The Russian invasion of Ukraine “is in many ways bigger than Russia, it’s bigger than Ukraine,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price recently declared.

“There are principles that are at stake here.… Each and every country has a sovereign right to determine its own foreign policy, has a sovereign right to determine for itself with whom it will choose to associate in terms of its alliances, its partnerships and what orientation it wishes to direct its gaze.”

The United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated last year, does not recognize “spheres of influence,” adding that the concept “should have been retired after World War II.”

That, plus the Covid-19 pandemic and former president Donald Trump’s reversal of Obama-era liberalization – a crackdown sustained by President Joe Biden’s administration – has bludgeoned the island’s economy. Food and medicine are scarce; many young and entrepreneurial Cubans are leaving the island. The pressure contributed in large measure to the protests that stunned the island last July.

Yes, the one-party regime remains and still represses much dissent. But the embargo and related policies have failed for six decades and 11 US presidents. Cubans are still applauded for their humanitarian efforts, dispatching doctors to help in disasters across the developing (and developed) world. The United States and Cuba cooperate in efforts to police drug trafficking and limit terrorism.

Yet the embargo continues – punishing the Cuban people until they get rid of the government the United States does not approve of. So much for “choosing their own path.”

Cuba is not alone. The United States has imposed harsh sanctions on Venezuela and Nicaragua for sustaining regimes Washington opposes.

At the same time, the US national-security establishment is raising alarms about growing Chinese involvement in the Western Hemisphere. China is now Latin America’s leading trade partner, as well as a leading source of direct investment and financing.

Interested in security access to commodity exports, China assisted the region after the 2008 financial crisis with investments that generated jobs and helped decrease poverty in the region. During the pandemic, the Chinese rushed vaccines (of questionable effectiveness, it should be noted) into the region and provided continued demand for products.

All this raises fears about China’s support for what are castigated as “populist” governments, from Argentina to Venezuela. Already armchair strategists are scoping out how to respond to the threat posed by Chinese trade, investment and financing.

Evan Ellis, a professor at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, penned a report for the Center for Strategic and International Studies titled “Preparing for Deterioration of the Latin America and Caribbean Strategic Environment,” which suggested the United States doesn’t have the resources to compete with China on investments and aid to the region.

Another example of this view comes from Washington Post contributing columnist Robert Kagan, who argues in Foreign Affairs that the United States should embrace its role as a global hegemon.

This is a duty, not a choice, he writes: “A militarily, economically, and culturally powerful country exerts influence on other states by its mere presence, the way a larger body in space affects the behavior of smaller bodies through its gravitational pull.” The United States is entangled because “what it offers is genuinely attractive to much of the world.”

But in its own hemisphere, the “gravitational pull” comes not from the United States in decline, but from China on the rise, offering markets, money, investment – and a governing model: “capitalism with Chinese characteristics.”

If the national-security establishment has its way, the United States won’t let its neighbors choose their own orientation. It will push propaganda, reinforce corrupt elites and threaten or impose sanctions for those who don’t fall in line with a “model” that has failed repeatedly across the Western Hemisphere.

The “principle” of respecting nations and their right to choose their own path is a good one. The countries of America’s own hemisphere wish the US would practice it as well as preach it.

This article is distributed by Globetrotter in partnership with The Nation. It was provided to Asia Times by Globetrotter.