Jeffrey D. Sachs, world-renowned economics professor and best-selling author, said that American politics has been hit by the “arrogance of power” in recent years. The United States (US) incorrectly assumed the ability to rule the world and control its fate, so it thought that no one could stop it, and that it could reshape the world to fit its own vision, and therefore launched “wars of choice” in the Middle East region.
Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, added during an exclusive interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, that the financial toll of prolonged wars on the US was staggering, with a price tag of nearly $7 trillion that dramatically swelled its national debt.
Then China’s breakneck technological progress has elevated it to a major global power, even surpassing the United States in certain strategic areas. This ascent can be attributed, in part, to a perceived miscalculation in American foreign policy. The US-led expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe and the establishment of military bases in over 80 countries worldwide have fueled concerns about American hegemony and contributed to China’s rise as a competing superpower.
The innovative educator also pointed out that American politics has evolved into a lucrative spectacle, dominated by wealthy benefactors who finance presidential campaigns. These billionaires, motivated by tax evasion and regulatory avoidance, seek to advance their personal interests, aggravating the economic gap in American society.
He added that a significant portion of the American population grapples with health problems, addiction, and a shortened lifespan. Meanwhile, business moguls, seemingly oblivious to their social responsibilities, believe that society owes them everything. This perceived entitlement, coupled with a desire for unchecked economic dominance, has incited immeasurable societal divisions and diminished the principles upon which the nation was brought into existence.
The US has long represented the principles of democracy and freedom in the world. How has this image changed in recent times?
Frankly, this is a bit of a sad story, and I think it was already summarized 60 years ago, by the US Senator William Fulbright, who was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and wrote a book called “The Arrogance of Power”. Back then, the US was very powerful and technologically dominant, and built its industry, while Europe destroyed itself, due to the outbreak of the two world wars. By 1945, the US seemed to be standing on top of the world, and in those years it did many great things; our favorite of all our presidents was Franklin Roosevelt, who led our country through the Great Depression, then through World War II, and whose brainchild was the United Nations. So, yes, the US stood for a lot, was scientifically and technologically superior, and seemed to be the future, but as Fulbright said in the 1960s, arrogance can really get you and in turn, as the US increasingly believes that Americans are so powerful and the most technologically advanced, so they can rule the world.
This, of course, was an illusion, because no country should or could rule the world. But, this idea was already well established when the United States went to war with Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. And after 1991, when the Soviet Union fell, America thought that no one could stop it. Americans thought that in a very arrogant way, not only would they rule the world, but also they would reshape it the way they wanted. So, they waged wars again and again, the so-called wars of choice, and this was exemplified in the Middle East and in several other regions. And so they waged wars over and over again, so-called wars of choice, and this was represented in the Middle East and in several other regions, and of course, waging so many wars was a very expensive idea; in the last 25 years alone, it cost the United States about 7 trillion dollars, its debt increased dramatically, and then China emerged as a major power.
Did America at that time question China’s audacity in becoming a rival?
Indeed, here we find that the US has a very wrong vision, but the reality proved that there is a powerful and large country, whose population is four times the population of the United States, and technologically advanced. China even surpasses the US in strategic techniques, then we find that the US imposed these arrogant ideas on Eastern Europe; instead of accepting the words of President Gorbachev and President Yeltsin that they wanted cooperation and peace. The US refused to cooperate and decided to take control of the situation, by expanding NATO to include Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia and other countries. Subsequently, it decided to deploy its military everywhere, until it has 750 military bases in 80 countries around the world. And who needs 750 military bases abroad?! No country owns any bases, and even China has only one or two bases. America’s arrogance led to many grave mistakes, the most important of which is the error in interpreting the global reality, and hence America has failed internationally.
How does this vision impact domestic issues?
On the domestic front, there’s another interesting side of the story. 50 years ago, America’s politics was corrupted by big money; businessmen coveted the political system, and Lewis Powell – one of the lawyers of American industry – wrote a memo on how American big business could take back control of the government, and was appointed to the US Supreme Court by Richard Nixon, and then as a judge there, legitimized all the corporate money in American politics. So, what has happened over the last 50 years is that American politics has become a pure money game, and we see daily in our newspapers that Americans are now actually governed by different groups of billionaire businessmen who support American presidential candidates. These billionaires seek to evade taxes and law enforcement and increase their wealth, and from here the inequality in the US has dramtically escalated.
