoc around the world at will. And Trump is Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor! 

In fact, Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (or ACLED), the nonpartisan conflict monitor had asserted that the US carried out – or been a partner to – more than 622 overseas bombings in all, using drones or aircraft, since January 20, 2025, when Trump took office. The attacks contrast with his promise to voters to end US involvement in foreign conflicts. 

In 2025, the US had carried out military attacks against a total of seven countries, i.e., Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Iraq and of course, Venezuela.

A win against Fulham was Liverpool's sole objective yesterday. And they couldn't even manage that but instead, they produced a 2-2 draw and sharing the spoils in the Premier League. 

Former Liverpool man Harry Wilson fired Cottagers in front in the 17th minute. The Reds had to wait until the 57th minute before Florian Wirtz scored his second goal for the club from Conor Bradley‘s pass, despite looking offside. 

Liverpool thought they’d won it in stoppage time when Cody Gakpo netted at the back post, but Fulham rifled in an equaliser in the seventh minute of added time. 

Liverpool are now nine games unbeaten in all competitions, but they have not been convincing and the performances have been very uninspiring. During that run, the Reds have failed to beat Sunderland, Leeds (twice) and Fulham. 

Up next, a trip to the Emirates to face league leaders Arsenal on Thursday. If you must know, I don't have expectations.

From Department of Defense to Department of War

It is no surprise that the Trump administration are cultivating and promoting a "warrior ethos" within the Pentagon. The US is, after all, a warmongering nation. 

If you don't already know, the country has been involved in conflicts for most of its history, though not necessarily a "non-stop" war in the conventional sense; however, the period since the Vietnam War (1955–1975) has seen continuous US military engagements. Examples include the First Gulf War (1990–1991), the Somali Civil War (1992–present), the Kosovo War (1998-1999), the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), and the Iraq War (2003–2011). Not to mention that the US is still presently waging a proxy war in Ukraine.

In this year itself, the US even joined Israel to go against Iran. In an operation called "Midnight Hammer", on June 22, the US deployed B-2 stealth bombers with the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), also known as a "bunker buster", to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. In fact, 125 aircraft were involved, including refueling and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft. 

Israel's strikes on Iran came against the backdrop of its ongoing war in Gaza and a broader escalation of its military actions across the region, including Israeli military activity in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and the occupied West Bank. And the US is complicit because it is a primary supplier of weaponry to the Zionist regime, much as it does for the [Z]elensky regime in Kiev.   

And so, on Friday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, reverting to the agency’s former namesake which came into being way back in 1789. 

I certainly agree with him because the name change is more “appropriate”, given the US propensity to wage war, whether overtly or covertly. 

The said order authorizes the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Defense and subordinate officials to use secondary titles such as “Secretary of War”, “Department of War”, and “Deputy Secretary of War” in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch, according to a White House fact sheet. 

The order also instructs Pete Hegseth (now the "secretary of war") to propose both legislative and executive actions to make the name permanently US Department of War.

World No. 8 Sivasangari Subramaniam's bid to defend her London Squash Classic crown came to an end in the semi-finals after falling to Egypt's Amina Orfi. 

The Malaysian battled for 68 minutes before going down 11-7, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5 yesterday. It was the 26-year-old's fourth defeat in five meetings with 18-year-old Amina, a three-time world junior champion.

Osama bin Laden's Letter to America Goes Viral on TikTok

TikTok removed the hashtag #lettertoamerica from their search function after videos about Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America” went viral on the platform and were re-uploaded to the social media platform X. 

Some social media users suggested that the Al Qaeda founder’s document gives an alternative perspective about the US’ involvement in conflicts in the Middle East. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout the week, TikTok users had been sharing the link to The Guardian’s transcript of Osama's letter, which was written about a year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and which killed nearly 3,000 people in the US. The Guardian took the letter down from their website Wednesday. 

In the letter, Osama addressed the American people and sought to answer the following questions: “Why are we fighting and opposing you?” and “What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?” 

The letter condemns US support for Israel and accuses Americans of aiding the oppression of Palestinian people as well as denouncing US interventions in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Lebanon.

People online have used Osama's words as a springboard for discussion about American foreign policy in the Middle East. Many have said it caused them to re-evaluate their beliefs around the US wars of intervention. Still, while people were critical of US involvement in global conflicts, many clarified that they were not praising or defending Osama's orchestration of the 9/11 attacks.

It has been claimed that references to Osama bin Laden on X jumped more than 4,300%, from Tuesday to Thursday, from just over 5,000 to more than 230,000. References to “Letter to America” jumped more than 1,800%, from just over 4,800 to 100,000, with 719 million impressions across the platform. On YouTube, searches for Osama also jumped 400% from Tuesday to Thursday, according to Google Trends. Instagram’s autosuggest function in search assisted users in finding “Letter to America”, listing it as a “popular search”.

