this article by a former cia employee is a synopsis of the stupidity and arrogance of the empire even though its main focus is afghanistan it covers other areas of the empire's crimes, and how they're perpetuated;

President Joe Biden’s departure from Afghanistan was the right thing to do even if it was handled disastrously. And he now has the opportunity to do some other “right things” that are in some ways related to the recently concluded fiasco in Central Asia in that the White House for too long has believed that it has the authority to intervene globally given its often cited authority as both “exceptional” and “Leader of the Free World.” One thinks immediate of the sanctions regime which is used repeatedly to punish foreign governments that do not conform to American and Western European norms on issues like homosexuality, “choice,” and even immigration. The current edition of sanctions, naming individuals, businesses and government entities, runs to hundreds of pages. It is updated and added to regularly by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

It has repeatedly been demonstrated that sanctions do not accomplish anything and they in fact disproportionately punish the most vulnerable people in the country being targeted, depriving them of food and medicine while their leaders have plenty of both. Sanctions do not compel countries to change their foreign and domestic policies and, in fact, frequently generate a measure of sympathy, producing popular support for regimes that are perceived as being unfairly attacked by the United States. Many argue that the authoritarian regime in Cuba has largely survived because many Cubans despise the extensive US imposed sanctions on their country.

So one longs to see an end to sanctions and an increase in face-to-face discussions between representatives of foreign countries to resolve problems without killing people and crippling economies. But sanctions are only one element in America’s ongoing war against the world, which admittedly is going badly. Whenever one gets into discussions about the decline of America’s ability to positively influence developments around the world a number of issues tend to surface. Some critics who look beyond what is being reported in the media or parroted by government spokesmen recognize that it is actually the policies being pursued by the White House and Congress that are out of sync with what is actually happening in Asia, Africa and Latin America, being more driven by often partisan establishment-acceptable narratives than by genuine interests........read more.......