If we divide the US into 3 parts, we will find that the first part constitutes more than half of the country’s population, suffering from health issues, addiction issues and low life expectancy. Then there is the second part, the professional class, to which I belong, so I know it well. Our salaries have increased for decades in a row, so we are very financially stable, but this class represents a small part of American society. The third part includes billionaires. There are hundreds of them who believe that they owe nothing to society, but society owes them everything, which is not acceptable, because they want to own everything. This is the real picture of America. It is internally divided and externally authoritarian.
Subsequently, If you ask Americans, are you on the right track as a country? Around 20% say yes, or 25% maybe. And a much larger majority, maybe 60 or 70%, say no, we’re on the wrong track. And if you ask Americans another question, should you be involved in all these wars, they’ll say no, we want them to stop, because they’re not changing anything. If you ask Americans, should we tax the wealthy? They say, overwhelmingly, of course. So Americans are asking the same question you’re asking. What happened to our democracy? Well, it became a plutocracy inside, and it became an empire outside. And neither of those is really conducive to a good quality of life.
How do the escalating tensions between global superpowers, driven by American dominance, increase the likelihood of a third world war?
We already have the conditions for World War III, and as Pope Francis says, we are already in World War III, because the situation is tragic. The war in Ukraine is not a war between Ukraine and Russia. It is a war between the US and Russia, because America is actually financing the war, arming Ukraine, and I think there are a lot of American military personnel involved in the war; whether they are part of the intelligence or programming missile systems, or using the US satellite systems.They’re already engaged, so we are in a war. Obviously, part of that war is now a war in this region.It’s a war that Israel is causing, but it’s a war in which the US is providing the funding and the armaments and the geopolitical backing.
Almost all of the world is against what Israel is doing, but if it comes to the UN Security Council, the U.S. gives the protection to Israel by using the U.S. veto. Israel wants a bigger war. It wants a war not only on the Palestinian people, not only in Lebanon.It wants a war with Iran, which it’s trying to pull the US into that war as well, and we have the potential for war in Asia because China’s rise has created a psychological crisis in the American political leadership. In my opinion, China is no threat to the United States at all. China does not want to fight a war with the United States and does not want to lead the world. China does not want to rule the world.
China always seeks a path to both prosperity and efficiency. It wants to have good friends around the world. But from the US perspective, China is a dire threat to the US hegemony, and so that is creating the conditions for the US to provoke China into the same kind of conflict that the US provoked Russia into in Ukraine. The most likely war in that case would be Taiwan because if Taiwan were, for example, to declare its independence, and the Chinese said, no, you’re part of China, you can’t be independent, and the United States were to say, we will defend Taiwan, that would be World War III. So that’s another risk, and all of these conflicts are part of this US mentality, which is rather than negotiating with counterparts and accepting counterparts with respect, like Russia, and China.The US still thinks it can just demand its way through its brute power, but this is impossible, and it’s that mistake which would lead us to World War III.
Does the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel have the potential to expand into a major military conflagration?
Yes, because for the past 30 years ago, Israel has never wanted to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people. This has led to political conflict in the entire region, which is why it seeks to change the governments of the region. Because it will never accept the existence of a Palestinian state, but this leads to the resistance of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to push the US to engage in wars on behalf of Israel, for example the Iraq War in 2003 was on behalf of Israel, as was the US attempt to overthrow Bashar Assad in Syria, which was a CIA operation.
I think the Americans know and consider this very dangerous, which is what Netanyahu is dragging them into every day. However, until now they are not resisting, because the current President of America, Joe Biden, is a very weak president, an old man, and he is at the end of his presidential term, so he does not have the energy to resist. So, the coming weeks are very dangerous, because no American government has any leadership or clear authority or ability to say no to the Prime Minister of Israel, so I appeal to the rest of the world to be very clear that this is not acceptable, because it is a threat to all peoples, and Israel must stop its attempt to create region-wide war.
I think that message needs to be sent from this region very clearly, and it needs to be heard by the US, and Europe. I also think countries such as China or Russia can help to make that heard clearly. All the grand principles in the world that we have all been looking up to and we’ve been which the West was supposed to be the custodian of, have all crumbled with the war in Gaza.
Why doesn’t the world order take a stand against the genocide in Gaza despite all the gross violations of international humanitarian law?
