>"situation could get much, much worse "

Yes it could. And one of the reasons is that over long time nobody will tolerate hegemon telling them how live their lives. Hegemon must be smart enough not to be one but that is not what we have.

It's not reflexive to critisize US foreign meddling. It IS reflective because it requires considerable consideration to puncture the fabric of US internal propaganda and reach these conclusions. The problem is that it's built on a web of lies and treachery. That's not a very smart attitude to take between whole nations of people. Maybe it is if the end goal is further ethnic domination, subjugation, and/or exterminaton-- which the US has done and still does, systematically.

There are bearings a country can take, foreign relations wise, that over the long term that lead to better outcomes and just quality-of-life improvements in general. Benevolence and smart relationship management com ined with military dominamce has immense soft power, of which the U.S. has left unexplored.

I just found this reading up on S.Pacific politics:

Weiner, Tim (9 October 1994). "C.I.A. Spent Millions to Support Japanese Right in 50's and 60's". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 December 2007.

Add japan to the laundry list where these organized, professionalized, politically motivated paramilitary "groups" involve themselves in the democratic process of other nations, with absolutely no control or oversight from the very society they comes from.

Don't confuse the US before the collapse of the soviet union and now. There is a reason it is in the position it is - it actually did stuff countries liked such as rebuilding the world after WWII. When the soviet union collapsed the US needed to pivot - instead a bunch of inept politicians have been doing expedient nothings for 30 years.