Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The Project for a “New Middle East”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/plans-for-redrawing-the-middle-east-the-project-for-a-new-middle-east/3882
This article first published by GR in November 2006 is of
particular relevance to an understanding of the ongoing process of
destabilization and political fragmentation of Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
“Hegemony is as old as Mankind…” -Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Advisor
The term “New Middle East” was introduced to the world in June 2006
in Tel Aviv by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who was
credited by the Western media for coining the term) in replacement of
the older and more imposing term, the “Greater Middle East.”
This shift in foreign policy phraseology coincided with the
inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Oil Terminal in the
Eastern Mediterranean. The term and conceptualization of the “New Middle
East,” was subsequently heralded by the U.S. Secretary of State and the
Israeli Prime Minister at the height of the Anglo-American sponsored
Israeli siege of Lebanon. Prime Minister Olmert and Secretary Rice had
informed the international media that a project for a “New Middle East”
was being launched from Lebanon.
This announcement was a confirmation of an Anglo-American-Israeli
“military roadmap” in the Middle East. This project, which has been in
the planning stages for several years, consists in creating an arc of
instability, chaos, and violence extending from Lebanon, Palestine, and
Syria to Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Iran, and the borders of
NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan.
The “New Middle East” project was introduced publicly by Washington
and Tel Aviv with the expectation that Lebanon would be the pressure
point for realigning the whole Middle East and thereby unleashing the
forces of “constructive chaos.” This “constructive chaos” –which
generates conditions of violence and warfare throughout the region–
would in turn be used so that the United States, Britain, and Israel
could redraw the map of the Middle East in accordance with their
geo-strategic needs and objectives.
New Middle East Map
Secretary Condoleezza Rice stated during a press conference that
“[w]hat we’re seeing here [in regards to the destruction of Lebanon and
the Israeli attacks on Lebanon], in a sense, is the growing—the ‘birth
pangs’—of a ‘New Middle East’ and whatever we do we [meaning the United
States] have to be certain that we’re pushing forward to the New Middle
East [and] not going back to the old one.”1
Secretary Rice was immediately criticized for her statements both
within Lebanon and internationally for expressing indifference to the
suffering of an entire nation, which was being bombed indiscriminately
by the Israeli Air Force.
The Anglo-American Military Roadmap in the Middle East and Central Asia
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s speech on the “New Middle
East” had set the stage. The Israeli attacks on Lebanon –which had been
fully endorsed by Washington and London– have further compromised and
validated the existence of the geo-strategic objectives of the United
States, Britain, and Israel. According to Professor Mark Levine the
“neo-liberal globalizers and neo-conservatives, and ultimately the Bush
Administration, would latch on to creative destruction as a way of
describing the process by which they hoped to create their new world
orders,” and that “creative destruction [in] the United States was, in
the words of neo-conservative philosopher and Bush adviser Michael
Ledeen, ‘an awesome revolutionary force’ for (…) creative destruction…”2
Anglo-American occupied Iraq, particularly Iraqi Kurdistan, seems to
be the preparatory ground for the balkanization (division) and
finlandization (pacification) of the Middle East. Already the
legislative framework, under the Iraqi Parliament and the name of Iraqi
federalization, for the partition of Iraq into three portions is being
drawn out. (See map below)
Moreover, the Anglo-American military roadmap appears to be vying an
entry into Central Asia via the Middle East. The Middle East,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan are stepping stones for extending U.S.
influence into the former Soviet Union and the ex-Soviet Republics of
Central Asia. The Middle East is to some extent the southern tier of
Central Asia. Central Asia in turn is also termed as “Russia’s Southern
Tier” or the Russian “Near Abroad.”
Many Russian and Central Asian scholars, military planners,
strategists, security advisors, economists, and politicians consider
Central Asia (“Russia’s Southern Tier”) to be the vulnerable and “soft
under-belly” of the Russian Federation.3
It should be noted that in his book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geo-strategic Imperatives,
Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S. National Security Advisor, alluded
to the modern Middle East as a control lever of an area he,
Brzezinski, calls the Eurasian Balkans. The Eurasian Balkans consists of
the Caucasus (Georgia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Armenia) and
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan) and to some extent both Iran
and Turkey. Iran and Turkey both form the northernmost tiers of the
Middle East (excluding the Caucasus4) that edge into Europe and the former Soviet Union.
The Map of the “New Middle East”
A relatively unknown map of the Middle East, NATO-garrisoned
Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been circulating around strategic,
governmental, NATO, policy and military circles since mid-2006. It has
been causally allowed to surface in public, maybe in an attempt to build
consensus and to slowly prepare the general public for possible, maybe
even cataclysmic, changes in the Middle East. This is a map of a redrawn
and restructured Middle East identified as the “New Middle East.”
MAP OF THE NEW MIDDLE EAST
Note: The following map was prepared by Lieutenant-Colonel
Ralph Peters. It was published in the Armed Forces Journal in June 2006,
Peters is a retired colonel of the U.S. National War Academy. (Map
Copyright Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters 2006).
Although the map does not officially reflect Pentagon doctrine, it
has been used in a training program at NATO’s Defense College for senior
military officers. This map, as well as other similar maps, has most
probably been used at the National War Academy as well as in military
planning circles.
This map of the “New Middle East” seems to be based on several other
maps, including older maps of potential boundaries in the Middle East
extending back to the era of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and World War
I. This map is showcased and presented as the brainchild of retired
Lieutenant-Colonel (U.S. Army) Ralph Peters, who believes the redesigned
borders contained in the map will fundamentally solve the problems of
the contemporary Middle East.
The map of the “New Middle East” was a key element in the retired Lieutenant-Colonel’s book, Never Quit the Fight, which was released to the public on July 10, 2006. This map of a redrawn Middle East was also published, under the title of Blood Borders: How a better Middle East would look, in the U.S. military’s Armed Forces Journal with commentary from Ralph Peters.5
It should be noted that Lieutenant-Colonel Peters was last posted to
the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, within the
U.S. Defence Department, and has been one of the Pentagon’s foremost
authors with numerous essays on strategy for military journals and U.S.
foreign policy.
It has been written that Ralph Peters’ “four previous books on
strategy have been highly influential in government and military
circles,” but one can be pardoned for asking if in fact quite the opposite could be taking place. Could
it be Lieutenant-Colonel Peters is revealing and putting forward what
Washington D.C. and its strategic planners have anticipated for the
Middle East?
The concept of a redrawn Middle East has been presented as a
“humanitarian” and “righteous” arrangement that would benefit the
people(s) of the Middle East and its peripheral regions. According to
Ralph Peter’s:
International borders are never completely just. But the degree of injustice they inflict upon those whom frontiers force together or separate makes an enormous difference — often the difference between freedom and oppression, tolerance and atrocity, the rule of law and terrorism, or even peace and war.
The most arbitrary and distorted borders in the world are in Africa and the Middle East. Drawn by self-interested Europeans (who have had sufficient trouble defining their own frontiers), Africa’s borders continue to provoke the deaths of millions of local inhabitants. But the unjust borders in the Middle East — to borrow from Churchill — generate more trouble than can be consumed locally.
While the Middle East has far more problems than dysfunctional borders alone — from cultural stagnation through scandalous inequality to deadly religious extremism — the greatest taboo in striving to understand the region’s comprehensive failure isn’t Islam, but the awful-but-sacrosanct international boundaries worshipped by our own diplomats.
Of course, no adjustment of borders, however draconian, could make every minority in the Middle East happy. In some instances, ethnic and religious groups live intermingled and have intermarried. Elsewhere, reunions based on blood or belief might not prove quite as joyous as their current proponents expect. The boundaries projected in the maps accompanying this article redress the wrongs suffered by the most significant “cheated” population groups, such as the Kurds, Baluch and Arab Shia [Muslims], but still fail to account adequately for Middle Eastern Christians, Bahais, Ismailis, Naqshbandis and many another numerically lesser minorities. And one haunting wrong can never be redressed with a reward of territory: the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians by the dying Ottoman Empire.
Yet, for all the injustices the borders re-imagined here leave unaddressed, without such major boundary revisions, we shall never see a more peaceful Middle East.
Even those who abhor the topic of altering borders would be well-served to engage in an exercise that attempts to conceive a fairer, if still imperfect, amendment of national boundaries between the Bosphorus and the Indus. Accepting that international statecraft has never developed effective tools — short of war — for readjusting faulty borders, a mental effort to grasp the Middle East’s “organic” frontiers nonetheless helps us understand the extent of the difficulties we face and will continue to face. We are dealing with colossal, man-made deformities that will not stop generating hatred and violence until they are corrected. 6
(emphasis added)
“Necessary Pain”
Besides believing that there is “cultural stagnation” in the Middle
East, it must be noted that Ralph Peters admits that his propositions
are “draconian” in nature, but he insists that they are necessary pains
for the people of the Middle East. This view of necessary pain and
suffering is in startling parallel to U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice’s belief that the devastation of Lebanon by the Israeli
military was a necessary pain or “birth pang” in order to create the
“New Middle East” that Washington, London, and Tel Aviv envision.
Moreover, it is worth noting that the subject of the Armenian
Genocide is being politicized and stimulated in Europe to offend Turkey.7
The overhaul, dismantlement, and reassembly of the nation-states of
the Middle East have been packaged as a solution to the hostilities in
the Middle East, but this is categorically misleading, false, and
fictitious. The advocates of a “New Middle East” and redrawn boundaries
in the region avoid and fail to candidly depict the roots of the
problems and conflicts in the contemporary Middle East. What the media
does not acknowledge is the fact that almost all major conflicts
afflicting the Middle East are the consequence of overlapping
Anglo-American-Israeli agendas.
Many of the problems affecting the contemporary Middle East are the
result of the deliberate aggravation of pre-existing regional tensions.
Sectarian division, ethnic tension and internal violence have been
traditionally exploited by the United States and Britain in various
parts of the globe including Africa, Latin America, the Balkans, and the
Middle East. Iraq is just one of many examples of the Anglo-American
strategy of “divide and conquer.” Other examples are Rwanda, Yugoslavia,
the Caucasus, and Afghanistan.