I saw this Facebook post by Morgan on "Understanding China" three days ago.

"China should give her more tender love. 

She's been behaving like an insecure bitch". 😂😂😂

Methinks, China should just leave her alone and pretty much let her sulk. Really, she's not worth it! Besides, a bitch is a bitch is a bitch!

Perceived Corruption Worsens in Malaysia

The 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index released yesterday by Transparency International shows that corruption levels remain at a standstill worldwide, with 86 percent of countries making little to no progress in the last 10 years. 

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). 

The CPI global average remains unchanged at 43 for the tenth year in a row, and two-thirds of countries score below 50. 

And Malaysia garnered 48 points, the first time the country’s score dropped below 50 since 2012. Undoubtedly, perceived corruption in Malaysia has worsened – and we are placed 62nd in 2021, or five rungs lower than the previous year. 

FYI, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are top of the index with 88 points each as “clean countries”, while Somalia, Syria and South Sudan are at the bottom of the index, with 13, 13 and 11 points respectively.

Covid is hurting education.

The scale of the number of children who have lost out on their schooling during the pandemic is “nearly insurmountable”, according to UN data released on Monday. 

Globally, disruption to education has meant millions of children have significantly missed out on the academic learning they would have acquired if they had been in the classroom. 

Up to 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries cannot read or understand a simple text, up from 53% pre-Covid, the research suggested. 

Classroom closures continue to affect more than 616 million children globally, with younger and more marginalised children facing the greatest loss in learning after almost two years of Covid, according to children’s agency UNICEF, which called for intensive support to help students recover. 

Across the world, from Ethiopia and South Africa to Brazil and the US, children have lost basic literacy and numeracy skills and their mental and physical health has suffered. It is a worrying situation.

War Epic 'The Battle at Lake Changjin' Crosses $750M at the China Box Office

‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ rages on. The Chinese war epic earned $73 million over the weekend, taking its China box-office total to $768.8 million – a phenomenal sum unmatched by any Hollywood film released since the start of the Covid pandemic. 

Released in China on September 30, the blockbuster follows a group of Chinese soldiers – actually, Chinese People’s Volunteers – during the Korean War (1950-53) as they try to beat back US and allied forces from what is now China's border with North Korea, despite freezing conditions and staggering odds. 

Of course, Western media paints it as a propaganda feature film. But we all know it's a case of sour grapes.

Besides, I can name many US movies that can just as easily be labelled propaganda flicks too. Examples include ‘The Green Berets’ (1968), ‘The Deer Hunter’ (1978), ‘Act of Valor’ (2012) and ‘Lone Survivor’ (2013).

And who can forget ‘Black Hawk Down’ (2001), Ridley Scott's dramatisation of the Battle of Mogadishu? It’s a movie about US Army Rangers under siege in Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993. 

Here, you get to see America’s romanticized view of war, its soldiers die in slow-motion, accompanied by mournful strings or piano music while Somalis just fly into the air, explode and disappear. 

And the sore point for us Malaysians – we didn’t even get a mention. In fact, we were written out altogether. 

It’s a movie that pits noble, civilising white heroes against faceless, savage black villains – and, ignoring the Malaysian and Pakistani soldiers who were also in the thick of the action to save American lives! Indeed, its interpretation of history is both one-sided and crude. 

Anyway, ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ is now China’s second-biggest movie of 2021, trailing only the Lunar New Year comedy hit ‘Hi, Mom’ ($821 million). In the all-time China box office charts, the war film now ranks third, in US dollar terms, behind ‘Wolf Warrior 2’ ($854 million) and ‘Hi, Mom’. 

Chinese ticket app Maoyan now forecast ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ to finish its run at second place in the record books with a total gross of $843 million. 

Furthermore, you should know that this Chinese war movie is from real history!

Apocalypse Predictions for Africa

I read with disappointment and alarm that in an April 10 interview with CNN, American philanthropist Melinda Gates (left) conveyed her belief that the coronavirus pandemic will have the worst impact in the developing world. It’s a common and all-too-familiar refrain. 

Gates, it seems, decided to single out Africa – she eagerly asserted that she foresees bodies lying around in the street of African countries. 

A day later, it was announced that the United States, where Gates is from, had surpassed Italy in terms of the number of Covid-19 dead – and today, the world knows it has the highest infections and fatalities in the world!

Casting aside that instance of irony and hypocrisy, a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa report in April had likewise painted a doomsday scenario: Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million Africans could lose their lives as a direct result of Covid-19. 

The harrowing prediction of colossal numbers of cases and deaths in Africa is difficult to reconcile with the present growth rate and the reality on the ground. 

In my post yesterday titled “Covid-19 is Still Very Much a Serious Threat”, I had mentioned CGTN Africa’s report of 52,000 cases and 2,000 deaths in Africa.  And this is for a continent with 1.2 billion inhabitants.

