The U.S. has a very long history of foreign policy hypocrisy, especially since WWII.
One of the reasons the British finally divested themselves of their empire is that it was bankrupting them and destroying their civil society. The empire eventually comes home. Everything we've done overseas will eventually be applied to us, and the costs will be ours to bear. Hopefully we'll be as wise as the British and divest ourselves of empire before it destroys us, because it seems like civilizations that do not gracefully exit empire collapse.
Indeed, the Roman Republic turned into an Empire as it gained more territory, and having a representative system with most people being non-citizens became an untenable contradiction.
It would seem the British were 'assisted' with parting with their empire by the US:
"...an ambitious geopolitical agenda hatched within President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Treasury and aimed at eliminating Britain as an economic and political rival".
http://www.amazon.com/The-Battle-Bretton-Woods-University/dp...
Yeah, minus the enormous military expenditures and political meddling. They're going about building empire the smart way: a way in which no one even realizes they are building one and they can pull out at any time without far-reaching political repercussions.
Yeah I don't know about that. Chinese governments have historically never been quite keen on owning overseas empires in the same way that European powers have.
One of the reasons the British finally divested themselves of their empire is that it was bankrupting them and destroying their civil society. The empire eventually comes home. Everything we've done overseas will eventually be applied to us, and the costs will be ours to bear. Hopefully we'll be as wise as the British and divest ourselves of empire before it destroys us, because it seems like civilizations that do not gracefully exit empire collapse.