Amongst the problems in the contemporary Middle East is the lack of
genuine democracy which U.S. and British foreign policy has actually
been deliberately obstructing. Western-style “Democracy” has been a
requirement only for those Middle Eastern states which do not conform to
Washington’s political demands. Invariably, it constitutes a pretext
for confrontation. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan are examples of
undemocratic states that the United States has no problems with because
they are firmly alligned within the Anglo-American orbit or sphere.
Additionally, the United States has deliberately blocked or displaced
genuine democratic movements in the Middle East from Iran in 1953
(where a U.S./U.K. sponsored coup was staged against the democratic
government of Prime Minister Mossadegh) to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey,
the Arab Sheikdoms, and Jordan where the Anglo-American alliance
supports military control, absolutists, and dictators in one form or
another. The latest example of this is Palestine.
The Turkish Protest at NATO’s Military College in Rome
Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters’ map of the “New Middle East” has
sparked angry reactions in Turkey. According to Turkish press releases
on September 15, 2006 the map of the “New Middle East” was displayed in
NATO’s Military College in Rome, Italy. It was additionally reported
that Turkish officers were immediately outraged by the presentation of a
portioned and segmented Turkey.8
The map received some form of approval from the U.S. National War
Academy before it was unveiled in front of NATO officers in Rome.
The Turkish Chief of Staff, General Buyukanit, contacted the U.S.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, and protested
the event and the exhibition of the redrawn map of the Middle East,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan.9
Furthermore the Pentagon has gone out of its way to assure Turkey that
the map does not reflect official U.S. policy and objectives in the
region, but this seems to be conflicting with Anglo-American actions in
the Middle East and NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan.
Is there a Connection between Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “Eurasian Balkans” and the “New Middle East” Project?
The following are important excerpts and passages from former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geo-strategic Imperatives. Brzezinski
also states that both Turkey and Iran, the two most powerful states of
the “Eurasian Balkans,” located on its southern tier, are “potentially
vulnerable to internal ethnic conflicts [balkanization],” and that, “If
either or both of them were to be destabilized, the internal problems
of the region would become unmanageable.”10
It seems that a divided and balkanized Iraq would be the best means
of accomplishing this. Taking what we know from the White House’s own
admissions; there is a belief that “creative destruction and chaos” in
the Middle East are beneficial assets to reshaping the Middle East,
creating the “New Middle East,” and furthering the Anglo-American
roadmap in the Middle East and Central Asia:
In Europe, the Word “Balkans” conjures up images of ethnic conflicts and great-power regional rivalries. Eurasia, too, has its “Balkans,” but the Eurasian Balkans are much larger, more populated, even more religiously and ethnically heterogenous. They are located within that large geographic oblong that demarcates the central zone of global instability (…) that embraces portions of southeastern Europe, Central Asia and parts of South Asia [Pakistan, Kashmir, Western India], the Persian Gulf area, and the Middle East.
The Eurasian Balkans form the inner core of that large oblong (…) they differ from its outer zone in one particularly significant way: they are a power vacuum. Although most of the states located in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East are also unstable, American power is that region’s [meaning the Middle East’s] ultimate arbiter. The unstable region in the outer zone is thus an area of single power hegemony and is tempered by that hegemony. In contrast, the Eurasian Balkans are truly reminiscent of the older, more familiar Balkans of southeastern Europe: not only are its political entities unstable but they tempt and invite the intrusion of more powerful neighbors, each of whom is determined to oppose the region’s domination by another. It is this familiar combination of a power vacuum and power suction that justifies the appellation “Eurasian Balkans.”
The traditional Balkans represented a potential geopolitical prize in the struggle for European supremacy. The Eurasian Balkans, astride the inevitably emerging transportation network meant to link more directly Eurasia’s richest and most industrious western and eastern extremities, are also geopolitically significant. Moreover, they are of importance from the standpoint of security and historical ambitions to at least three of their most immediate and more powerful neighbors, namely, Russia, Turkey, and Iran, with China also signaling an increasing political interest in the region. But the Eurasian Balkans are infinitely more important as a potential economic prize: an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals, including gold.
The world’s energy consumption is bound to vastly increase over the next two or three decades. Estimates by the U.S. Department of Energy anticipate that world demand will rise by more than 50 percent between 1993 and 2015, with the most significant increase in consumption occurring in the Far East. The momentum of Asia’s economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy, and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea.
Access to that resource and sharing in its potential wealth represent objectives that stir national ambitions, motivate corporate interests, rekindle historical claims, revive imperial aspirations, and fuel international rivalries. The situation is made all the more volatile by the fact that the region is not only a power vacuum but is also internally unstable.
(…)
The Eurasian Balkans include nine countries that one way or another fit the foregoing description, with two others as potential candidates. The nine are Kazakstan [alternative and official spelling of Kazakhstan] , Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia—all of them formerly part of the defunct Soviet Union—as well as Afghanistan.
The potential additions to the list are Turkey and Iran, both of them much more politically and economically viable, both active contestants for regional influence within the Eurasian Balkans, and thus both significant geo-strategic players in the region. At the same time, both are potentially vulnerable to internal ethnic conflicts. If either or both of them were to be destabilized, the internal problems of the region would become unmanageable, while efforts to restrain regional domination by Russia could even become futile. 11
(emphasis added)
Redrawing the Middle East
The Middle East, in some regards, is a striking parallel to the
Balkans and Central-Eastern Europe during the years leading up the First
World War. In the wake of the the First World War the borders of the
Balkans and Central-Eastern Europe were redrawn. This region experienced
a period of upheaval, violence and conflict, before and after World War
I, which was the direct result of foreign economic interests and
interference.
The reasons behind the First World War are more sinister than the
standard school-book explanation, the assassination of the heir to the
throne of the Austro-Hungarian (Habsburg) Empire, Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, in Sarajevo. Economic factors were the real motivation for
the large-scale war in 1914.
Norman Dodd, a former Wall Street banker and investigator for the
U.S. Congress, who examined U.S. tax-exempt foundations, confirmed in a
1982 interview that those powerful individuals who from behind the
scenes controlled the finances, policies, and government of the United
States had in fact also planned U.S. involvement in a war, which would
contribute to entrenching their grip on power.
The following testimonial is from the transcript of Norman Dodd’s interview with G. Edward Griffin;
We are now at the year 1908, which was the year that the Carnegie Foundation began operations. And, in that year, the trustees meeting, for the first time, raised a specific question, which they discussed throughout the balance of the year, in a very learned fashion. And the question is this: Is there any means known more effective than war, assuming you wish to alter the life of an entire people? And they conclude that, no more effective means to that end is known to humanity, than war. So then, in 1909, they raise the second question, and discuss it, namely, how do we involve the United States in a war?
Well, I doubt, at that time, if there was any subject more removed from the thinking of most of the people of this country [the United States], than its involvement in a war. There were intermittent shows [wars] in the Balkans, but I doubt very much if many people even knew where the Balkans were. And finally, they answer that question as follows: we must control the State Department.
And then, that very naturally raises the question of how do we do that? They answer it by saying, we must take over and control the diplomatic machinery of this country and, finally, they resolve to aim at that as an objective. Then, time passes, and we are eventually in a war, which would be World War I. At that time, they record on their minutes a shocking report in which they dispatch to President Wilson a telegram cautioning him to see that the war does not end too quickly. And finally, of course, the war is over.
At that time, their interest shifts over to preventing what they call a reversion of life in the United States to what it was prior to 1914, when World War I broke out. (emphasis added)
The redrawing and partition of the Middle East from the Eastern
Mediterranean shores of Lebanon and Syria to Anatolia (Asia
Minor), Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and the Iranian Plateau responds to
broad economic, strategic and military objectives, which are part of a
longstanding Anglo-American and Israeli agenda in the region.
The Middle East has been conditioned by outside forces into a powder
keg that is ready to explode with the right trigger, possibly the
launching of Anglo-American and/or Israeli air raids against Iran and
Syria. A wider war in the Middle East could result in redrawn borders
that are strategically advantageous to Anglo-American interests and
Israel.
NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan has been successfully divided, all but in
name. Animosity has been inseminated in the Levant, where a Palestinian
civil war is being nurtured and divisions in Lebanon agitated. The
Eastern Mediterranean has been successfully militarized by NATO. Syria
and Iran continue to be demonized by the Western media, with a view to
justifying a military agenda. In turn, the Western media has fed, on a
daily basis, incorrect and biased notions that the populations of Iraq
cannot co-exist and that the conflict is not a war of occupation but a
“civil war” characterised by domestic strife between Shiites, Sunnis and
Kurds.
Attempts at intentionally creating animosity between the different
ethno-cultural and religious groups of the Middle East have been
systematic. In fact, they are part of a carefully designed covert
intelligence agenda.
Even more ominous, many Middle Eastern governments, such as that of
Saudi Arabia, are assisting Washington in fomenting divisions between
Middle Eastern populations. The ultimate objective is to weaken the
resistance movement against foreign occupation through a “divide and
conquer strategy” which serves Anglo-American and Israeli interests in
the broader region.
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya specializes in Middle Eastern and Central Asian affairs. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
Notes
1 Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, Special Briefing on the Travel to the Middle East and Europe of
Secretary Condoleezza Rice (Press Conference, U.S. State Department,
Washington, D.C., July 21, 2006).
2 Mark LeVine, “The New Creative Destruction,” Asia Times, August 22, 2006.
3 Andrej Kreutz, “The Geopolitics of post-Soviet Russia and the Middle East,” Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) (Washington, D.C.: Association of Arab-American University Graduates, January 2002).
4 The Caucasus or Caucasia can be considered as part of the Middle East or as a separate region
5 Ralph Peters, “Blood borders: How a better Middle East would look,” Armed Forces Journal (AFJ), June 2006.
6 Ibid.
7 Crispian Balmer, “French MPs back Armenia genocide bill, Turkey angry, Reuters, October 12, 2006; James McConalogue, “French against Turks: Talking about Armenian Genocide,” The Brussels Journal, October 10, 2006.
