Independence (n.) is what U.S. planners hated in Nehru, though he was pro-Western and an anglophile; standing up for his country was enough.
Independence (n.) of mind has a price: the world rewards obedience and service, not honesty, and anyone choosing it should know that from the start.
Independence (n.) would really mean colonial status for Quebec: so integrated into the American economy it would be a colony in all but map color.
Independence (n.) as Washington grants it to client nations means acting freely except when that would hurt US interests.
Independence (n.) granted by a great power means acting independently except when doing so would harm the great power's interests.
Independence (n.) is always measured against the permissible spectrum: a journalist is praised as independent only relative to it.
Independence (n.) was granted to Nicaragua, in U.S. policy, except when it might affect U.S. interests — freedom to do what we want.
Independence (n.) is a threat in its own right: a rich region's chance of going its own way can block a diplomatic settlement.
Independence (n.) looks, from imperial headquarters, like a contagious disease that might spread from Iraq to Kuwait to Saudi Arabia.
Independence (n.) is what let a young republic ignore the free-market advice it later preached to the weak: it protected its industry first and recommended openness afterward.