“The United States does not want to dominate but still remain a leader.”
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The fact that we have about 750 US foreign military bases around the world indicates a desire to dominate. That’s an awful lot of power projection and a huge expense for a benevolent nation that just wants to “lead”.
The world’s a dangerous place, true, but 750 bases? It makes us appear hegemonic. Don’t underestimate the powerful influence of the military industrial complex. Eisenhower warned us about it.
You really don’t know what real dominant behavior is by a nation. The military bases you point are left overs from a world war. Even most of those are mainly basing rights used mainly to respond to Cold War actions by the Soviet Union.