America’s goal has become to preserve its imperial hegemony no matter the cost to others. Whereas Xi insists on the necessity of a more open world in order to allow the further development of today’s immense global forces of production the United States has regressed toward the reestablishment of trade blocs, economic sanctions and war in order to maintain its dominance.

Globally, the numbers pro- and anti-Russia are roughly even, but the tide seems to be drifting slightly in favour of the former. Russian foreign policy vis-à-vis the West is in tatters. Elsewhere, however, its diplomacy is proving quite effective. It is a fact with which the West sooner or later is going to have to come to terms.

Canada isn’t “advocating for Iranians and their human rights.” It’s violating those rights. As Greg Shupak argues, sanctions shouldn’t be merely seen as contradicting our stated goal of helping the Iranian people. Rather, the unilateral coercive measures, as sanctions are sometimes called, are perfectly consistent with Canada’s broader policy of hostility against Iran.

A case could be made that what is wrong with much of contemporary Western foreign policy is that it’s so concerned about deontology that it’s lost all track of consequences. Full of good intent, determined to do what it is “right” by promoting democracy and human rights, we embark on policies that fail utterly to do any good and more generally do a lot of harm.

Even if Ukraine were in some sense to win the war, what sort of sovereignty would the Ukrainian people, its working class, possess? What social forces would be dominant in this victorious Ukrainian state, where all opposition parties and media have been banned and whose reconstruction would depend entirely on American and European generosity?

The recent Australia, US, and UK $368 billion deal on buying nuclear submarines has been termed by Paul Keating, a former Australian prime minister, as the “worst deal in all history.” It commits Australia to buy conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines that will be delivered in the early 2040s. These will be based on new nuclear reactor designs yet to be developed by the UK.

Many of the apologists for the war in Iraq seek to justify their support by arguing that “mistakes” were made, that if, for example, the Iraqi army was not disbanded, the occupation would have worked. They insist that our intentions were honorable. They ignore the hubris and lies that led to the war, the misguided belief that the US could be the sole major power in a unipolar world.

Documents released by online media outlet The Breach illustrate that Canada’s cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia is based solely on cold economic calculations—specifically, Western access to cheap oil, Canadian access to Saudi markets, and the Wahhabi kingdom’s role as a “bulwark” against other regional power formations, specifically Iran and its allies.

There will come a time when the Ukrainians, like the Kurds, will become expendable. They will disappear, as many others before them have, from our national discourse and our consciousness. They will nurse for generations their betrayal and suffering. The American empire will move on to use others, perhaps the “heroic” people of Taiwan, to further its futile quest for global hegemony.

Hugo Chávez was a deeply impressive leader whose commitment to radical new visions of democracy has not been equalled in the hemisphere since he assumed the presidency in 1999. Not since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 had a Latin American head of state combined the qualities of president, revolutionary, and popular educator so seamlessly.