8 Suleyman Kurt, “Carved-up Map of Turkey at NATO Prompts U.S. Apology,” Zaman (Turkey), September 29, 2006.
9 Ibid.
10 Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geo-strategic Imperatives (New York City: Basic Books, 1997).
11 Ibid.
Related Global Research articles on the March to War in the Middle East US naval war games off the Iranian coastline: A provocation which could lead to War? 2006-10-24
“Cold War Shivers:” War Preparations in the Middle East and Central Asia 2006-10-06
The March to War: Naval build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean 2006-10-01
The March to War: Iran Preparing for US Air Attacks 2006-09-21
The Next Phase of the Middle East War 2006-09-04
Baluchistan and the Coming Iran War 2006-09-01
British Troops Mobilizing on the Iranian Border 2006-08-30
Russia and Central Asian Allies Conduct War Games in Response to US Threats 2006-08-24
Beating the Drums of War: US Troop Build-up: Army & Marines authorize “Involuntary Conscription” 2006-08-23
Iranian War Games: Exercises, Tests, and Drills or Preparation and Mobilization for War? 2006-08-21
Triple Alliance:” The US, Turkey, Israel and the War on Lebanon 2006-08-06
The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil 2006-07-26
Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust? 2006-02-22
The Dangers of a Middle East Nuclear War 2006-02-17
Nuclear War against Iran 2006-01-03
Israeli Bombings could lead to Escalation of Middle East War 2006-07-15
Iran: Next Target of US Military Aggression 2005-05-01
Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran 2005-05-01
War, Imperialism and the People’s Struggle in the Middle East
United States continues its occupation of the region
http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-imperialism-and-the-peoples-struggle-in-the-middle-east/5453386
Since March 26 the Saudi Arabian monarchy along with its
neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been waging war on
the nation of Yemen. Daily bombing raids against residential areas and
infrastructure are ostensibly designed to push back the Ansurallah
(Houthis) movement which has taken over large sections of the country,
one of the most underdeveloped in the region.
This war has been largely hidden from the view of people inside the
United States. Nonetheless, this is a U.S. war aimed at maintaining
Washington’s dominant position within the Arabian Peninsula extending to
the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden.
Prior to the beginning of the airstrikes by the Saudi-GCC Coalition,
the administration of President Barack Obama withdrew its diplomatic
personnel along with Special Forces operating inside the country. For
many years the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has
viewed Yemen as a key area for its so-called “war on terrorism.”
Regular drone strikes have killed many Yemenis along with at least
three of whom were U.S. citizens. Washington has said that the Al-Qaeda
of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is major threat to American interests in
an attempt to justify the drone attacks which have killed more
civilians than supposed “armed combatants.”
However, in recent months the Islamic Republic of Iran has been
designated by Washington and its allies as the principal threat in
Yemen. The Ansurallah, which is a Shiite branch of Islam, is supported
politically by Tehran. The Saudi monarchy views Iran as its major
impediment in controlling the region on behalf of U.S. oil and financial
interests.
The current hostilities in Yemen have been described as a proxy war
between Saudi Arabia and the GCC on one side and Iran and its allies on
the other. The total war strategy against Yemen consists of the banning
of humanitarian assistance from Iran and others who oppose the bombing
and ground offensive by militias which are financed by Riyadh.
According to an article published by the
Telegraph in Britain, it says that “As Saudi Arabia has maintained an
air and naval blockade on Yemeni territory, gas supplies have run
perilously low. Even a five day humanitarian pause was not enough to
bring in the necessary aid. Fuel prices have spiked as the casualty
count mounts, and some hospitals have been forced to close altogether
because they are unable to keep medical supplies refrigerated or perform
operations since they can’t run backup generators.”
Reports of the number of Yemenis killed in the fighting range from
2,000-4,000 with many more injured and displaced. Yemeni-Americans who
have been attempting to leave the country since late March have been
abandoned by Washington.
Many Yeminis have taken refuge across the Red Sea and the Gulf of
Aden into Djibouti where the U.S. has its largest military base in
Africa. The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) is expanding its operations at
Camp Lemonnier which is utilized as a staging ground for military
strikes inside Somalia and other countries on the continent.
This same above-mentioned Telegraph article also notes that
“The UNHCR says a total of 5,000 Yemeni refugees have made it to Djibouti, including 3,000 in the capital, Djibouti city, and 1,000 in Obock, 300 kilometers (187 miles) to the north — making it currently the biggest Yemeni refugee population. The influx has hiked up local prices, with markets, hotels, and drivers trying to make the most of the situation in an already struggling economy.”
Yemen and the Imperialist Regional War
The war in Yemen is part and parcel of a broader regional war that
encompasses Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, occupied Palestine and Iran. In Iraq
where the U.S. occupied the country for over eight years, the Pentagon
has redeployed 3,100 troops to the area. These troops are purportedly
training Iraqi military forces although the Defense Department cannot
claim any real successes.
When Islamic State fighters confronted Iraqi units in Mosul and other
cities they fled. A similar situation was reported in Ramadi in Anbar
Province. The Obama administration played down these events in order to
deflect the attention of the U.S. public away from its failures in Iraq.
The Kurdish fighters seem to have fought with far greater commitment
and vigor yet they are not privy to the military assistance in their
struggle against IS. Fierce battles in Kobane on the border with Turkey
revealed that the Kurds were a force to be reckoned with in the regional
war against IS.
In neighboring Syria, the U.S. is behind efforts to destabilize and
overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Since 2011, an
estimated 200,000 people have died and several million dislocated both
inside and outside of Syria.
The U.S. is bombing both Iraq and Syria under the guise of degrading
and destroying IS bases. However, the impact of this aerial war is to
create broader avenues of operation for the IS forces which were built
up during the initial years of the destabilization campaign against
Syria. At present IS military units have seized large areas of territory
within Syria and Iraq, while the strategy of the White House is to
continue the bombing targeting Daesh but at the same time opposing the
continued existence of the Assad government in Damascus.
A massive air assault on Syria was planned for August-September 2013.
However, public outrage in Britain and the U.S. stopped the president
in his tracks. The effect of recent wars waged by Washington through
successive administrations has resulted in greater instability and
dislocation.
In Lebanon Hezbollah has maintained its strength against the Zionist
regime occupying Palestine. The party and mass movement have also
intervened in solidarity with the people of Syria and may escalate its
involvement based upon developments taking place inside the country.
The plight of Palestinians has been negatively impacted by the wars
in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, many Palestinian refugees were divided over
support for the Assad government. A major camp housing Palestinians has
been the focal point of IS attacks seeking to gain control of the area.
Israel is supported to the tune of billions every year from the tax
dollars of the American people. U.S. warplanes and other defense
technology are given to Tel Aviv where it is tested against the people
of Gaza and other occupied territories.
Although the U.S. administration has signed an agreement on Iran
nuclear energy program, the Obama White House is continuing the 36 years
of hostility towards Tehran since the popular revolution of 1979.
Washington’s coordination of the Saudi-GCC war in Yemen is a clear
testament to the ongoing war against Iran.
Africa and the Middle East
As we mentioned earlier, Djibouti, the pivotal staging ground for
AFRICOM on the continent is located right across from Yemen. Somalia,
Ethiopia, Egypt and Kenya are in close proximity. The artificial
divisions between Africa and the so-called Middle East are merely
constructs of colonialism and imperialism for the purpose dividing the
regions in regard to spheres of influence for western powers.
Peoples who reside on either side of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden
fundamentally want the U.S. out of their countries. They desire to live
in peace and to determine their own destiny in the quest for
development and unity. Washington and Wall Street dominate through their
military prowess and economic machinations that bribe leaders making
them dependent upon U.S. and European patronage and privilege.
The fueled hostility between various branches of Islam is
indispensable in the imperialist strategy for the Middle East and
Africa. Only when the peoples of Africa and the Middle East unite on an
anti-imperialist basis will there be a genuine atmosphere of lasting
peace and social stability.
Note: This paper was presented at the Left Forum
held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New
York (CUNY) during May 29-31, 2015. The panel was chaired by Bill Dores
of the International Action Center. Kazem Azin of Solidarity Iran was
also a participant.
| Giovanni Arrighi |
|---|
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Arrighi | |
|---|---|
Giovanni Arrighi giving a lecture at the Faculty of Humanities at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa (April 18, 2007)
|
|
| Born | July 7, 1937 Milan, Italy |
| Died | June 18, 2009 (aged 71) Baltimore, Maryland |
| Nationality | Italy |
| Fields | Sociology |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins University Binghamton University |
| Alma mater | Bocconi University |
| Known for | Historical Sociology Political Economy |
| Influences | Karl Marx Antonio Gramsci Fernand Braudel Karl Polanyi Paul A. Baran Jaap Van Velsen |
Chimerica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimerica
- For the play of this title, see Chimerica (play).
Chimerica is a neologism and portmanteau coined by Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick describing the symbiotic relationship between China and the United States, with incidental reference to the legendary chimera.[1][2][3][4][5]
Origin
First coined by historian Niall Ferguson and economist Moritz Schularick in late 2006, they argue that saving by the Chinese and overspending by Americans led to an incredible period of wealth creation that contributed to the financial crisis of 2007–08.[6] For years, China accumulated large currency reserves and channeled them into US government securities, which kept nominal and real long-term interest rates
artificially low in the United States. Ferguson describes Chimerica as
one economy which "accounts for around 13 percent of the world's land surface, a quarter of its population, about a third of its gross domestic product, and somewhere over half of the global economic growth of the past six years."[7] He suggests Chimerica could end if China were to decouple from the United States bringing with it a shift in global power and allowing China "to explore other spheres of global influence, from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which Russia is also a member, to its own informal nascent empire in commodity-rich Africa."[7]
The accumulation of American debt, which has been estimated at over
$800 billion, suggests the two nations are intrinsically linked; the
economic symbiosis prevalent between the two suggests that separation
would harm both countries and be disastrous for the global economy.[citation needed]
Another way to measure this integration is the trade deficit. The US
trade deficit with China was $295 billion in 2011, meaning the US
imported that much more goods and services from China than it exported
to China. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that from 2001–2011, 2.7 million US jobs were lost to China.[8]
The idea of Chimerica features prominently in Ferguson's 2008 book and adapted television documentary The Ascent of Money, which reviews the history of money, credit, and banking.