It is completely shocking and disgusting. Israel feels no guilt at all in committing mass murdering and suffering. The US still supports Israel until the present time, regardless of its atrocities. It arms and funds the Israeli attack, so it is the main reason for Israel to continue the war. If the US stops providing it with munitions and big money, Israel’s war will stop immediately. Now, why the rest of the world doesn’t somehow act more decisively is another question. Part of the issue is that Europe does not speak with a united voice. Half of its countries condemn this and call it horrible, while most of Europe just listens to the US for its lead.
The Arab and Muslim countries have repeatedly called for this in their meetings, starting in Riyadh at the extraordinary Arab summit in November 2023, then in Bahrain at the Arab League meeting this year and again in the past two weeks at the United Nations. This region calls for peace and a two-state solution, and this message was clear; but it was not heard in the West very clearly,. This is because what is heard is Western propaganda that expresses Netanyahu’s slanders; that no one wants peace, and they all want to kill us, but he is the killer and the liar, and this is from my perspective.
However, we hear his voice more than we hear the voice of the Arab countries. When Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations General Assembly, two weeks ago, he gave a hate-filled speech, basically calling on the world to attack Iran and expand the war, and so forth. He accused the United Nations of anti-Semitism. However, right after that, the Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, gave a speech at a conference, standing next to the Palestinian ambassador, Riyad Mansour. He said very clearly I speak for the Arab countries, for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and I tell you we want peace and a two-state solution. It was a strong statement, but who heard it? It was not covered by the American media. Also, newly elected President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, gave a peace-seeking speech at the UN. It hasn’t been reported in the US media. Consequently, we’re in the midst of a propaganda war as well, dominated by only one side which is Israel.
What’s my advice on this is don’t give up. Speak louder, more clearly. I think you should bring in other countries including China, Russia, and Brazil and bring in the BRICS. Let the BRICS call for a two-state solution, so that the word gets heard at least. This is the only way we reject the Israeli slaughter and the US complicity in it.
Given Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s enduring political strength and unwavering support for Palestine, is there a risk of a hostile US stance towards them?
Throughout the post-1945 period, the foreign policy of the US and Israel was based on overthrowing the other side’s government rather than negotiating with it. There are two types of regime change, one is overt, i.e. war, and the other is covert, i.e. CIA operations that go back more than 70 years in this region.
For example, in 1953, the President of the US, Dwight Eisenhower, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and CIA Director, Allen Dulles decided with arrogance and hubris to overthrow the Iranian government. They actually carried out the operation to destroy the Iranian democracy and warmly welcomed Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson, Kermit Roosevelt, who led the overthrow of the Iranian government. This foreign policy trend persisted, culminating in the US-led overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and NATO’s involvement in the 2014 Ukrainian crisis. Although the US failed to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, it caused a widespread war. This behavior is highly reprehensible and in clear violation of international law.
So, what now? First, as a matter of principle, this must stop immediately. Second, with the rise of China and Russia as counterweights to the declining US global leadership, I support a multipolar world. I do not want to see one country dominate, as this is extremely dangerous. Therefore, I believe that if the world remains committed to fundamental principles such as the UN Charter, international law, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Security Council, the US can be pressured to behave properly once again, as it will no longer be as dominant as before. We are truly in a multipolar world, and we must begin to act accordingly.
It’s been more than a year now since the Gaza war has been raging. How do you think it will end and when?
I don’t know how this war will end, but I am optimistic about how it should or could end. What I recommend is that the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation present their peace proposal, which is the two-state solution, and that the borders be drawn on the basis of June 4, 1967, with the capital of Palestine being East Jerusalem, control over Islamic holy sites, and both states being demilitarized. As a consequence, security for both sides is established, with Palestine accepted as a member state in the United Nations in accordance with Resolution 194. All of this must be done as a matter of urgency.
I believe that China, Russia, Brazil, the BRICS countries, the Non-Aligned Movement, the G77 and half of Europe will immediately agree on the proposals of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. This is the only way to move the peace process forward, and since the US will have a new government on January 20, whoever the candidate is, they can accept this plan. This region knows well how to make peace. A viable plan must be put forward based on the principles of peace, and major powers like China and Russia, in addition to all BRICS countries must also be used to support this plan. Then we tell the new US president, whoever it is, either you can have more war, bloodshed, World War III disaster, or you can make peace and keep America having a standing in the world rather than the complete disrespect and indeed growing hatred around the world for its complicity in this bad behavior.
My own feeling is that it can work.
