The threat of American imperialism is real and is creating instability across the globe.
It is about unilateral actions, economic coercion, trade wars and resource control of oil, gas and minerals, tariff imposition, military interventions and coup d’états.
Also on the list is undermining international law, criminal assassinations, challenging the existing world order, potentially leading to confrontations between nations and states, and mirroring the historical imperialist pattern of dominating weaker nations for economic and strategic gain. The invasion of Venezuela and the seizure of president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cillia Flores, is a vivid lesson.
US imperialism against Venezuela has involved a shift from economic coercion to direct overt military intervention aimed at regime change and controlling the country’s vital natural resources. The tactics, such as naval blockade and maritime attacks, economic sanctions, asset seizure, and “narco-terrorist” framing, are characterised as a modern application of the “Monroe Doctrine”, focusing on securing energy supplies and undermining rivals like China and Russia. And the trend continues in the Middle East.
US imperialism also involves political manipulation, alongside cultural influence, to dominate other countries for resources, markets and power projection, often justified by ideologies of superiority, with methods ranging from direct conquest of colonies to economic dependency, at the expense of other nations’ sovereignty and well-being.
US imperialists’ regime-toppling operations are carried out using external, internal or combined measures ranging from diplomatic pressures and economic sanctions to overt and covert actions. The strategic objective of regime change is typically aimed at replacing an adversarial government with a compliant, friendly, or more stable one to secure “national interests”, often framed as countering threats of terrorism or instability, altering regional power balances, securing resources, fostering new markets, and gaining favourable access to foreign businesses, or preventing rivals from doing the same, and reshaping political systems to serve external interests, or making the economy scream to incite internal unrest, and balancing strategic gains against the risk of blowback.
Perceived threat
The Global South is perceived as a threat by US imperialism. The Global South is a diverse group of nations, primarily in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It is not strictly geographical; some countries are from the Northern Hemisphere, highlighting shared interests in reforming international systems, challenging inequality, and promoting greater voice in world affairs. The Global South represents 39% to 44% of the global economy.
These countries are less economically developed, share histories of colonialism and advocate for different global power structures than the historically wealthier Global North. BRICS is a key platform for the Global South to amplify their voices and advocate for fairer global governance, especially in political and economic spheres, challenging Western dominance and demanding reforms in global institutions, and therefore creating tension with the US and the West, as they continue to diversify partnerships, especially with China and Russia.
The Global South, by asserting their own interests and seeking a more equitable world order, present challenges to traditional U.S. and Western dominance and interests. The primary issue stems from a desire to reform a global system largely perceived as Eurocentric and self-serving for the West. The rise of the Global South is a significant geopolitical shift that is reshaping the international order, which poses a challenge to Western predominance and is therefore perceived as an explicit threat.
The perception of antagonism also stems from a complex interplay of historical differences, differing geopolitical interests, and ongoing power imbalances in the global system. The Global South is increasingly acting as a significant challenge to Western-led imperialism by pushing for a multipolar world order, resisting unilateral sanctions, and seeking alternatives to dollar-dominated financial systems.
Through alliances like BRICS and regional cooperation, these nations aim to reduce dependency on former colonial powers and assert sovereignty. Western interests are also characterised by foreign-imposed agendas that align with their specific interests, values, or security goals rather than the immediate needs of the local population. As such, the Global South became a target of aggression.
Gunning for SA
The American administration were backers of the Apartheid regime. This time around, US imperialism and its coercive diplomacy are targeting South Africa, often in controlling and insidious ways. Around May 2023, Washington made a vitriolic attack against South Africa, saying that it supplied arms to Russia. The former US ambassador to South Africa accused the country of supplying weapons to Russia, despite its professed neutrality in the war in Ukraine. The ambassador claimed that the docking of a Russian ship, Lady R, loaded with ammunition and arms, at Simon’s Town naval base in Cape Town, was between 6 and 8 December 2023. The South African government vehemently denied the claims and said that no evidence has been produced to support them.
In another twist of falsehood, the US ambassador maintained that Washington also had concerns about South Africa’s stated non-aligned stance on the conflict in Ukraine and its continued cosy relationship with Russia and expressed concerns about South Africa’s participation in joint naval drills with Russia and China during the anniversary of the special military operation in Ukraine. During the January 2026 naval drills in South Africa, the U.S. administration again sharply criticised the week’s drills, which brought vessels from China, Iran, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to waters off Cape Town.
South Africa, the first African country to hold the G20 presidency, set out to push developing countries’ priorities to the forefront during the 2025 G20 summit in Johannesburg. But the United States boycotting the summit was a typical comical farce. Despite US open hostility, the overwhelming weight of the war in Ukraine was expected to dominate the G20 two-day summit. But this was not to be.
As early as February 2025, less than a month after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, his Secretary of State criticised South Africa’s G20 slogan, “solidarity, equality, sustainability”, dismissing the themes as “anti-Americanism” and announcing he would skip the opening of the G20 foreign ministers’ summit. Trump also didn’t attend the summit. The time was set. Relations between the two countries only deteriorated further. Beyond G20 itself, the South African government was in the crosshairs of the White House, with Trump accusing South Africa of encouraging a “genocide” against white farmers, a claim South Africa flatly refuted.
In summary, Sub-Saharan Africa has historically experienced over 100 regime changes in the past three decades. Drawing an inference from US overbearing behaviour in the domestic affairs of sovereign states leaves no doubt that it is pursuing a regime change agenda. In addition, the so-called US initiative best known as Mission South Africa has already granted asylum to white South Africans, primarily Afrikaners, under false claims of “white genocide”, systematic violence and racial discrimination. Similarly, there are also dirty agendas to scupper South Africa’s constitutional ideals through diabolical schemes such as the Western Cape secessionist movement, or “Cape Independence”, or “Cape Xit”, and the lobby groups AfriForum and Solidarity, ostensibly “to protect Afrikaners and minorities”. Yes, ultimately, the stage is set for the evil plots to continue haunting the Global South, not to pave the way for U.S. imperial hegemony. Time will tell.
*Maj. Gen. (RTD) J. B. Tjivikua is a criminal intelligence analyst.