“New World Re-Ordering” and Neoliberal Transnationalization
http://www.globalresearch.ca/new-world-re-ordering-and-neoliberal-transnationalization/5453352
What should we call the current era? Post-everything? Or perhaps,
the interregnum? Whatever the name it should be given, the current
period is characterized by neoliberal trans-nationalization.
In addition, U.S. hegemony has been under question since the
beginning of this period. In fact, the Empire is no longer U.S.-American
and a change in hegemony is in full swing. Despite what world-systems
theorists such as Giovanni Arrighi suggest, the balance does not seem to be tipping toward China. Nevertheless, as Niall Ferguson points out, it is moving toward Chimerica.
Furthermore, since the beginning of the global financial crisis, no
project has been in sight that could reorganize the active consensus of
the subalterns, move perspectives on accumulation one step up the
ladder, and provide a position capable of establishing a new world
order.
Attempts to secure neoliberal positions through authoritarianism are
now facing a new transnational cycle of movements (Candeias 2013).
Alongside numerous attempts by Islamist movements, the remaining great
powers are sparring for spheres of influence, whether in Eastern Europe
or through the appropriation of African resources. At the same time, the
United States is endeavouring to prevent further losses of its room to
manoeuvre; Russia is striving to expand its influence through energy and
resource policies, and arms trafficking, whereas China has linked its
imperial ambitions to the provision of foreign aid.
Imperial Way of Life
More than ever, the imperial way of life (Brand/Wissen 2012) is
proving incredibly attractive, and this is particularly the case for the
new middle classes of the Global South. However, resistance is forming –
both on the left and the right of the political spectrum – and it
ranges from indigenous movements in the Andes, to new democracy
movements in Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Madrid, to the reactionary right in
Venezuela and Thailand and rising Islamist forces in the Arab world.
This situation is reflected in attempts by the EU to enclose itself
within a ‘ring of fire’, which it is promoting through hasty and clumsy
forms of diplomacy such as EU policy on Ukraine. It seems that the
strategic partnership with Russia has been forgotten; this need not
bother the United States, however, since neither Russia nor the European
periphery plays a significant role for the U.S. economy. This point is
further illustrated by the U.S. ‘pivot to Asia’, which is leading the
U.S. to develop long-term links (and competition with) the largest
economic power centres in the world. At the same time, the privileged
insular status of the U.S. means that it need not pay too much attention
to good neighbourly relations, and this is particularly relevant
because of the country’s successful moves toward energy
self-sufficiency. In short: unlike Europe, the U.S. can at least partly
“afford to act unilaterally” (Daniljuk 2015).
What Form of New World Order is This Leading To?
None, as yet. It is conceivable, however, that zones of uncertainty
will form beyond the old and new capitalist centres. Direct (military)
intervention to pacify and develop market-economic, liberal-democratic
states has failed in Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq. It
seems we are already seeing the end of Francis Fukuyama’s “end of history.”
The market has failed to produce order, and occupying the markets with
ground troops is no longer an option. Limited operations and air
attacks, however, and especially the use of drones, enable relative
control to be exercised from a distance. Nevertheless, complete control
over such zones of uncertainty is unnecessary as long as they remain
enclosed. In worst-case scenarios, direct intervention can be undertaken
under the guise of the “responsibility to protect” (for a critical
review see Obenland 2015). This illustrates the point that the
institutions of collective security (including the UN and the OSCE) have
been marginalized.
The result is a form of ‘gated capitalism’: protected zones of global
capitalism that guarantee the exploitation of resources, and free trade
– even if no functioning community exists within the zones of
uncertainty. However, this new strategy was borne out of necessity, and
it is not running smoothly. States such as Syria and Iraq are
disintegrating and this has led to the foundation of a new caliphate in
the heart of the Middle East. Accordingly, control is being lost and we
are facing a situation in which friends and foes rapidly change sides.
Disintegration is by no means restricted to the periphery. The EU
states are still facing crises and are unable to stand on their feet.
This situation is made worse by the fact that European democratic
institutions are rapidly losing support. In Portugal, Spain and Greece,
however, new left-wing forces are developing. Be this as it may, extreme
right-wing and fascist national-populist movements and parties are
gaining strength throughout Europe. This is not only the case with
Eastern Europe, it is also occurring in the old centres: the Front
National and UKIP constituted the largest parties in the European
parliamentary elections in France and the UK respectively. Society is
becoming increasingly polarized while disintegration continually marches
on. In this situation, European societies need to ask themselves why
thousands of young French and German Muslims can see no future in Europe
and instead are joining the Islamist Jihad.
In the wake of the crisis, zones of uncertainty have long been
established in the United States. The inner city of Detroit, for
example, represents both a counterpart to the gated communities
mentioned above and an expression of social polarization. Although
public infrastructure is falling apart and inequality continues to rise,
the focus remains on the top 0.1% (Piketty). Killing sprees are
occurring regularly, and firearm fanatics, police and gangs continue the
everyday violence. The system is partly responding to this situation
with a privatized model of prisonfare – the management of the
‘underclasses’ in prisons (Wacquant). (Institutional) racism is now
expressed in the open, as with the town of Ferguson,
where the police shot an unarmed black youth. In the political field,
polarization is worsening between the proto-fascist Tea Party and the
liberal ‘Wall Street’ Democrats. At the same time, new left-wing forces
are developing albeit mostly at the local level (Mogilyanskaya 2015).
Despite this, controlling the zones of uncertainty and the budding
forces on the left and right of the political spectrum is both
impossible and unnecessary.
Controlling these zones and groups remains superfluous as long as
they do not affect U.S.-American or European solid institutions of power
(Porcaro 2013). This system is strengthened by a form of authoritarian
constitutionalism that only passes with great difficulty as a
“market-driven democracy” (Merkel). This is because growth and profit
rates are continuously flattening out, but the current level of surplus
value absorption is more than enough for the super-rich.
Global resource grabbing and free trade agreements are destroying
local habitats and economies in the Global South and cause new flows of
refugees that are then instrumentalized in right-wing propaganda. This
is nowhere more evident than in EU policy in Africa. Free trade
agreements are being concluded that enable competition from what are
often highly subsided companies from the north to destroy smallholder
production in the Global South. Of course, countries such as France
intervene whenever destabilization goes too far, and they also secure
the EU’s external borders against flows of refugees to avoid
additionally ‘burdens’ on the dwindling social cohesion within the EU.
However, this merely confirms an aspect that characterized the debate on
globalization: traditional foreign policy is rarely ever conducted and
it has been replaced with a form of global domestic policy, if not
global crisis management. This illustrates the point that European
foreign policy actually runs under the name of Frontex.
Left-Wing Perspectives
Left-wing ‘foreign policy’ should not be limited to security; rather
it must also include social, economic and environmental aspects. How
should we assess the current geo-economic changes? Which issues are
currently gaining in strategic importance? Moreover, what might
constitute an appropriate left-wing response?
Beyond clear positions against military intervention, left-wing
foreign policy needs to develop a “policy of peace by peaceful means”
(van Aken) that address the causes of conflict with just economic
relations, social-ecological paths of development and the construction
of social infrastructure. Specific entry projects that have begun to do
so include the Yasuní Initiative,
which proposed rejecting the exploitation of oil in the Ecuadorian
jungle, while providing international compensation; or new institutions
of economic cooperation, such as the Latin American ALBA agreement and
the alternative development bank run by the BRIC countries. Even the
implementation of an alternative trade mandate within the EU would
represent a step toward fairer trade. However, one factor should not be
forgotten, the Left needs to put an end to arms exports and implement
just transitions for the conversion of former arms industries.
More often than not, however, the Left becomes entangled in false
differences: one side argues that worsening conflicts demonstrate that
there is no alternative to military intervention; the other argues
against military intervention on principle. This debate generally leads
to nothing but unilateral declarations of solidarity and abstract
commitments, because peace policy measures are rarely ever developed.
Only differentiated assessments of power (relations) can enable us to
side with the subalterns, instead of merely with one side of the debate.
How then can these issues be addressed while ensuring they remain
coupled to discussions about a (demonstrably lacking) transformational
perspective? Which international condensation points enable the
development of exemplary, effective alternatives? More specifically,
which strategies could provide civilian crisis prevention and conflict
resolution? Moreover, where can the Left really make a difference?
Calling for the repeal of the PKK ban, for example, which has long been anachronistic, would provide voice to an issue that is otherwise never heard.
Mario Candeias is the director of the Institute for Critical Social Analysis and editor of the review LuXemburg.
Translated by Eric Canepa.
Bibliography:
- Candeias, Mario (2013). “‘Which Way to the Winter Palace, Please?’ Transnational Echoes and Blocked Transformations,” LuXemburg3/2014. Also at: The Bullet No. 922.
- Brand, Ulrich and Markus Wissen (2012). “Global Environmental Politics and the Imperial Mode of Livin,” Globalizations, 9(4).
- Daniljuk, Malte (2015). “Fracking, Freedom, Freihandel,” LuXemburg, 3/2014.
- Mogilyanskaya, Alina (2015). “Ausweis her! New York City führt ein kommunales Personaldokument ein,” LuXemburg 3/2014.
- Obenland, Wolfgang (2015). “Responsibility to Protect,” LuXemburg 3/2014.
- Porcaro, Mimmo (2013). “A New Type of Art: From Connective to Strategic Party,” in: LuXemburg 1/2013. Also at The Bullet No. 868.
Imperialist Economics and the New Cold War
Western capitalist states continue efforts to dominate world system
http://www.globalresearch.ca/imperialist-economics-and-the-new-cold-war/5453339
Since late last year there has been a precipitous decline in the
prices of oil and other commodities produced in large measure by
countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Russia and Latin America.
