There are no good guys. There are just interest. The US protects its interests. Embargo on oil exports to the US? Fuck up your whole region so bad that this can't happen again. Divide and concur. Communism on its shore? Well, nobody goes on this forsaken place or else...

That's how you keep power and that's why you have such a high standard of living. You think it's because you work hard but it's not. At least not primarily.