Editor's note: Maitreya Bhakal is an Indian commentator who writes about China, India, U.S. and global issues. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." That quote is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln – the 16th President of the United States of America, a genocidal settler-colony built after almost completely wiping out the local population, in perhaps the largest genocide in world history.

As with much else about the settler colony, the popular attribution of that quote is also fake – it was said not by Lincoln, but is a variation of a line written originally by Robert Ingersoll, and was actually said about Lincoln than by him.

Few exemplify that quotation better than the U.S. government itself. It rules the richest and perhaps the most powerful country in the world, and its character often gets revealed through its actions.

Bomber barbarians

Leaders do many things to unite their people. In Western civilization (that has no shortage of divided people), the preferred way is to find an external enemy, like Nazi Germany did for Jews and socialists. In the U.S., the process is similar: manufacture an external enemy, and then blame all your nations' problems on them.

Thus, during the Cold War, socialists and the USSR were the preferred enemies of the United States. Then, radical Islamist Jihadist groups became the enemies, the same ones that, ironically, the U.S. itself had funded to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Today, China is seen often as the enemy.   

Another preferred way is to simply bomb them from the sky using drones. This saves the trouble of a ground invasion. The U.S. government has adapted, having learnt from the Bush Jr. era that having your own soldiers killed is unpopular at home. Drone warfare was the preferred way that Obama, America's first African American President, used to kill people of color abroad.

Partisans and militants

During World War II, Nazi Germany used to justify killing resistance fighters in occupied territories by simply calling them "partisans". It was simply described as self-defense.

In today's America, the preferred term is "militants" or "combatants". In the War on Terror, around a million people were killed. The killing of many of them was justified by saying that they were "militants". The U.S. was simply defending itself against people who were defending themselves against U.S. invasion and occupation.

Late last month, the New York Times, reported that the genocidal settler colony had carried out "air strikes" in Iraq and Syria. The article was basically a press release from the Pentagon, like many of the outlet's "news reports" often are.

"At President Biden's direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region," said a spokesperson of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Newly elected U.S. leaders often bomb and kill people as a show of strength and a display of aggression. Biden carried out his first bombing in the region in February, just after he came to power. Then, as Americans grew increasingly grumbled with his apathetic and lethargic rule, he needed something to distract them from domestic problems and bolster his legitimacy.

The U.S. wants people to believe that it carried out bombings on the other side of the world in "self-defense". This thinking is widely believed across America.

U.S. actions violate both international law and domestic U.S. law. The U.S. Congress – a sort of tribal "elected" Council of Elders that pretend to rule the country – had not authorized the bombing. Ironically, the House voted last week to repeal the 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq. In its statements and propaganda, the U.S. doesn't even pretend to take recourse to legality – it doesn't even claim to have any legal justification for the attacks.

Accountability for thee, but not for me

While the U.S. frequently violates its own laws as well as international law, not to mention commit massive human rights violations itself, it loves lecturing China for its imaginary crimes. The Western media and governments are happy to play along with these double standards. Yet, outside the West, more countries support China than ever before.

Recently, a gang of 43 countries signed a statement criticizing China for its so-called "human rights abuses" in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The pushback of justice was extreme – over 90 countries supported China and opposed any interference in its internal affairs.

Public opinion polls follow the same pattern: people in the 15 to 20 Western countries have a negative opinion of China, while those polled in the vast majority of the rest of the world hold largely a positive view of it.  It seems that Western propaganda works only in the West.

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