The United States under the Obama administration has developed a
concerted energy policy to boost domestic oil and natural gas production
in an effort to lessen dependence on foreign states for essential
transportation and concomitant needs related to petroleum and related
industries.
One country on the African continent, the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, represents a case in point when analyzing the role of oil in
the economic trajectory of a post-colonial territory. 101 years ago the
British consolidated their control over Nigeria as an imperialist
outpost for London.
During the mid-1950s, a number of western-based oil firms such as
Shell entered the country to exploit its natural resources. By the time
of independence in 1960, the country contrived by the British was split
in several essential ways where the production of oil was largely
centered in the southeast. A three-year civil war in which Biafra
attempted to separate from the broader state failed leading to a
heightened level of oil exploitation resulting to the country becoming
the dominant producer on the continent.
The U.S. utilization of oil led to a strong economic relationship
between Washington, Wall Street and Nigeria. Successive U.S.
administrations sought to maintain good relations with Nigeria in order
to encourage the stability of a unitary state and the continued supply
of oil.
However, the billions earned by the multi-national corporations and
the Nigerian national bourgeoisie did not necessary flow down to the
masses of farmers, workers and youth. Unrest grew in the oil-rich
regions of the South and demands were made that Shell, Exxon-Mobil,
Total and the others invest some of its resources into maintaining an
environmentally sound area as well as funding schools, hospitals and
other centers of employment and services for the local population.
At present the trade in oil between the U.S.
and Nigeria has dropped significantly. The largest purchasers of
Nigerian crude are now India and China. The decline in oil prices is
requiring the incoming administration of Muhamadu Buhari to institute
austerity measures amid massive shortages of fuel in the domestic
market. Even though the largest producer of oil on the continent can
provide crude to other states, its deteriorating infrastructure and
other
market-related issues have created a major crisis for ordinary Nigerians who need fuel to drive and maintain a household.
The Impact of U.S. Energy Policy
Under Obama there has been a concerted movement towards a rapid escalation in domestic and offshore production of petroleum products. An oil glut during 2014 has created economic downturns in several states around the world.In Nigeria the transition from the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to former military head-of-state Ret.-Gen. Muhamadu Burhari will pose enormous challenges to Africa’s most populace state which was also designated during 2014 as having the largest economy on the continent. The designation as the most robust economy came at a time when the Boko Haram Islamist sect based in the northeast carried out daily attacks on state structures and civilians. Boko Haram extended its operations across the Nigeria borders claiming to have established a caliphate which encompassed sections of Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The militaries from these neighboring states joined in to force Boko Haram from some the territories they had seized.
However, the young women high school students kidnapped at Chibok have not been accounted for. Burhari will face monumental issues amid a declining economy and the growing unrest within the labor movement. The strike by petroleum workers coupled with the gross scarcity of gasoline in Africa’s largest oil-producing state with the leading economy to boot, illustrates that despite these aspects of foreign direct investment growth, the contradictions between the capitalist mode of production and relations of production continues.
Gold, Platinum and the South African Working Class
The wealth of South Africa beginning in the late 19th century centered-around the extraction of strategic minerals such as gold, diamonds and later platinum. During the era of settler-colonialism and apartheid the mining industry was a source of super-exploitation and consequent unrest among the African workers.Successive generations from the Post-World War I period through the present have organized workers and taken labor action through strikes and other forms of resistance. In 1985, nearly thirty years ago, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was formed in alliance with the still outlawed African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP).
At the time of national independence in 1994, the mining firms such as Anglo-American and DeBeers established their headquarters outside of South Africa. As a result of the militant demands of the African workers, leading firms began to downsize their operations creating an even larger crisis of joblessness than what existed under apartheid.
In the last three years, the unrest in the
platinum belt has resulted in the deaths of dozens of workers–the most
egregious of course was the massacre of 34 miners at Marikana on August
16, 2012. A commission of inquiry has just submitted its report to ANC
President Jacob Zuma yet very little information has been released to
the South African media.
The contradictions within the post-apartheid political and economic
dispensation has created tensions within the Black working class
movement prompting splits and expulsions from COSATU while unemployment
and poverty persists among a large segment of the proletariat overall. A
political revolution needed within the trade union movement is stifled
by the crisis of how to proceed during a general world economic crisis
within global capitalism which necessitates a socialist program that
objective conditions would facilitate but still remains elusive.
Nonetheless, the ANC remains in power as the Southwest African People’s Organization (SWAPO) of the Republic of Namibia, two close allies during the struggle against apartheid. The land redistribution program in Zimbabwe over the last 15 years is admired but has not been replicated in the region.
These complexities require a total break with imperialism and its economics of export and subservience to the multi-national corporation and the financial institutions. These difficulties for the oppressed nations are also mirrored within the industrialized capitalist states in a myriad of forms.
Such criminal indictments involving FIFA immediately has international implications. Outside the U.S. where soccer is not only a popular sport and cultural phenomenon, opinions vary but the political repercussions of these legal actions remain paramount.
Russia was chosen to host the World Cup of 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Efforts aimed at isolating the Russians have been the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for decades.
The U.S. has been involved in Moscow’s foreign affairs dating back to the mediation role played by President Theodore Roosevelt during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. When the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, the U.S. joined with other imperialist states in an invasion to overthrow the world’s first socialist government.
Nonetheless, the ANC remains in power as the Southwest African People’s Organization (SWAPO) of the Republic of Namibia, two close allies during the struggle against apartheid. The land redistribution program in Zimbabwe over the last 15 years is admired but has not been replicated in the region.
These complexities require a total break with imperialism and its economics of export and subservience to the multi-national corporation and the financial institutions. These difficulties for the oppressed nations are also mirrored within the industrialized capitalist states in a myriad of forms.
FIFA Indictments and the New Cold War
One current example of the continuing Cold War and the militaristic character of imperialism is the announcement by the U.S. Justice Department of indictments against leading officials of the international soccer clubs. The Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) had several officials indicted after an investigation by Washington.Such criminal indictments involving FIFA immediately has international implications. Outside the U.S. where soccer is not only a popular sport and cultural phenomenon, opinions vary but the political repercussions of these legal actions remain paramount.
Russia was chosen to host the World Cup of 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Efforts aimed at isolating the Russians have been the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for decades.
The U.S. has been involved in Moscow’s foreign affairs dating back to the mediation role played by President Theodore Roosevelt during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. When the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, the U.S. joined with other imperialist states in an invasion to overthrow the world’s first socialist government.
From the era of Lenin and Stalin to
Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev until to today’s post-Soviet Putin
administration, the ruling class has viewed Russia as an impediment of
imperialist’s designs on Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and
Africa. Even though the Russian Federation is no longer a socialist
state, Washington views it as a threat to its imperialist policies.
President Vladimir Putin immediately spoke out against the role of
the U.S. in FIFA affairs saying that the alleged crimes were not
committed on American soil and these efforts by the Obama
administration’s Justice Department represent the continuing overreach
of the country in meddling in the internal affairs of other states and
institutions. Washington is still angry over the persistent resistance
to the right-wing coup in Ukraine during 2014 and the federation of
Crimea with Moscow.
The development of alliances and economic organizations which exclude the U.S. and the European Union member states, illustrates to the U.S. that its role in the world economy is no longer guaranteed as being dominant. The Pentagon interventions in the Black Sea, expanding NATO in efforts to contain and surround Russia and the imposition of unwarranted sanctions against the Kremlin are all part of the methodology to undermine Moscow’s influence.
The Obama administration has been not only absent in the struggle for the civil and human rights of African Americans, it has actually oversaw some of the worst losses in jobs, economic opportunities and household wealth. There is a systematic campaign on the part of the banks and corporations to drive African Americans and other oppressed nationalities out of the central areas of the major municipalities. Detroit, an example of extreme expropriation and disenfranchisement of African Americans and Latinos, is being championed by the ruling class as a successful example of urban revitalization.
Nonetheless, this ruling class propaganda cannot mask the gross injustices and inequalities prevalent in Detroit and other cities. The mass demonstrations in Ferguson, Baltimore and other urban areas have shown the world that America is still a class society. The militarized response to the rebellions does not suggest the strengths of the capitalist and imperialist system but its weaknesses. It will be the organized might of the workers and the oppressed that seals the fate of imperialism both abroad and domestically.
Note: This paper was prepared and partially presented at the Left Forum held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY), during May 29-31, 2015.
The End of History and the Last Man is a 1992 book by Francis Fukuyama, expanding on his 1989 essay "The End of History?", published in the international affairs journal The National Interest. In the book, Fukuyama argues that the advent of Western liberal democracy may signal the endpoint of humanity's sociocultural evolution and the final form of human government.
The most basic (and prevalent) error in discussing Fukuyama's work is to confuse "history" with "events". Fukuyama claims not that events will stop occurring in the future, but rather that all that will happen in the future (even if totalitarianism returns) is that democracy will become more and more prevalent in the long term, although it may suffer "temporary" setbacks (which may, of course, last for centuries).
Some argue[who?] that Fukuyama presents "American-style" democracy as the only "correct" political system and argues that all countries must inevitably follow this particular system of government. However, many Fukuyama scholars claim this is a misreading of his work.[citation needed] Fukuyama's argument is only that in the future there will be more and more governments that use the framework of parliamentary democracy and that contain markets of some sort. Indeed, Fukuyama has stated:
One argument used to support the theory is the dramatic rise in
democratic nations over the course of the 20th century. An extensive
study by Freedom House counted zero liberal democracies with universal suffrage
in the world in 1900, but 119 (60%) in 2003. It counted 25 nations
(19%) with "restricted democratic practices" in 1900 and 16 (8%) today.
Additionally, in 1900 it counted 19 constitutional monarchies
(14%), where a constitution limited the powers of the monarch and some
power is devolved to elected legislatures, and none today. Other nations
had, and have, various forms of non-democratic rule.[6]
Another argument in favor of Fukuyama's thesis is the democratic peace theory, which argues that mature democracies rarely or never go to war with one another. This theory has faced criticism, with arguments largely resting on conflicting definitions of "war" and "mature democracy". Part of the difficulty in assessing the theory is that democracy as a widespread global phenomenon emerged only very recently in human history, which makes generalizing about it difficult. (See also list of wars between democracies).
