By one account, between the end of World War II and the opening decade of the 21st century, the United States had carried out operations to destabilise, overthrow and supplant foreign governments in over 70 countries. In the late 1940s, with President Harry S Truman in power, the US intervened in Greece on behalf of pro-monarchist forces against Communist ones; in 1953, during the Eisenhower presidency, the US was involved in the overthrow of Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and the restoration of the autocracy of the Shah; in 1960, also under Eisenhower, CIA-supported activities led to the assassination of the president of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba; from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the actions of a variety of US presidents led to the Vietnam war; and, in 1973, during the Nixon presidency, American support led the establishment of the murderous regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile. The American political schedule as “leader of the free world” is a very extensive one indeed.

Over the past few days, there has been a great deal of public commentary decrying the “bullying” and “rudeness” displayed by Donald Trump and his deputy J D Vance towards the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump’s presidency has been singled out as a completely new era of “American imperialism”, one marked by crassness of language, lack of diplomatic niceties, sexism and undisguised misogyny. Nothing troubles Euro-American (and, quite often, Indian) liberalism more than the lack of table manners. The manner........

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