Since when has any country had a monopoly on hypocrisy ?

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The US, founded on such high ideals and a renounciation of imperialism, has singularly failed to live up to those lofty ideals. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was ostensibly an attempt to prevent further European imperialism in the Americas, but quickly became seen for what it was - a US demarcation of its own "sphere of influence" on the two American continents. As I am British, and a keen student of the largest empire the world has ever seen, I would see many parallels between British actions in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the policies pursued by the US in service of its own perceived interests in the 21st. Like many British invasions in the 19th century, the invasion of Iraq was pre-meditated and excused on flimsy pretexts - the US Congress now concur with this view. In other contexts, did the Americans fight in Vietnam for the good of the people (a million of whom succumbed to indiscriminate US bombing) or for their own interests in combatting the Communist "domino effect" ? Recent US attempts to undermine China have also shown the naked expression of US interests to remain top dog in the world. In my own country, Irish republican terrorism was largely funded by Americans in Boston, New York and Philadelphia who had a ridiculously romantic view of Ireland as a charming land of leprechauns that was defiled by the perfidious British. I have great affection for American ideals, and Americans themselves, many of whom I am honoured to count as my friends. But I am under no illusions that their political representatives often fail to live up to the principles laid down by the Founding Fathers. The future of mankind is surely better served by co-operation, rather than confrontation. The nations of Europe have learned the hard way that macho rivalry only leads to bloodshed, and enmity that lasts generations. Let's hope history will not repeat the pointless conflicts of the past.