THE US never won the hearts, minds and souls of the peoples of the Third World (TW) and now that the sun is setting on the American empire, it certainly will not.
The US emerged as the only superpower after WW2 and its introduction to the TW was one of aloofness, cultural contempt and political domination.
The USA won the old Cold War not because of strategic relations with any other part of the world including its ideological allies in Western Europe.

The US triumphed because its rival imploded all by itself. President Reagan gave himself the honour of defeating the USSR but the USSR defeated itself, a collapse that was in the making since the 1980s.
The Americans will not win the new Cold War because the Americans are an identical replica of its post 1945 self. The strategic partnership to win the new Cold War has to be the TW but American behaviour around the world is one of empire imposing itself.

It will never win the rivalry with China this way and the US will not change its way because empires have congenital traits of flippantly treating powerless countries as subordinates. The US is no different in this respect to empires gone by.
A good place to start in analysing how the US imposes itself on the TW is right here in Guyana. No embassy in this country is so formidable and daunting like the US embassy on Young Street. The British, our former colonial invader, has a very small simple building on Main Street. The US embassy is ringed with barricades, traffic cones and security personnel.

The embassy has taken over a part of the southern section of Young Street and you are not permitted to walk pass the embassy from that southern side.
Last week, I left the Ministry of Natural Resources and turned east on Young Street to go to the police training school. I was on the southern side of the road outside the embassy and a local security indicated that I should go over to the northern side of the road.
It happened on Monday, July 17, between 10:15 hrs and 10.30 hrs. The security cameras should verify that.

You can walk pass the embassies in Guyana of some of the most powerful countries in the world including the superpower, China.
The list includes Brazil and India. The Brazilian Ambassador lives on Peter Rose Street opposite Herdmanston Lodge. I have to pass his residence three times a week to do the Gildarie-Freddie Kissoon Show and many times I see him at the window relaxing.

The US is building an embassy in Trinidad at the cost of half a billion dollars. It is a strange decision because Trinidad holds no special geo-strategic importance for the US. When that building is completed, maybe you won’t be able to walk past it as is the case in Guyana. Back to the Americans in the old and new Cold Wars. In competing with China, the TW becomes an extremely crucial factor. But for the US to persuade the developing countries to delink from China is as we say in Guyana, “like throwing water on duck’s back.”

The peoples of the developing nations, especially Africa, will not easily forget the US role in preserving apartheid. The most strategic African country on the continent, South Africa, will never forgive the US for its role in the apartheid era. South African will never abandon Russia because the memories of solidarity are indelible.

The TW will not join the Americans in a new Cold War against China because the developing world knows that the US has sided against national liberation movements, post-colonial nationalist governments and has been penny-pinching with aid.

Here is a quote from Sir Ron Sanders about US aid to poor countries, especially the CARICOM region. Writing in his column of October 17, 2021, he argued that the TW will not take sides in the new Cold War. He wrote: “The 14-nation independent states of the Caribbean Community have been at the bottom of US official development assistance for decades.

“In 2019, for instance, total US foreign assistance globally was US$47 billion, of which collectively, CARICOM countries received US$338 million or 0.7 per cent. For emphasis, that is less than one per cent of the global total. Haiti alone received US$268 million of that US$338 million intended for all 14 CARICOM states, leaving the other 13 to share US$70 million only. For nine of the 13 countries, the sum provided did not amount to US$1 million.”
There is a new Cold War alright between China and the US but developing countries are not going to take sides. In part three, I will look at China.