Other major empirical evidence includes the elimination of interstate warfare in South America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe among countries that moved from military dictatorships to liberal democracies.
According to several studies, the end of the Cold War and the subsequent increase in the number of liberal democratic states were accompanied by a sudden and dramatic decline in total warfare, interstate wars, ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, and the number of refugees and displaced persons.[7][8]
Jacques Derrida criticized Fukuyama in Specters of Marx (1993) as a "come-lately reader" of Alexandre Kojève "in the tradition of Leo Strauss", who already described US society in the 1950s as the "realization of communism". According to Derrida, Fukuyama—and the quick celebrity of his book—is but one symptom of the anxiety to ensure the "death of Marx". Fukuyama's celebration of liberal hegemony is criticized by Derrida:
Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez argued against "the end of history": he argued his case in his September 2006 address to the United Nations General Assembly.[10] Shortly before that, in August 2006, Fukuyama wrote in response to Chávez's argument, his main point being that Chavismo was only possible due to the unique oil reserves of Venezuela, and thus would not spread.[11]
Benjamin Barber wrote a 1992 article and a 1995 book, Jihad vs. McWorld, that addressed this theme. Barber described "McWorld" as a secular, liberal, corporate-friendly transformation of the world and used the word "jihad" to refer to the competing forces of tribalism and religious fundamentalism, with a special emphasis on Islamic fundamentalism.
Samuel P. Huntington wrote a 1993 essay, "The Clash of Civilizations", in direct response to The End of History; he then expanded the essay into a 1996 book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. In the essay and book, Huntington argued that the temporary conflict between ideologies is being replaced by the ancient conflict between civilizations. The dominant civilization decides the form of human government, and these will not be constant. He especially singled out Islam, which he described as having "bloody borders".
After the September 11, 2001, attacks, The End of History was cited by some commentators as a symbol of the supposed naiveté and undue optimism of the Western world during the 1990s, in thinking that the end of the Cold War also represented the end of major global conflict. In the weeks after the attacks, Fareed Zakaria called the events "the end of the end of history", while George Will wrote that history had "returned from vacation".[12]
Fukuyama did discuss radical Islam briefly in The End of History. He argued that Islam is not an Imperialist force like Stalinism and Fascism; that is, it has little intellectual or emotional appeal outside the Islamic "heartlands". Fukuyama pointed to the economic and political difficulties that Iran and Saudi Arabia face and argued that such states are fundamentally unstable: either they will become democracies with a Muslim society (like Turkey) or they will simply disintegrate. Moreover, when Islamic states have actually been created, they were easily dominated by the powerful Western states.
In October 2001, Fukuyama, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, responded to the declarations that the September 11 attacks had disproved his views by stating that "time and resources are on the side of modernity, and I see no lack of a will to prevail in the United States today." He also noted that his original thesis "does not imply a world free from conflict, nor the disappearance of culture as a distinguishing characteristic of societies."[12]
In a 2008 Washington Post opinion piece, Fukuyama wrote:
Azar Gat, Professor of National Security at Tel Aviv University, argued this point in his 2007 Foreign Affairs article, "The Return of Authoritarian Great Powers", stating that the success of these two countries could "end the end of history".[15] Gat also discussed radical Islam, but stated that the movements associated with it "represent no viable alternative to modernity and pose no significant military threat to the developed world". He considered the challenge of China and Russia to be the major threat, since they could pose a viable rival model which could inspire other states.
This view was echoed by Robert Kagan in his 2008 book, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, whose title was a deliberate rejoinder to The End of History.[16]
In his 2008 Washington Post opinion piece, Fukuyama also addressed this point. He wrote, "Despite recent authoritarian advances, liberal democracy remains the strongest, most broadly appealing idea out there. Most autocrats, including Putin and Chávez, still feel that they have to conform to the outward rituals of democracy even as they gut its substance. Even China's Hu Jintao felt compelled to talk about democracy in the run-up to Beijing's Olympic Games."[13]
Government regulators have become so corrupted and “captured” by those they regulate that Americans know that the cop is on the take. Institutional corruption is killing people’s trust in our government and our institutions.
Neither the Democratic or Republican parties represent the interests of the American people. Elections have become nothing but scripted beauty contests, with both parties ignoring the desires of their own bases.
Indeed, America is no longer a democracy or republic … it’s officially an oligarchy. And the allowance of unlimited campaign spending allows the oligarchs to purchase politicians more directly than ever.
No wonder polls show that the American people say that the system is thoroughly corrupt.
Moreover, there are two systems of justice in America … one for the big banks and other fatcats … and one for everyone else. Indeed, Americans have less access to justice than Botswanans … and are more abused by police than Kazakhstanis.
Big Corporations Are Also Thoroughly Corrupt
But the private sector is no better … for example, the big banks have literally turned into criminal syndicates engaged in systemic fraud.
Wall Street and giant corporations are literally manipulating every single market.
And the big corporations are cutting corners to make an extra penny … wreaking havoc with their carelessness. For example:
We’ve Forgotten the Lessons of History
The real problem is that we need to learn a little history:
Liberals and conservatives tend to blame our country’s problems on different factors … but they are all connected.
The real problem is the malignant, symbiotic relationship between big corporations and big government.
The development of alliances and economic organizations which exclude the U.S. and the European Union member states, illustrates to the U.S. that its role in the world economy is no longer guaranteed as being dominant. The Pentagon interventions in the Black Sea, expanding NATO in efforts to contain and surround Russia and the imposition of unwarranted sanctions against the Kremlin are all part of the methodology to undermine Moscow’s influence.
Impact of the Cold War on the Domestic Scene
These foreign policy imperatives of U.S. imperialism reverberate with ominous consequences for the people living inside country. Despite the rise of President Barack Obama as the first self-identified African American to hold that office, the actual conditions of the people represents the reinforcement of national oppression and institutional racism.The Obama administration has been not only absent in the struggle for the civil and human rights of African Americans, it has actually oversaw some of the worst losses in jobs, economic opportunities and household wealth. There is a systematic campaign on the part of the banks and corporations to drive African Americans and other oppressed nationalities out of the central areas of the major municipalities. Detroit, an example of extreme expropriation and disenfranchisement of African Americans and Latinos, is being championed by the ruling class as a successful example of urban revitalization.
Nonetheless, this ruling class propaganda cannot mask the gross injustices and inequalities prevalent in Detroit and other cities. The mass demonstrations in Ferguson, Baltimore and other urban areas have shown the world that America is still a class society. The militarized response to the rebellions does not suggest the strengths of the capitalist and imperialist system but its weaknesses. It will be the organized might of the workers and the oppressed that seals the fate of imperialism both abroad and domestically.
Note: This paper was prepared and partially presented at the Left Forum held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY), during May 29-31, 2015.
The End of History and the Last Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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|
This article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay that states the Wikipedia editor's particular feelings about a topic, rather than the opinions of experts. (July 2013) |
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| Author | Francis Fukuyama |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Published | 1992 (Free Press) |
| Pages | 418 |
| ISBN | 0-02-910975-2 |
"What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."[1]Fukuyama's work contradicts Karl Marx, who predicted that communism would displace capitalism.[2] Fukuyama himself identifies on some level with Marx, but identifies most strongly with the German philosopher Hegel, by way of Alexandre Kojève. Kojève argued that the progress of history must lead toward the establishment of a "universal and homogenous" state,[3] most likely incorporating elements of liberal or social democracy; but Kojeve's emphasis on the necessarily "post-political" character of such a state (and its citizens) makes such comparisons inadequate, and is irreducible to any mere "triumph" of capitalism.[4]
Contents
Highlights
- History should be viewed as an evolutionary process.
- Events still occur at the end of history.
- Pessimism about humanity's future is warranted because of humanity's inability to control technology.
- The end of history means liberal democracy is the final form of government for all nations. There can be no progression from liberal democracy to an alternative system.
Misinterpretations
According to Fukuyama, since the French Revolution, democracy has repeatedly proven to be a fundamentally better system (ethically, politically, economically) than any of the alternatives.The most basic (and prevalent) error in discussing Fukuyama's work is to confuse "history" with "events". Fukuyama claims not that events will stop occurring in the future, but rather that all that will happen in the future (even if totalitarianism returns) is that democracy will become more and more prevalent in the long term, although it may suffer "temporary" setbacks (which may, of course, last for centuries).
Some argue[who?] that Fukuyama presents "American-style" democracy as the only "correct" political system and argues that all countries must inevitably follow this particular system of government. However, many Fukuyama scholars claim this is a misreading of his work.[citation needed] Fukuyama's argument is only that in the future there will be more and more governments that use the framework of parliamentary democracy and that contain markets of some sort. Indeed, Fukuyama has stated:
The End of History was never linked to a specifically American model of social or political organization. Following Alexandre Kojève, the Russian-French philosopher who inspired my original argument, I believe that the European Union more accurately reflects what the world will look like at the end of history than the contemporary United States. The EU's attempt to transcend sovereignty and traditional power politics by establishing a transnational rule of law is much more in line with a "post-historical" world than the Americans' continuing belief in God, national sovereignty, and their military.[5]
Arguments in favor
This graph shows the number of nations in the different categories given by Freedom House in their survey Freedom in the World for the period for which there are surveys, 1972–2005. Nations are categorized as "Free", "Partly Free", and "Not Free". Freedom House considers "Free" nations to be liberal democracies. The trend is much weaker when counting population instead, as countries classified as "free" tend to be smaller and have lower population growth.
Another argument in favor of Fukuyama's thesis is the democratic peace theory, which argues that mature democracies rarely or never go to war with one another. This theory has faced criticism, with arguments largely resting on conflicting definitions of "war" and "mature democracy". Part of the difficulty in assessing the theory is that democracy as a widespread global phenomenon emerged only very recently in human history, which makes generalizing about it difficult. (See also list of wars between democracies).
Other major empirical evidence includes the elimination of interstate warfare in South America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe among countries that moved from military dictatorships to liberal democracies.
