By Professor Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim
The American Truman Doctrine formulatd in 1947 with the twilight of the Second World War saw the gradual bi-polarization of the global system and the emergence of the Cold War, which culminated in the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the last quarter of 1991. This trend has paved a way for the historical evolution of a new international order which historians describe as the “Unipolar World Order,” marking the United States as the world formidable military and economic force, emanating from the wreckages of the Second World War.
Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been exerting its unilateral power and influence all-over the world; it has engaged in regimes change and carried out interventionist foreign policy arguably whenever it felt threatened or discovered security threat on the state or its citizenry. The catastrophic invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan and subsequently Libya, had reshaped the international theatre of military engagement, with the name of ‘War on Terror” which saw the violent death of over 150,000 Iraqi civilians, approximately 4,500 U.S. Military service members, and 32,000 wounded, among others.
It is from these violent wars that the U.S. has been financing it started devloping economic and military statecraft against Middle-Power states and against the world. It was an attempt to perpetuate American hegemonic power, strengthen the Petro-Dollar system and maintain the international police-man statusquo. Consequently, states began to worship the U.S. by hosting its military bases, funding its military and in return, the U.S. provided security guarantees and safety-net assurances.
In January 2020, officials confirmed that Saudi Arabia paid roughly $1million to cover costs associated with U.S. troops deployed there, with ongoing discussions to formalize future contributions. This followed claims that $1 billion had been deposited. Qatar hosts the largest U.S. base in the region, Al Udeid Air Base, which it built and expanded at a cost exceeding $1 billion. Qatar maintains significant, long-term defense cooperation agreements with the U.S., including, recently, a ten-year extension of the base presence, making them a “Major Non-NATO Ally”. Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Payments are often structured through Base Operating Support (BOS) contracts. For example, in 2024–2025, several multimillion-dollar contract options were awarded for renovating and operating facilities at NSA Bahrain. Similar to Qatar, Kuwait contributes to the cost of hosting American troops and provides significant infrastructure support, with a large U.S. military footprint maintained under bilateral agreements.
The notion of power “corrupt, absolute power corrupt absolutely,” began to intoxicate the United States into international dictatorship, tyrannical governance, war-mongering, and abuse of sovereignty of independent states, which shattered the American integrity, trust and leadership status that made emerging states question the rule-based international order as they openly see the U.S. abuse and strangulate it.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has further exposed the strategic loopholes of the United States, from lack of defense strategy, miscalculations, the urge for dominance and utter control of the globalsystem. The U.S. is said to have lost more than $16 billion USD in the first six days of the conflict, with human cost in both Iran and Israel. The war transcends the above mentioned boundaries coopting the Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE, by extension, including Lebanon. The war did not only affect these states, but affect the global oil supply chain.
The major lessons derivable from this war are numerous and may include, first, the disgrace and embarrasment of the American state and military. This is counted from the perspective of their failure to defeat Iran and the inability to achieve any of their goals that led to the attacks on Iran.
Two, collapse of the American hegemonic power grid, due to its failure to provide security guarantees to countries of the Gulf as allies, these states may not continue to respect the United States as a security guarantor. It is in line with the above that we saw representative of the UAE in Beijing, trying to have an alternative security arrangement and more closer ties with China and in the long-run abandon the U.S. which could not defend its forces in the region and could not defend Israel as its greates ally.
Three, lessons for other American allies in South-East Aisa. States like Japan, South Korea and even the Philippines should come to their senses and basic understanding of how vulnerable they are and how self-deceived they are if they continue to rely and depend on American security guarantees. Japan and South Korea for example provide significant financial support to host U.S. troops. Japan spends over ¥1 trillion ($7-$8 billion+) annually on base hosting, including direct, indirect, and special agreement costs. South Korea agreed to pay approximately $1.14 billion annually for 2026 under a new pact
These states have the alternative for overdependence on the U.S to trusting their neighbor China. They clearly know that China will never invade them or harm them, but due to their alliance with the U.S, they have been told to stay away and consider China as a foe and a potential threat. If these states are rational enough, it is high time to return to friendly neighbourliness as a foreign policy tool against antagonizing China.
Finally, the world will see reshufflements in alliances especially in those involving the United States when the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran comes to an end. Majority of European states have turned to China as an alternative to the U.S. led global governance system. Africa has already discovered itself and aligns with China for a responsive and responsible rules-based international system and the world has come to the knowledge that an international order with Chinese form of peaceful diplomacy, respect to states, nations and civilizations, respect to universal values is the best and the world is ready not to have a flinch to the past and obsolete system of international hegemony, disrespect to sovereign states and waging unbrovoked wars against independent states for selfish interest and greed for self-aggrandizement that brings instability within the international system.
Prof Ghali is the Provost, Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, and Head of Contemporary China-Africa Research
