The United States Never Intended To Protect Europeans.
The United States Never Intended To Protect Europeans.
by Alberto García February 10, 2026 – Minimal historical analysis shows us that the United States never intended to protect Europeans, much less freedoms and democracy, or the well-being of the peoples of the world, but exclusively to pursue policies that served its imperial interests and, by extension, the capitalist system as a whole.
Every time a media outlet, whether progressive or reactionary, analyzes the current situation in Europe, its loss of international influence, its supposed weakness, what we call its powerlessness in the face of hypothetical threats, we invariably put forward the same reasoning: all this is due to the fact that the United States once protected us, and that since the sinister Trump came to power, this country has ceased to provide this essential protection, leaving us alone in the face of dangers. From this constantly repeated principle, everyone draws the analysis that suits them and formulates their opinions, according to their own ideological prejudices.
The intention is therefore to present historically the United States as the leaders of the so-called free world, generous, powdered milk-distributing, champions of freedom and democracy, and to show that they have currently ceased to play this role following a historical accident, the coming to power of an individual sometimes described as crazy, eccentric, and that once the electoral will of American citizens is changed, 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.
Since they have ceased to “protect” us, we must strengthen our defense systems by acquiring a considerable amount of armaments from this historically reliable protector who, although currently somewhat misguided, will soon return to the right path, using NATO for the common benefit of its members, and we can then resume our activities as if nothing had happened. Proposals from such serious analysts as General Ayala – that to truly create a European defense system, the different military instruments of each EEC country should first be integrated, their structures harmonized and armaments acquired primarily within the European Union, not outside – have not been taken seriously.
But even minimal historical analysis shows us that the United States never intended to protect Europeans, much less the freedoms and democracy, or the well-being of the peoples of the world, but exclusively to pursue policies that served its imperial interests, and by extension the capitalist system as a whole.
We recall today that Trump openly invokes the Monroe Doctrine, stated in 1823 by President James Monroe, according to which America belonged to the Americans . It quickly became apparent that this doctrine actually applied to North Americans, but this principle has been defended by all American presidents throughout the history of the country (Democrats or Republicans), and has been strengthened over time. Initially focused on the control of the entire American continent, this doctrine extended to the entire world after the First World War, and especially after the Second, its position of force allowing it.
The war against Spain in 1898 was not intended to liberate Americans of Cuban origin, nor the Filipinos of Asia, but to ensure the colonial domination of the two countries, to cite only two examples that concern us directly.
The United States currently has approximately 800 overseas military bases. This represents 90% of all military bases owned by a country outside their borders.
It was during the interwar period that the United States took over from the United Kingdom of Great Britain as the leading imperialist power, and from then on the creation of military bases across the world became the foundation of this imperial policy.
On September 2, 1940, the United States and England signed the agreement known as “destroyers for bases,” under which the United States 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.
Beginning in 1945, the establishment of such outposts became widespread throughout the world. We refer to the reference study on the subject, the work of American professor David Vine entitled “Base Nation” (How American military bases abroad harm America and the world), which led to the creation of a detailed database on the location and characteristics of these bases, used even by the Pentagon in some of its official publications.
After the Second World War, as mentioned previously, and from the relaunch of the Cold War and its prologue, namely the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the objective of which was not only to subdue the Japanese forces, but also to draw the world's attention to the consequences that those who would subsequently challenge American hegemony could suffer, the different continents were dotted with such bases: in Asia (Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Guam), the Middle East (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Syria and Turkey), among others, and Europe (Germany, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, among others).
Regarding Europe, the justification for such an extraordinary military presence was presented as a defense mechanism for Europe against the USSR, but this state never attacked any country in this part of the world after the Second World War, scrupulously respecting the division into zones of influence established between England, the United States and the USSR itself in the Yalta agreements. In Greece and elsewhere in Europe, the agreements were maintained despite the existence of considerable popular forces which attempted to modify the status determined by this pact.
NATO was another of the great mechanisms used by the United States to support its imperial expansion, and this was not contained after the demise of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR; on the contrary, it expanded ever further east, moving closer to Russia, despite promises to Gorbachev that it would not move an inch in that direction.
The maintenance of these bases in Europe has never been motivated by the defense of Europeans; no real threat has ever justified their presence on this part of the continent. After the disappearance of the pretext invoked for their maintenance – the Soviet threat and the Warsaw Pact – far from being abandoned, these measures were reinforced in order to preserve the hegemony of capitalism in Western Europe and to increase pressure on Russia. This situation persisted until recently, when the United States gradually changed its geostrategic analysis, now designating China as its main enemy. Imperial interest and attention then shifted in this direction, and the military presence on the European continent became a less and less important concern for the Americans. This development seems to have been discovered with fear by the leaders of the EEC countries, subjects of American interests, who found themselves with the presidency of Donald Trump, who no longer hides his concern about the defense of European citizens against alleged threats, the main one of which is undoubtedly their quasi-colonial dependence on the United States.
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 made it possible to deceive European citizens, rather than Trump, who attacks Venezuela by confirming that he is only doing it to seize its oil.
In summary, the leaders of this imperialist country never intended to protect the freedoms, rights or well-being of European citizens, and they did not maintain their bases on European territory for these purposes, but to preserve their hegemony and perpetuate capitalism. Previously, they held up the specter of communism as the threat justifying their presence, a threat which, to mask their constant aggression, was hidden under sophisticated artifices extolling the merits and advantages of being associated with this country – the land of Hollywood, household appliances, modern music and so many other mechanisms of so-called “soft power”, making their hegemony more bearable. However, with the upheavals in the world over the past thirty years, these artifices have collapsed, exposing the true face of American imperialism.
Welcome to the debates that animate European countries whose citizens are becoming aware of the main threat they face, but stop telling us that our “protector” has abandoned us.