Take one example, i.e. the UNECA numbers. If we were to take their lowest projection and marry that with the present growth trajectory, African nations would need to see at least 7.6 million confirmed infections to be able to reach 300,000 fatalities; 84 million people will have to be infected continent-wide for the UNECA projected 3.3 million deaths to happen. 

Hmmm, it makes you wonder if there is any actual benefit in the modelling that “experts” churned out to produce scary stats on Covid-19. And I’m not only referring to Africa but in other places too. 

Of course, many of these "experts" will be quick to decry low rates of infection as being attributed to the lack of testing capacity. And they would point to New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan as exemplary countries which do mass testing and hence, yield low infections and fatalities. 

That is nonsense because if the low numbers are only a result of the lack of testing, African countries should be seeing increased rates of hospitalisations and for sure, deaths, which has not been the case thus far. 

Reckless predictions of mass deaths in Africa are myopic as well as problematic for reasons beyond inaccuracy. They assume that nothing that African countries do can mitigate the spread of the disease and prevent high death tolls. They presuppose that Africans will be happy to just sit back and become passive victims of yet another viral outbreak. 

But many African countries have long experience in dealing with infectious diseases and by now, they would have developed know-how that many Western countries might not have. And many African leaders are also not unaware of their fragile healthcare systems – unlike some of their Western counterparts. 

African governments understand very well that their most effective strategy in the battle against Covid-19 is prevention and applying lessons learned from previous and/or ongoing outbreaks. 

Uganda, for example, has already redirected its screening efforts and systems from combatting Ebola into its current interventions against Covid-19. 

Even before the country registered its first case on March 22, President Yoweri Museveni (left) put in place travel restrictions and social distancing measures that advanced into full lockdown. 

Rwanda was quick to react, too. Shortly after the outbreak was confirmed in January, the government organized a committee to evaluate and bolster preparedness and response to the pandemic and trained about 500 health workers, including laboratory technicians to cope with a potential national epidemic.

And did you know that following an appeal for help from Italy, Somalia, defying the usual media stereotypes about the country, had sent a team of twenty doctors to its former colonial power to assist the European country cope with the ravages of Covid-19?

An Al Jazeera piece written by Caleb Okereke (a Nigerian journalist and filmmaker based in Kampala, Uganda) and Kelsey Nielsen (an American social worker and activist working in Kampala, Uganda) offers us some insights into why the Western world’s perception of a continent that they claim will be devastated by Covid-19 is duplicitous, incorrect and misleading:

“The view that… all African countries will suffer the same fate is deeply rooted in colonial ideology, which dismisses an entire continent as inherently backward and dysfunctional. (And) the legacy of colonialism perpetuated the lie that Black bodies are to be pitied. 

…The problem with the UNECA and Gates's projections of the impact Covid-19 will have on the African continent is that they strip African countries of their agency and redirect focus on providing charity rather than supporting already existing and well-functioning epidemiological responses”. 

Sad but true. 

I can buy into the argument that there will be African countries where the Covid-19 outbreak will have a devastating impact – but as the authors of the said artcle had observed: "...painting with a wide brush a whole continent of 54 countries and dismissing efforts of African governments to deal with the situation is simply wrong. 

Why do we not see the same broad strokes applied to continents like Europe and North America? Western countries are able to recognize nuance and complexities within themselves, acknowledging that no two countries are exactly alike. If outcomes of this epidemic in Europe and North America vary greatly from country to country, why is it not possible to assume that the same would be the case in Africa?” 

I’m betting Africa will fare better in their fight against Covid-19 than the US and Europe.

A Second Chance for Scotland

A second Scottish independence referendum looks unavoidable.

Even ministers in the UK government have now concluded it is a question of when such a vote will be held, the Financial Times reported today. I certainly don’t think anybody can stop it from happening. It’s the logical next step.

The FT also said that the London government would fight to delay the vote until after the exit from the European Union.

If you recall, the results of the Brexit referendum had been divisive. England and Wales voted to leave the EU but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay.

Those who argued in favor of leaving said that the EU has changed enormously over the last four decades with regard to the size and the reach of its bureaucracy, diminishing British influence and sovereignty.

Whilst those who wanted to stay say that a medium-size island needs to be part of a larger bloc of like-minded countries to have real influence and security in the world, and that leaving would be economically costly.

Anyway, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (right) had already stated that Scotland could hold an independence vote in late 2018 – just months before the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union.

On the other side of the fence, Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly announced there is no need for such a vote.

Indeed, the prospect of an independence vote in Scotland could rip apart the United Kingdom.

As I have previously said, the Brexit vote can facilitate Scottish independence. Go, go, go!

On Monday, US President Donald Trump (left) signed a new executive order placing a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim countries.

The revised ban bars new visas for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also temporarily blocks all refugees.

