February 10, 2026 – A minimal historical analysis shows us that the United States has never intended to protect Europeans, much less freedoms and democracy, or the well-being of the peoples of the world, but exclusively to carry out the policy that has suited its imperial interests, and by extension the capitalist system as a whole.
Every time any media outlet, whether progressive or reactionary, analyzes the current situation in Europe, its loss of international presence, its supposed weakness, what is called its defenselessness against hypothetical threats, the reasoning is invariably introduced that all this is happening because the United States used to defend us, and since the evil Trump came to power, that country has stopped providing this beneficial protection, leaving us alone to face the dangers. From this relentlessly repeated principle, everyone introduces the analysis that suits them and formulates their opinions, according to their ideological bias.
The intention is thus to historically present the U.S. as leaders of the so-called free world, generous, distributing powdered milk, champions of freedom and democracy, and that they have currently ceased to play this role as a consequence of a historical accident, the arrival of an individual who is sometimes described as crazy, eccentric, and that once the electoral will of the American citizens changes, they will once again have a beneficial role for the whole world, confronting the forces of evil and helping all countries to be free and happy.
And since they have currently stopped “protecting” us, we must strengthen our defense systems by acquiring a vast quantity of weapons from that historically reliable protector who, although currently somewhat astray, will soon return to the right path, using NATO for the common benefit of its members, and we can carry on as if nothing had happened. The proposals of such serious analysts as General Ayala —that if the aim were truly to create a European defense system, the various military instruments of each of the EEC countries should first be integrated, their structures harmonized, and weaponry acquired primarily within, and not outside, the European Union—have not been considered with any degree of seriousness.
But even a minimal historical analysis shows us that the United States has never intended to protect Europeans, much less freedoms and democracy, or the well-being of the peoples of the world, but exclusively to carry out the policy that has suited its imperial interests, and by extension the capitalist system as a whole.
It is now being recalled that Trump is blatantly invoking the Monroe Doctrine, stated in 1823 by President James Monroe, according to which America was for the Americans , which soon became clear that it was really for North Americans, but this principle has been upheld by all American Presidents throughout the history of this country (Democrats or Republicans), as it has gained strength, initially seeking control of the entire American continent, to extend it to the whole world after the first world war and especially the second, its position of strength has allowed it.
The war against Spain in 1898 was not to liberate the Cuban Americans, nor the Filipinos of Asia, but to secure colonial domination of both countries, to cite just two examples that affect us closely.
The US currently maintains approximately 800 military bases abroad. This represents 90% of all military bases maintained by any country outside its borders.
It was in the period between the first and second world wars that the United States succeeded the United Kingdom of Great Britain as the main imperialist power, and from that moment on, the creation of military bases throughout the world took shape as the basis of this imperial policy.
On September 2, 1940, the US and England signed the agreement known as “destroyers for bases,” under which the US Navy transferred 50 destroyers to the British Navy in exchange for a lease on base facilities in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Bermuda, and various points in the Caribbean on what were British bases in the Western Hemisphere.
From 1945 onwards, the establishment of such outposts spread throughout the world. We refer to what is considered the main study on the subject, the book by American professor David Vine entitled, “Base Nation” (How US Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World), which has been followed by the creation of a detailed database on the location and characteristics of these bases, used even by the Pentagon itself in some of its official publications.
Following the Second World War, as previously mentioned, and starting from the relaunch of the Cold War and its prologue, which was the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whose objective was not only to subdue the Japanese forces, but to draw the world’s attention to the consequences that could be suffered by those who subsequently challenged American hegemony, the various continents were dotted with such bases: in Asia (Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Guam), the Middle East (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Emirates, Syria and Turkey), among others, and in Europe (Germany, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, among others).
Focusing on the case of Europe, the justification for such an extraordinary military presence was publicized as a mechanism to defend Europe from the USSR, but this State never attacked any country in this part of the world after the second war, respecting the division into zones of influence that was drawn up between England, the USA and the USSR itself in the Yalta Agreements, so scrupulously that in Greece, and other places in Europe what was agreed was maintained despite the existence of considerable popular forces that tried to modify the status that had been determined in that Pact.
NATO has been another of the great mechanisms used by the US to support its imperial expansion, and it has not been contained after the disappearance of the Warsaw Pact and the disappearance of the USSR, but on the contrary, it has been extending further and further east, bringing it closer to Russia, when the promises made to Gorbachev were that it would not move an inch in that direction.
The maintenance of these bases in Europe has never been based on defending Europeans; there has never been any real threat to this part of the continent that justified them; After the disappearance of the excuse invoked for their continued presence—the threat from the USSR and the Warsaw Pact—far from being withdrawn, these measures were increased to maintain the hegemony of capitalism in Western European countries and to increase pressure against Russia. This continued until recently, when the United States gradually modified its geostrategic analysis, now positioning China as its main enemy. Imperial interest and attention shifted in that direction, and the military presence on the European continent became progressively less of an American concern. This seems to have been discovered with dread by the leaders of the EEC countries, subjects of American interests, who have suddenly found themselves with the presidency of Donald Trump, now without any pretense of revealing his stark concern for the defense of European citizens against supposed threats, the main one of which is undoubtedly their quasi-colonial dependence on the US.
Most European leaders preferred Bush, who justified the invasion of Iraq by alluding to the existence in that country of weapons of mass destruction whose presence allowed European citizens to be deceived, instead of Trump, who attacks Venezuela confirming that he does so only to seize its oil.
In short, the leaders of this imperialist country have never intended to protect the freedoms, rights, or well-being of European citizens, and they have not maintained their bases on European territory for these purposes, but rather to maintain their hegemony and sustain capitalism. Previously, they brandished the specter of communism as the threat that justified their presence, a threat that, to mask their constant aggression, was further disguised with elaborate trappings that touted the benefits and advantages of being associated with that country—the country of Hollywood, household appliances, modern music, and so many other mechanisms of so-called “soft power” that made their hegemony more bearable. However, with the changes that have taken place in the world over the last thirty years, these trappings have been shattered, making the true face of American imperialism all the more evident to everyone.
So, welcome to the debates within European countries whose citizens are realizing what the main threat they face is, but stop telling us that our “protector” has abandoned us.