According to several studies, the end of the Cold War and the subsequent increase in the number of liberal democratic states were accompanied by a sudden and dramatic decline in total warfare, interstate wars, ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, and the number of refugees and displaced persons.[7][8]
Criticisms
There have been many criticisms of the "end of history" thesis.Critics of liberal democracy
Some have argued against the book due to an ideological disagreement with the concept of liberal democracy.Jacques Derrida criticized Fukuyama in Specters of Marx (1993) as a "come-lately reader" of Alexandre Kojève "in the tradition of Leo Strauss", who already described US society in the 1950s as the "realization of communism". According to Derrida, Fukuyama—and the quick celebrity of his book—is but one symptom of the anxiety to ensure the "death of Marx". Fukuyama's celebration of liberal hegemony is criticized by Derrida:
| “ | For it must be cried out, at a time when some have the audacity to neo-evangelize in the name of the ideal of a liberal democracy that has finally realized itself as the ideal of human history: never have violence, inequality, exclusion, famine, and thus economic oppression affected as many human beings in the history of the earth and of humanity. Instead of singing the advent of the ideal of liberal democracy and of the capitalist market in the euphoria of the end of history, instead of celebrating the ‘end of ideologies’ and the end of the great emancipatory discourses, let us never neglect this obvious macroscopic fact, made up of innumerable singular sites of suffering: no degree of progress allows one to ignore that never before, in absolute figures, have so many men, women and children been subjugated, starved or exterminated on the earth.[9] | ” |
- Derrida goes on to analyze Fukuyama's book as taking part in the intellectual branch of current Western hegemony and the spreading of its "New Gospel": "This end of History is essentially a Christian eschatology. It is consonant with the current discourse of the Pope on the European community: destined to become a Christian State or Super-State, this community would still belong therefore to some Holy Alliance." He claims that the book uses a "sleight-of-hand trick" of making use of empirical data whenever it seems to suit its message, while appealing to an ideal whenever the empirical data contradicts it. Derrida points out that Fukuyama himself sees the real United States and European Union as imperfect compared to the "ideals" of liberal democracy and the free market. Even the author understands that such ideals are not demonstrated by empirical evidence or ever could be demonstrated empirically. They belong entirely to the realm of philosophy or religion, owing their birth to the Gospels of Philosophy of Hegel. And yet Fukuyama still uses a movement toward empirical observations, which he himself grants are imperfect and incomplete, to validate an idea that is purely idealistic and transcendent of any empirical reality or possibility.[9]
Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez argued against "the end of history": he argued his case in his September 2006 address to the United Nations General Assembly.[10] Shortly before that, in August 2006, Fukuyama wrote in response to Chávez's argument, his main point being that Chavismo was only possible due to the unique oil reserves of Venezuela, and thus would not spread.[11]
Radical Islam, tribalism, and the "Clash of Civilizations"
Various Western commentators have described the thesis of The End of History as flawed because it does not sufficiently take into account the power of ethnic loyalties and religious fundamentalism as a counter-force to the spread of liberal democracy, with the specific example of Islamic fundamentalism, or radical Islam, as the most powerful of these.Benjamin Barber wrote a 1992 article and a 1995 book, Jihad vs. McWorld, that addressed this theme. Barber described "McWorld" as a secular, liberal, corporate-friendly transformation of the world and used the word "jihad" to refer to the competing forces of tribalism and religious fundamentalism, with a special emphasis on Islamic fundamentalism.
Samuel P. Huntington wrote a 1993 essay, "The Clash of Civilizations", in direct response to The End of History; he then expanded the essay into a 1996 book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. In the essay and book, Huntington argued that the temporary conflict between ideologies is being replaced by the ancient conflict between civilizations. The dominant civilization decides the form of human government, and these will not be constant. He especially singled out Islam, which he described as having "bloody borders".
After the September 11, 2001, attacks, The End of History was cited by some commentators as a symbol of the supposed naiveté and undue optimism of the Western world during the 1990s, in thinking that the end of the Cold War also represented the end of major global conflict. In the weeks after the attacks, Fareed Zakaria called the events "the end of the end of history", while George Will wrote that history had "returned from vacation".[12]
Fukuyama did discuss radical Islam briefly in The End of History. He argued that Islam is not an Imperialist force like Stalinism and Fascism; that is, it has little intellectual or emotional appeal outside the Islamic "heartlands". Fukuyama pointed to the economic and political difficulties that Iran and Saudi Arabia face and argued that such states are fundamentally unstable: either they will become democracies with a Muslim society (like Turkey) or they will simply disintegrate. Moreover, when Islamic states have actually been created, they were easily dominated by the powerful Western states.
In October 2001, Fukuyama, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, responded to the declarations that the September 11 attacks had disproved his views by stating that "time and resources are on the side of modernity, and I see no lack of a will to prevail in the United States today." He also noted that his original thesis "does not imply a world free from conflict, nor the disappearance of culture as a distinguishing characteristic of societies."[12]
In a 2008 Washington Post opinion piece, Fukuyama wrote:
Democracy's only real competitor in the realm of ideas today is radical Islamism. Indeed, one of the world's most dangerous nation-states today is Iran, run by extremist Shiite mullahs. But as Peter Bergen pointed out in these pages last week, Sunni radicalism has been remarkably ineffective in actually taking control of a nation-state, due to its propensity to devour its own potential supporters. Some disenfranchised Muslims thrill to the rantings of Osama bin Laden or Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the appeal of this kind of medieval Islamism is strictly limited.[13]
The resurgence of Russia and China
Another challenge to the "end of history" thesis is the growth in the economic and political power of two countries, Russia and China; China has a single-party state government, while Russia, though a democracy, has been described by some as de facto authoritarian.[14]Azar Gat, Professor of National Security at Tel Aviv University, argued this point in his 2007 Foreign Affairs article, "The Return of Authoritarian Great Powers", stating that the success of these two countries could "end the end of history".[15] Gat also discussed radical Islam, but stated that the movements associated with it "represent no viable alternative to modernity and pose no significant military threat to the developed world". He considered the challenge of China and Russia to be the major threat, since they could pose a viable rival model which could inspire other states.
This view was echoed by Robert Kagan in his 2008 book, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, whose title was a deliberate rejoinder to The End of History.[16]
In his 2008 Washington Post opinion piece, Fukuyama also addressed this point. He wrote, "Despite recent authoritarian advances, liberal democracy remains the strongest, most broadly appealing idea out there. Most autocrats, including Putin and Chávez, still feel that they have to conform to the outward rituals of democracy even as they gut its substance. Even China's Hu Jintao felt compelled to talk about democracy in the run-up to Beijing's Olympic Games."[13]
Failure of civil society and political decay
In 2014, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the publication of the original essay, "The End of History?", Fukuyama wrote a column in The Wall Street Journal again updating his hypothesis. He wrote that, while liberal democracy still had no real competition from more authoritarian systems of government "in the realm of ideas", nevertheless he was less idealistic than he had been "during the heady days of 1989." Fukuyama noted the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Arab Spring, both of which seemed to have failed in their pro-democracy goals, as well as the "backsliding" of democracy in countries including Thailand, Turkey and Nicaragua. He stated that the biggest problem for the democratically-elected governments in some countries was not ideological but "their failure to provide the substance of what people want from government: personal security, shared economic growth and the basic public services... that are needed to achieve individual opportunity." Though he believed that economic growth and improved government and civic institutions all reinforced one another, he wrote that it was not inevitable that "all countries will... get on that escalator."[17]Twenty-five years later, the most serious threat to the end-of-history hypothesis isn't that there is a higher, better model out there that will someday supersede liberal democracy; neither Islamist theocracy nor Chinese capitalism cuts it. Once societies get on the up escalator of industrialization, their social structure begins to change in ways that increase demands for political participation. If political elites accommodate these demands, we arrive at some version of democracy.Fukuyama also warned of "political decay", which he wrote could also affect established democracies like the United States, in which corruption and crony capitalism erode liberty and economic opportunity. Nevertheless, he expressed his continued belief that "the power of the democratic ideal remains immense."[17]
Posthuman future
See also: Transhumanism
Fukuyama has also stated that his thesis was incomplete, but for a
different reason: "there can be no end of history without an end of
modern natural science and technology" (quoted from Our Posthuman Future). Fukuyama predicts that humanity's control of its own evolution will have a great and possibly terrible effect on the liberal democracy.
Preface: It’s been less than a month since we last posted on this topic … but, sadly, we’ve got many more examples.
