Yes, this simplifies history a lot. The US chose to run a different kind of empire, based on international rules/norms/orgs that it more or less controlled, dir

Yes, this simplifies history a lot. The US chose to run a different kind of empire, based on international rules/norms/orgs that it more or less controlled, directly or indirectly: the World Bank, IMF, the UN (mostly), but also banking/USD payments and infra, telecom (AT&T and ARPAnet), oil (7 sisters) and the US Navy (and its bases and carriers) are all imperial infrastructure. I am probably forgetting a ton more. The brilliant part of this is that they don't look like that and that they also need (some/a lot) the consent of the protectorates or allies --but so did previous empires. The problem is the same: having an empire has responsibilities, not just benefits. And that's what we've forgotten (both in the US and the West in general).