When on August 8 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in search of classified documents, the former president of the United States denounced the episode as “an attack [that] can only be carried out in the countries of the world.” the third one is broken. He continues to lament that America has “now become one of those countries, corrupt on a level not seen before”.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, chimed in on Twitter with a judgment: “This is what you see happening at 3rd World Banana Republics!!!” It doesn’t matter that the FBI’s seizure of classified documents is inconsistent with “corruption” laws as well as some other characteristics of American democracy: say, the fact that a billionaire who doesn’t pay taxes can become president or that the country is run as a criminal, oligarchic corporatocracy.
This is not the first time Trump has likened the US to a “third world country”, which was also his nickname of choice when he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. But Trump & Co is not the only member of the US ruling elite to use this vocabulary. The January 2021 attack on the US Capitol sparked a spike in derogatory “third world” and “banana republic” comparisons from everyone from Biden to George W Bush, the former US leader and civilized destroyer of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Indeed, it is impossible to downplay the bipartisan imperial arrogance shown in the spread of such a term. By implicitly and not ironically mocking underdeveloped countries, U.S. political rulers seem to have easily forgotten the country’s own historical role in creating the “banana republic” phenomenon — and in ensuring that the “third world” persists, you know, “the third world.” “.
The term “banana republic” was coined in 1904 by American author O Henry in reference to the Central American nation of Honduras, which, like neighboring Guatemala, was an early victim of US predatory capitalism and corporate exploitation. The economic and physical well-being of the inhabitants of such low-key countries is naturally not a concern of the hemispheric giants, who ensure unrestricted access to regional resources by supporting right-wing coups, bloody civil wars, corrupt dictatorships, and death squads – in other words, things a little more devastating than the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago.
The Cold War, of course, provided a useful alibi for US-backed assassinations around the world, from Nicaragua to Angola — while also spawning a “third world” designation that would continue to carry derogatory connotations. Once the communist threat has been replaced with the terrorist threat as the main US reason for lethal international interference, the remaining global superpowers continue to lend a charitable hand to the impoverished “third world”—often through forms of corporate neocolonialism branded as “development”.
And while Trump’s recent tantrums about the US as a “broken, third world” nation can certainly be brought under the broad category of Kooky Things Trump Dislikes, there’s also an unwelcome element of truth to it. Like it or not, the US fits the third world stereotype in many ways — and not just in its oligarchic style of government.
The US advertises itself as the vanguard of global “development”, but the country’s health, poverty and other indicators suggest deliberate counter-development policies. Back in 2017, Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, visited the US for two weeks. At the end of his trip, he issued a statement about how he found this country “exceptional in … ways that are at odds with its immense wealth and its founding commitment to human rights”.
Despite spending more money on “national defense” than China, Russia, Britain and a bunch of other big spenders combined, the US has some “40 million people” living in poverty amid “the stark contrast between private wealth and public squalor. “
As Alston notes, the US is also “alone among the developed countries” in asserting that human rights “do not include rights that keep people from dying of hunger, dying from lack of access to affordable health care, or growing up in a context of total deprivation. . ” So many lines from the US Declaration of Independence about the “inalienable” right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. It’s hard to catch up with anything if you’re dead.
Speaking of deaths, the infant mortality rate in the US is higher than in Cuba, an island that has spent more than 60 years under a suffocating US embargo. Trump himself imposed no less than 243 new sanctions against Cuba—as punishment for their crimes in pursuing national sovereignty over the “banana republic” model—and, for good measure, put Cuba back on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Returning to the land of freedom, meanwhile, homelessness has reached dire levels even in many “underdeveloped” countries, and the US has long maintained the highest incarceration rate in the world—though it has recently been surpassed by El Salvador, another country where US support for “human rights” has involved the state’s right-wing terror support.
Such is the ironic nature of imperial power, it seems, that the global hegemon responsible for oppressing much of the third world must also keep most of its own population in a third world state.
