Most ordinary Americans do not have the slightest idea how much suffering, hardship, and/or (in more fortunate cases) just disappointment has been caused by the intrusive foreign policy of practically of all recent US administrations in many parts of the world, including in countries such as mine. There has been much absurd hysteria recently over allegations of Russia hacking and influencing the November presidential elections in America. These are ridiculous allegations whose sole purpose is to rekindle Washington’s age-old visceral animosity towards Russia and prevent the US from normalizing its relations with Moscow.
Two weeks after the 2002 general elections in Slovakia, the Financial Times of London quoted an “unnamed” western diplomat in Bratislava triumphantly saying, “Yes, we have interfered in Slovakia’s internal affairs. We have done so with success.” Well, that silly, arrogant bragging by a foolish western diplomat in Bratislava was solid proof of not just possible hacking, but rather of purposeful direct interfering in the domestic affairs of a small democratic country by powerful western countries.
In the run up to the 2002 parliamentary elections, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) visited Slovakia and met with the local press and activists to openly express who he wanted to win the elections and who he would like to see lose. I was there and I have the worst memories of that meeting and of that shameless meddler. We should have kicked him out of Slovakia on the spot.
Instead, the local mainstream media (as untrustworthy and discredited as those in the US) went into servile raptures and obediently quoted McCain as if he were the political savior of Slovakia. But at least I can call my country lucky, for it just did not get bombed like Serbia, and neither (thank God) was it reduced to a failed state like Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, or Syria by military means.
I am proud of my small country, for it does not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.
I am a cautious Trump sympathizer, mainly because he has emphasized the right of other nations to manage their own affairs and to run their countries the way that suits them best. I have also noticed that he has never mentioned or fostered the the utterly unsubstantiated notion of “American exceptionalism” or that hollow-sounding and worn-out phrase Obama loved so much of the US being “the indispensable nation,” or that “the world needs American leadership.”
The truth is, the rest of the world wants to be either left alone or treated on an equal partner basis. It is as simple as that.
Michael Zoldy was Director of the Slovak Information Agency.
