But Washington hasn't invaded Ukraine to force it to submit to its domination. In a free world, nations should be free to decide whether they want to be "influenced" by other nations, and to what extent.
No, but US invaded countless other countries. One of the points of the article is that a financial war can produce as much casualties as an old fashioned war. And US can both wage financial wars and threat with such a war. So, no, US does not always need to physically invade another country. It can produce some damage by other means.
But it kind of is. They are basically saying that if we don't deem you as "democratic" according to our standards, we won't allow you to conduct trade.