CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Arrogance Has Been on the Table by the US for a Very Long Time

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Vijay Prashad was interviewed by K. Swaminathan, Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), Tamil Nadu, India, May 2026.

 K. Swaminathan: What is the fundamental difference between the wars waged by hereditary monarchs in the past to expand their kingdoms and the wars waged today by democratic governments against other countries?

Vijay Prashad: Hereditary monarchs reported largely to themselves and not to their own populations, although they could not fight wars that did not have some popular support and benefit. But there was no real need to inculcate support for these wars and there was no equality amongst peoples, so no expectation that they would have any input for the wars. After the emergence of a democratic consciousness, governments that claim to be democratic must provide governance that addresses the needs of the people and provides benefits to the people. Theoretically, decisions are not to be made by governments without the mandate or consent of the people. What happens, however, is that governments – in the name of national security or international terrorism – wage wars without seeking the mandate or consent of their populations, and so these wars are only made ‘popular’ through the manipulations of the press and of public opinion. That makes most of these modern imperialist wars ‘undemocratic’.

KS: Today, the United States is responsible for most of the wars taking place around the world. What are the reasons behind America’s military offensive? What advantages does the United States gain from these wars?

VP: The United States has attempted to manage a world system to the advantage of multinational capital, rooted in the United States and its Western allies (including Japan and South Korea). The system allows these firms to go into the Global South, steal resources and labour for under their value, and use these regions as markets for substandard industrial goods. The use of the dollar as the international currency has also allowed the US to create wealth out of nothing and to dominate countries by their reliance upon the dollar system. It is to defend this system that the US by and large goes to war, trying to break the will of any part of the world that defies the US agenda. By pain of war and sanctions, the US attempts to impose its view of the world on the rest of the planet. That is the reason for these wars.

KS: How does the United States construct false narratives for wars? How does the United States grant itself the authority of being the ‘world’s policeman’? How does this authority become accepted or legitimised?

VP: The United States has been losing its grip on various aspects of modern life, such as control over technology and raw materials. But it maintains its control over information through........

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