The year 2025 has come to an end, and along with it, the first quarter of the 21st century. Reflecting on the course of the past 25 years, it is hard to understate the extent to which global events have been shaped by the military excesses of the United States – not that the same cannot be said for the 20th century, too.
Shortly after the new century kicked off, the US launched the so-called “global war on terror” under the enlightened guidance of President George W Bush, who offered the professional call to arms following the 9/11 attacks of 2001: “We have our marching orders. My fellow Americans, let’s roll.” . . .
Bush was succeeded as leader of the global superpower by premature Nobel Peace Prize recipient Barack Obama, who, in his final year in office alone, managed to drop no fewer than 26,172 bombs on seven different countries. . .
Joe Biden, who served as president in between the two Trump administrations, distinguished his time in office by expanding Washington’s traditionally egregious support for Israeli massacres of Palestinians to underwrite an all-out genocide in the Gaza Strip with the help of billions of dollars in US taxpayer money. . . .
Meanwhile, Trump’s resumption of control over imperial “counterterror” operations has been characterised by even less restraint this time around, as his newly rebranded Department of War goes about blowing up boats willy-nilly off the coast of Venezuela and extrajudicially murdering the folks on board. . . .
And as we embark on the second quarter of a 21st century that is already defined by the catastrophic legacy of US militarism, one cannot help but recall those unfortunate “marching orders” that started it all: “My fellow Americans, let’s roll.” READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.