The ban begins on March 16, with the White House saying it is "very confident" of winning in court.

Todate, five states have already filed legal challenges: Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington. I am sure more states will join in.

The previous order, which Trump signed in January, was blocked in federal courts and sparked mass protests as well as confusion at airports. However, critics maintained that the revised travel ban still discriminates against Muslims.

This Trump fella just doesn't give up.

Donald Trump Hits Legal Roadblocks

The 7-country temporary travel ban is held up, after the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, California on Thursday denied a Justice Department request to stay the suspension of President Donald Trump's executive order.

This is a stinging rebuke of the administration’s claim that the courts have no role as a check on the president.

The court decided that the ban had nothing to do with national security and that the administration had shown “no evidence” that anyone from the said countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – had committed terrorist acts in the country.

The verdict also rejected Trump’s claim that courts are powerless to review a president’s national security assessment. The fact is judges play an important role in a constitutional democracy, the court said.

The ruling on February 03, 2017 by Judge James Robart of the Federal District Court in Seattle, Washington – who had blocked key parts of the travel ban, allowing thousands of foreigners to enter the country – is still in force.

Donald Trump has been checkmated. At least for now.

I attended the Sai Masters Toastmasters meeting on Sunday in PJ – where I delivered my CC #8 titled “Choose Your Own Pen”.

Two more speeches before I complete my CC Round 41.

A packed meeting not just in terms of a good attendance – twenty-two of us were there – but also that we had five Table Topics and six assignment speeches.

LOL – the General Evaluator mentioned twice that she found the meeting tiring!

 

Pokemon Go Grossed $1 Billion

According to a SensorTower report dated Wednesday, Pokemon Go has not only grossed $1 billion in global revenue – but in the shortest amount of time. Just short of seven months since its July 2016 release.

 

At the monster-collecting game’s peak, it earned $18 million/day.

 

Not only is Pokemon Go a life-saver for Nintendo – the company’s annual revenue has been in decline since 2012 – but the success of Pokémon Go has shown that ‘augmented reality’ has immense potential. At the very least, profit-wise.

 

US President Donald Trump has been chided, censured and criticized since taking office.

 

Yet he refuses to budge. He is unwavering in his beliefs, no matter how flawed they are.

 

Trump insists he wants to protect Americans. Hadn't Barack Obama also wanted the same thing?

 

 

If you ask me, both are racists!

A Muslim Exclusion Executive Order

Donald Trump (left) has little love for Muslims too.

On November 19, 2015, Trump announced he would consider requiring Muslim-Americans to register with a government database, or worse, mandating that they carry special identification cards that note their faith.

It reminded me of a time when Nazi Germany implemented the Jewish badge (right) – as The Holocaust Center notes on its website, the Nazi-era edicts that required Jews to publicly identify their faith was "one of many psychological tactics aimed at isolating and dehumanizing the Jews of Europe, directly marking them as being different (i.e. inferior) to everyone else". 

And this served as a prelude to deporting Jews to ghettos and killing centers in German-occupied eastern Europe.

Of course, I am not saying that Trump has ever toyed with the idea of getting Muslim-Americans to sport a symbol (a green crescent?) that would single them out as Muslims. 

But with Trump, you'll never know, right? He is a wacko – in case you don't know.

And that's not all. He had come out in support of wholesale surveillance of Muslim-Americans and warrantless searches of mosques.

He even praised past NYPD policies that spied on the New York City Muslim community as "great", despite the reality that this controversial program did not yield any leads or even arrests.

And on Friday, President Donald Trump signed yet another executive order.

With a stroke of a pen, about 218 million people from seven Muslim-majority countries (based on 2015 data published by the World Bank) were barred from entering the United States – for a period of 90 days.

These citizens are from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. According to CNN, these countries were named in a 2016 law concerning immigration visas as "countries of concern".

Trump had talked about these countries as "terror-prone" countries. During the GOP primary campaign, he called for banning all Muslims from the US – a statement he never retracted – before shifting toward calling for banning individuals from countries with terrorist links, though he never identified the countries.

Oddly, the ban does not apply to the nationalities of those who carried out the 9/11 attacks, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

UK’s The Telegraph had highlighted that the 3 countries are also where the Trump Organization have done business or pursued potential deals. Interesting!

In any case, it is said that this is just a first step toward establishing a broader ban.

It is unclear how many more countries will be added to the list, but a senior White House official said the Trump administration will be "very aggressive" as it weighs how many more countries to add to the list.

The mandate to “keep America safe" has unjustly targeted Muslims, albeit selectively.

If Muslims are to be blamed, then why enforce a ban discriminatorily? Why not bar ALL Muslims?

On Sunday, Celtic set a new club record of 27 domestic games unbeaten from the start of the season and a 22-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table when they thumped Hearts 4-0.