US Finds 'Monroe Doctrine' Only Applies South of Border
Al Jazeera dutifully regurgitates the mainstream definition of the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th-century decree ostensibly preventing European meddling in the Americas. Trump's invocation regarding Venezuela is presented as a throwback, emphasizing Uncle Sam's 'backyard'—a benign-sounding term for neocolonial control. But oddly, the same media outlets rarely mention a similar 'doctrine' when the US
itself meddles in, oh, say, the Middle East or Eastern Europe. It's almost as if 'foreign interference' is only bad when we're not the ones doing it. One might wonder if the Monroe Doctrine has an annex detailing the legal framework for funding coups, arming proxies, or imposing sanctions on sovereign nations. Remember the 1953 Iranian coup (CIA-backed) or the 1973 Chilean coup (US-supported)?
Both predate Trump by decades and demonstrate a rather robust interpretation of 'American interests' far beyond this hemisphere. The doctrine is a convenient justification for interventionism; our media simply frames it as historical context, rather than a blueprint for ongoing hypocrisy.