It always takes more effort to be disciplined than indulging oneself. This is true with every individual, so is with every country. The US, long obsessed with its hegemony, is apt at distorting and redefining concepts at will. The unfolding Ukraine crisis offers the world another chance to observe how the US defines international rules and norms to its own advantage. There is no graver affront to international law and greater contempt for historical justice.

Peacekeeper or troublemaker?

With the cloud of the conflict still hanging over Europe, the US has activated its propaganda machine to churn out articles about its moral halo as a peacekeeper. History aside, the US moves may trick the world into believing that it now staunchly supports the UN Charter, which stipulates "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace".

In reality, it is the US that has sowed the seed of turbulence and human tragedies in Ukraine and beyond. When the threat of the Cold War long disappeared, the US not only cemented NATO, but also expanded it five times right to Russia's doorstep, cornering a sovereign power with all the provocation. In the meantime, the US beat the drum of a "war waged by Russia" against Ukraine in the foreseeable future when the tension was still within control. Since the outbreak of the conflict, the US has already supplied Ukraine with $1 billion worth of weapons and ammunition.

For or against democracy?

The US now portrays Ukraine as "the front line in the global struggle for democracy". And to stop Russia from crushing democracies is the shared responsibility of nations in the world. The US government seems to have seized the "finest hour" to beef up its "democratic alliance" and play up the narrative of "democracy vs authoritarianism". It is eager to add its own footnote to the dictionary on democracy.

In practice, the US goes against the spirit of democracy to force countries to take sides. Countries that condemn and sanction Russia are supporting "democracy", while others that refuse to do so are "on the wrong side of history". Even its ally, like India, has been criticized by the US for its "shaky" response to Russia's military operation against Ukraine. What the US fails to point out is that there are still over 140 member states of the UN that have not sanctioned Russia. That is the bigger part of the international community in contrast to the small group of US allies. Most of them have paid for the cost of sanctions against Russia when the US itself is filling the vacuum of global energy supplies.

Humanitarianism or self-interest?

President Biden openly assured Ukrainians fleeing from the conflict that "we're going to welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms", in an attempt to demonstrate its generosity and humanity. But the US is actually providing more military assistance than humanitarian supplies to Ukraine. It is more interested in fueling the flames than addressing the urgent needs of the Ukrainian people. The US even abstained on a Russia-proposed resolution at the UN Security Council in response to Ukraine's growing humanitarian needs.

To allay criticism of its slow response to the humanitarian issue of Ukrainian refugees, the US announced plans to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, thought it expects many Ukrainians will choose to remain in Europe close to their homes. But this plan was immediately questioned, given the US government's inexplicably slow progress at resettling other refugees who in many cases have been waiting years to find safety. "The US currently has an annual refugee admissions cap of 125,000, but five months into the fiscal year, less than 7,000 refugees have been admitted", according to Krish Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Worse still, at least five Ukrainian refugees that finally made their way to US borders were detained.

The US is wasting its time on a pipe dream: to fool other countries to believe that going in lockstep with the US will best serve their national interests. The White House spokesperson recently warned countries to stand with it against Russia as "the history books are written". But she fails to realize that history books are not written by what the US said but what it did.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Global Times, China Daily etc.