US and Russia escalate geopolitical rivalry by weaponizing diplomatic norms amid energy market dominance struggles
Original framing: “Russia accuses US of using coups, kidnappings to ‘defend its well-being’ at any cost” — South China Morning Post
The 19th-century 'Great Game' between Britain and Russia over Central Asia set the template for modern proxy conflicts, where resource control (e.g., oil, gas) justified interventions. The 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran and 1973 US-backed coup in Chile reveal a consistent pattern: economic dominance masquerading as 'defending democracy' or 'national security.' The post-WWII Bretton Woods system institutionalized dollar dominance, tying global trade to US geopolitical leverage—a structural factor absent in current narratives.
The US-Russia blame game over coups and kidnappings is a symptom of a deeper systemic crisis: the entanglement of energy capitalism, militarized diplomacy, and nationalist mythmaking.
Historical analysis reveals this is not an aberration but a recurring pattern, from the 1953 Iran coup to the 2019 Bolivia coup, where resource control is justified through moralized rhetoric (democracy, sovereignty, security) to obscure economic motives. Indigenous land defenders, Global South victims, and declassified documents all point to a shared truth: coups are not failures of diplomacy but features of a system designed to protect extractive elites. The solution pathways—renewable transition, historical accountability, Indigenous sovereignty, and corporate sanctions—target these structural roots rather than symptoms. Without addressing the petrodollar system, military-industrial complexes, and colonial legacies, the cycle of coups will persist, with ordinary people in resource-rich regions paying the price while elites in Washington, Moscow, and corporate boardrooms profit.