As per Trump’s twisted logic, any attempt to hold him accountable for anything is proof that the US is a “corrupt” and “broken, third world” nation. And while there’s no point wasting time on Trumpian delusions, we might still take the opportunity to remember the old adage about broken clocks – and to admit that the US is really broken.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
What is the 197 country in the world?
Another non-UN member that can clearly be defined as a ‘sovereign’ state or state is Kosovo. Become a full member of the UN 193 2 observers Taiwan & Kosovo = 197.
Quels sont les 8 continents ? Aujourd’hui, les plaques continentales principales sont : l’Amérique du Nord, l’Amérique du Sud, l’Afrique, l’Océanie, l’Eurasie, l’Antarctique. This may interest you : The Politics of the Quest of Mar-a-Lago. Par contre, pour ce qui est des differentiation entre les continents, l’Europe et l’Asie sont considerés comme des continents part.
Quel sont les 324 pays du monde ?
| Form of manners | Longue shape |
|---|---|
| Corée du Sud ( CNT , L , PR , EU ) République de Corée ( L , OIT , ONU , SQ ) Corée (Sud) ( SS ) | République de Coree ( PRm ) |
| Costa Rica | République du Costa Rica ( PRm ) |
| Ivory Coast | République de Cte d’Ivoire ( PRm ) |
| Croatia | République de Croatie ( PRm ) |
Quel pays est sur 2 continent ?
L’Indonésie est le plus grand archipel transcontinental de la plante, partage entre l’Asie et l’Océanie. Enfin, la Turquie a la particularité d’avoir sa plus grande ville, Istanbul, située cheval sur deux continents : l’Europe et l’Asie.
Quels sont les continents du monde et leurs pays ?
Répartition des pays sur les continents See the article : Pompeo on Abe: ‘He was the perfect partner for America’.
- Africa: 54 pays.
- Asie: 48 pays.
- Europe: 44 payments.
- Amérique latine et Caraïbes : 33 payments.
- Oceanie: 14 pays.
- Amérique du Nord : 2 payments.
Which is the poor country in the world?
Nigeria. The combination of a GNI per capita of $906, life expectancy of 60.4 years, and an average of 2 years of schooling (as opposed to an estimate of 5. To see also : Trump calls Afghan Taliban takeover ‘most shameful event in US history’.4) brings Niger to the top of the UN human development report as the world’s poorest country.
Which is the poorest country in the world in 2021? The 10 Poorest Countries in the World (based on their 2020 GNI per capita in current US$):
- Burundi – $270.
- Somali – $310.
- Mozambique – $460.
- Madagascar – $480.
- Sierra Leone – $490.
- Afghanistan – $500.
- Central African Republic – $510.
- Liberia – $530.
Is India is poor or rich?
| Rank | Country | GDP-PPP ($) |
|---|---|---|
| 127 | India | 8.358 |
| 128 | Cabo Verde | 7,740 |
| 129 | Angola | 7.360 |
| 130 | Belize | 7.147 |
Is Turkey a First World country?
Turkey is a first world country with a functioning democracy, a capitalist economy and a high standard of living. Turkey has been a US ally and member of NATO since 1952.
Is Turkey a second world? Examples of second world countries by this definition include almost all of Latin and South America, Turkey, Thailand, South Africa, and many others. Investors sometimes refer to second world countries that appear to be heading for first world status as “emerging markets”.
Is Turkey first or Third World?
| Country group | Developing/Developing Newly industrialized countries Upper-middle income economies |
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Population | 84,680,273 (2021) |
| GDP | $692 billion (Nominal, 2022 est.) $3.2 trillion (PPP, 2022 est.) |
| GDP ranking | 23 (Nominal, 2022 est.) 11 (PPP, 2022 est.) |
What are the 1st World countries?
Examples of first world countries include the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Several Western European countries are also eligible, most notably Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries.