The Cop Is On the Take
Government corruption has become rampant:- Senior SEC employees spent up to 8 hours a day surfing porn sites instead of cracking down on financial crimes
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission workers watch porn instead of cracking down on unsafe conditions at nuclear plants
- An EPA employee who downloaded 7,000 porn files, then spent 2-6 hours each workday watching porn. He’s been doing it for years … but the EPA never fired him. Another EPA employee harassed 16 women co-workers … and then was promoted to a higher-paying job with more responsibility, where he harassed more women
- NSA spies pass around homemade sexual videos and pictures they’ve collected from spying on the American people
- NSA employees have also been caught using their mass surveillance powers to spy on love interests, such as girlfriends, obsessions or former wives … and to eavesdrop on American soldiers’ intimate conversations with their wives back home. And see this (“routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted” … “‘Hey, check this out … there’s good phone sex’”)
- An employee of the Transportation Security Administration admitted that TSA agents share – and laugh at – nude scans of passengers. Another TSA employee says that screeners make excuses so they can grope and fondle travelers that they’re attracted to (maybe that’s why the TSA failed to find mock explosives or banned weapons going through checkpoints in 95% of trials)
- Investigators from the Treasury’s Office of the Inspector General found that some of the regulator’s employees surfed erotic websites, hired prostitutes and accepted gifts from bank executives … instead of actually working to help the economy
- The Minerals Management Service – the regulator charged with overseeing BP and other oil companies to ensure that oil spills don’t occur – was riddled with “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity”, which included “sex with industry contacts”
- Agents for the Drug Enforcement Agency had dozens of sex parties with prostitutes hired by the drug cartels they were supposed to stop (they also received money, gifts and weapons from drug cartel members)
- Drug Enforcement agents also RAN New Jersey’s sleaziest strip club – using illegal, undocumented girls – which included a prostitution ring
- Pentagon employees used government credit cards to pay for adult “escorts” (i.e. prostitutes) and to gamble
- Federal agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Secret Service investigating Bitcoin money laundering extorted and stole over $1 million in Bitcoin
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has conspired with big banks to manipulate commodities prices for decades
- The government-sponsored rating agencies committed massive fraud (and see this)
- The Treasury department allowed banks to “cook their books”
- Regulators knew of and allowed the use of debt-hiding accounting tricks by the big banks
- The SEC has been shredding Wall Street documents for decades to help the big banks cover up their fraud
- The Secretary of Treasury (Tim Geithner) was complicit in Lehman’s accounting fraud, (and see this)
- The former chief accountant for the SEC says that Bernanke and Paulson broke the law and should be prosecuted
- The government knew about mortgage fraud a long time ago. For example, the FBI warned of an “epidemic” of mortgage fraud in 2004. However, the FBI, DOJ and other government agencies then stood down and did nothing. See this and this. For example, the Federal Reserve turned its cheek and allowed massive fraud, and the SEC has repeatedly ignored accounting fraud (a whistleblower also “gift-wrapped and delivered” the Madoff scandal to the SEC, but they refused to take action). Indeed, Alan Greenspan took the position that fraud could never happen
- Paulson and Bernanke falsely stated that the big banks receiving Tarp money were healthy, when they were not. The Treasury Secretary also falsely told Congress that the bailouts would be used to dispose of toxic assets … but then used the money for something else entirely
- A high-level Federal Reserve official says quantitative easing is “the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time”
- Bailout funds were not used to help Main Street or the little guy. Instead, the government threw money at “several billionaires and tens of multi-millionaires”, as well as hedge funds, giant corporations like McDonald’s and Harley-Davidson, and numerous foreign banks, including Gaddafi’s Libyan bank, the Arab Banking Corp. of Bahrain, and the Banks of Bavaria, Korea and Mexico
- The non-partisan Government Accountability Office calls the Fed corrupt and riddled with conflicts of interest. Nobel prize-winning economist Joe Stiglitz says the World Bank would view any country which had a banking structure like the Fed as being corrupt and untrustworthy. The former vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said said he worried that the failure of the government to provide more information about its rescue spending could signal corruption. “Nontransparency in government programs is always associated with corruption in other countries, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be here,” he said
- Arguably, both the Bush and Obama administrations broke the law by refusing to close insolvent banks
- Congress may have covered up illegal tax breaks for the big banks
- Congress recently told the courts that Congress can’t be investigated for insider trading
- Congress has exempted itself from the healthcare rules it insists everyone else follow
- State lawmakers are routinely wined and dined by corporate lobbyists who literally TELL THEM what laws to pass
- North Carolina passed a law LEGALIZING PROSTITUTES for state lawmakers.
- Police have been busted framing numerous innocent people
- Systemic corruption at the FBI lab led to the EXECUTION of innocent people
- Law enforcement also grabs massive amounts of people’s cash, cars and property … even when people aren’t CHARGED with – let alone convicted of – any crime
- Private prisons are huge profit-making centers for giant companies, and private prison corporations obtain quotas from the government, where the government guarantees a certain number of prisoners at any given time
- The government has gone to great lengths to cover up nuclear accidents, radiation dangers, and unsafe conditions at nuclear plants
- The government made sure that false claims were made about the amount of oil spilled by BP in the Gulf
- The government covered up the health risks to New Orleans residents associated with polluted water from hurricane Katrina, and FEMA covered up the cancer risk from the toxic trailers which it provided to refugees of the hurricane. The Centers for Disease Control – the lead agency tasked with addressing disease in America – covered up lead poisoning in children in the Washington, D.C. area (the Centers for Disease Control has also been outed as receiving industry funding)
- The government’s response to the outbreak of mad cow disease was simple: it STOPPED TESTING for mad cow, and PREVENTED cattle ranchers and meat processors from VOLUNTARILY testing their own cows (and see this and this)
- In response to new studies showing the substantial dangers of genetically modified foods, the government passed legislation more or less PUSHING IT onto our plates
- When one of the most respected radiologists in America – the former head of the radiology department at Yale University – attempted to blow the whistle on the fact that the FDA had approved a medical device manufactured by General Electric because it put out massive amounts of radiation, the FDA installed spyware to record his private emails and surfing activities (including installing cameras to snap pictures of his screen), and then used the information to smear him and other whistleblowers
- In an effort to protect Bank of America from the threatened Wikileaks expose of wrongdoing – the Department of Justice told Bank of America to a hire a specific hardball-playing law firm to assemble a team to take down WikiLeaks (and see this)
- The Bush White House worked hard to smear CIA officers, bloggers and anyone else who criticized the Iraq war
- The FBI smeared top scientists who pointed out the numerous holes in its anthrax case. Indeed, the head of the FBI’s investigation agrees that corruption was rampant
- Senior judges in Pennsylvania have pleaded guilty to falsely convicting and imprisoning hundreds of YOUTHS (they got kickbacks from the prisons). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to hear a case regarding the corrupt judges. A month later – only after the judges confessed to criminal wrongdoing – did the Supreme Court change its mind and take any interest
- The government has intentionally whipped up hysteria about terrorism for cynical political purposes. For example, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge admitted that he was pressured to raise terror alerts to help the president win reelection
- Warmongers in the U.S. government knowingly and intentionally lied us into a war of aggression in Iraq. The former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the highest ranking military officer in the United States – said that the Iraq war was “based on a series of lies”. The same is true in Libya and other wars. Indeed, the U.S. has often launched or proposed launching wars based upon FALSE PREMISES
- When the American government got caught assassinating innocent civilians, it changed its definition of “enemy combatants” to include all young men – between the ages of say 15 and 35 – who happen to be in battle zones. When it got busted killing kids with drones, it changed the definition again to include kids as “enemy combatants”
- $8.5 TRILLION dollars in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996 has NEVER been accounted for. The military wastes and “loses” trillions of dollars. And Congress pushes expensive boondoggles that our generals say are unnecessary and unhelpful … because it’s pork for their district
- The government lied when it said it doesn’t conduct mass surveillance on Americans, and then lied again when it said that spying was aimed at protecting America against terrorists (Why do so many in Congress support NSA spying? Because NSA contractors give them money)
- The government also lied when it said America doesn’t torture (and see this), and then lied once again when it said torture was aimed at protecting America against terrorists
- The government protects criminal wrongdoing by prosecuting whistleblowers. The Obama administration has sentenced whistleblowers to dozens of times the jail time of all other presidents COMBINED). And the government has framed whistleblowers with false evidence
- The government treats journalists who report on government corruption as CRIMINALS OR TERRORISTS. And it goes to great lengths to smear them. For example, when USA Today reporters busted the Pentagon for illegally targeting Americans with propaganda, the Pentagon launched a SMEAR CAMPAIGN against the reporters
- The intelligence services BLACKMAIL people in both government and the private sector with evidence of homosexuality, nude pictures and other information that people want to stop from going public
- Terror attacks such as 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Texas shooting all happened because of PERVASIVE CORRUPTION in our intelligence agencies
Government regulators have become so corrupted and “captured” by those they regulate that Americans know that the cop is on the take. Institutional corruption is killing people’s trust in our government and our institutions.
Neither the Democratic or Republican parties represent the interests of the American people. Elections have become nothing but scripted beauty contests, with both parties ignoring the desires of their own bases.
Indeed, America is no longer a democracy or republic … it’s officially an oligarchy. And the allowance of unlimited campaign spending allows the oligarchs to purchase politicians more directly than ever.
No wonder polls show that the American people say that the system is thoroughly corrupt.
Moreover, there are two systems of justice in America … one for the big banks and other fatcats … and one for everyone else. Indeed, Americans have less access to justice than Botswanans … and are more abused by police than Kazakhstanis.
Big Corporations Are Also Thoroughly Corrupt
But the private sector is no better … for example, the big banks have literally turned into criminal syndicates engaged in systemic fraud.
Wall Street and giant corporations are literally manipulating every single market.
And the big corporations are cutting corners to make an extra penny … wreaking havoc with their carelessness. For example:
- Fracking companies dumped 3 billion gallons of highly-toxic waste into California’s drinking water supply. Fracking is polluting water all over the country. A study published in the journal Ground Water predicts that the highly-toxic fluids used in fracking can migrate to aquifers within a few short years. In addition, it is now official that fracking can cause earthquakes. Yet fracking companies are using military psychological operations techniques to discredit opponents (and see this)
- U.S. military contractors have pocketed huge sums of money earmarked for humanitarian and reconstruction aid. And see this (whistleblowers alerted the government about the looting of Iraq reconstruction funds, but nothing was done)
- General Electric and other nuclear companies KNEW their designs were faulty and unsafe … but hid that fact for decades
- Monsanto has claimed for decades that Roundup is safe, but the World Health Organization just said that it probably causes cancer. Monsanto forbids independent scientists from testing its GMO crops for safety, attacks the computers of people who oppose GMO foods and sue small farmers when Monsanto GMO crops drift onto their fields
- Big farmers are drenching their crops with Roundup right before harvest … to save a buck
- Big food companies work hand-in-glove with the government to dish up unhealthy food
- BP’s criminal negligence led to the giant Gulf oil spill
- There is systemic corruption among drug companies, scientific journals, university medical departments, and medical groups which set the criteria for diagnosis and treatment
We’ve Forgotten the Lessons of History
The real problem is that we need to learn a little history:
- We’ve known for thousands of years that – when criminals are not punished – crime spreads
- We’ve known for hundreds of years that the failure to punish financial fraud destroys economies, as it destroys all trust in the financial system
- We’ve known for centuries that powerful people – unless held to account – will get together and steal from everyone else
Liberals and conservatives tend to blame our country’s problems on different factors … but they are all connected.
The real problem is the malignant, symbiotic relationship between big corporations and big government.
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