[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The USand other rich democracies would need to change the role of globalfinancial institutions, regulate global financial markets and increaselevels of saving and taxation in their own societies if they were seriousabout improving the living standards for the rest of humanity.Suchchanges, however, would likely be opposed by their electorate andendanger the democratic workings of the G7.Instead the US has opted for a military solution to what areessentially economic and social problems.President Bush s doctrine 174 Little Americaof preemptive strike does not address the conditions which give riseto violence.The US war on terrorism and the inability of the richto address the problems of inequality and social injustice will leadto increasing conflict in poorer countries and escalate the level ofviolence directed at rich countries.The war on terrorism supportsand legitimates authoritarian regimes to suppress voices demandingmore open and egalitarian societies.Other countries are followingthe US and Australia s declared right to preemptive strikes.Russia hasannounced its intention to strike against perceived threats and saidthat it will use its nuclear arsenal to deter terrorism and instabilityalong the former Soviet states borders.Thailand has followed suit bydeclaring war on its southern Muslim minority.Chalmers Johnson argues that US imperialism and militarism willbring the world into a state of perpetual war, leading to more terrorismagainst Americans wherever they may be and a growing relianceon weapons of mass destruction among smaller nations as they tryto ward off the imperial juggernaut (Johnson 2004:285).Violencebegets violence and leads to blowbacks against the US and otherrich countries.The military solution approach to global inequalitystrengthens the US military-industrial complex and builds militarymight and a culture of militarism which undermine US democracy.The danger is that the size of the US military establishment and itsoverseas expansion will take on a life of its own where US generalsinfluence on US political leaders is such that the military agendabecomes the determining issue in US politics moving the US furtheralong a pathway towards some form of fascism.Greed and a climate of fear undermines support for the Americanidea of human progress and questions the sincerity of the US elite intheir declared mission to bring freedom and liberty to humanity.Theascendancy to power of neoconservatives indicates growing supportfor the ideas of social Darwinism and the survival of the fittest amongthe electorate.Market fundamentalism is one major instrument topromote inequality and shift the blame on the losers or victims.Another instrument is to ignore the plight of people who are surplusor even a threat to the continued comforts of the G7.This newracism explains the US tendency to let Africa die rather than makethe necessary effort to build the economies of the continent and savemillions of children from deaths.The US refused to act in Rwanda in1994 and succeeded in removing most of the UN peacekeepers, thustriggering the killing of some 800,000 Tutsi and politically moderateHutu.Writer Samantha Power described the 1994 Rwanda genocide Confrontation with Asia 175as the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the twentieth-century(Power 2001).US actions during the crisis and its explicit policy ofstaying out of Rwanda and denying UN help made it an accomplicein the massacres during which US officials were forbidden to use theterm genocide for fear of being obliged to act (Power 2001:86).Legitimacy is essential to US hegemony and its mission to makethe world safe for democracy.But there are signs that credibilityand respect for what the US says it is trying to achieve is wavering.To some extent the US vision for the world is being undermined byUS domestic problems about widespread corporate corruption andscandals and growing inequality among its citizens.US attempts topropagate market fundamentalism have raised serious concerns inmany countries about US motives when farming subsidies are at anall-time high.John Gray argues that the claim that the US is a modelfor the world is accepted by no other country.The social costs ofAmerican economic success for US society are such that no Europeanor Asian culture will tolerate (Gray 1998:216).The legitimacy of theUS democratic model is also a stake in the US China conflict andChina has questioned the authenticity of US claims of a superiorbrand of civilisation with attacks on US domestic problems such asfamily breakdown, corporate crime, drug and crime problems, andthe failure of most US citizens to vote in federal elections.Equally problematic is the rise of anti-Americanism in the worldfuelled by widely publicised events which expose major contradictionsbetween what the US preaches and what it does.What is unfoldingtoday is a repetition of the past.US massacres of civilians and theuse of torture were a major problem during the Vietnam war andChristopher Lasch wrote at the time that already the war has madeus the most hated nation in the world (Lasch 1971).At the beginningof the twenty-first century the situation has been exacerbated bynew but similar dramas [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.The USand other rich democracies would need to change the role of globalfinancial institutions, regulate global financial markets and increaselevels of saving and taxation in their own societies if they were seriousabout improving the living standards for the rest of humanity.Suchchanges, however, would likely be opposed by their electorate andendanger the democratic workings of the G7.Instead the US has opted for a military solution to what areessentially economic and social problems.President Bush s doctrine 174 Little Americaof preemptive strike does not address the conditions which give riseto violence.The US war on terrorism and the inability of the richto address the problems of inequality and social injustice will leadto increasing conflict in poorer countries and escalate the level ofviolence directed at rich countries.The war on terrorism supportsand legitimates authoritarian regimes to suppress voices demandingmore open and egalitarian societies.Other countries are followingthe US and Australia s declared right to preemptive strikes.Russia hasannounced its intention to strike against perceived threats and saidthat it will use its nuclear arsenal to deter terrorism and instabilityalong the former Soviet states borders.Thailand has followed suit bydeclaring war on its southern Muslim minority.Chalmers Johnson argues that US imperialism and militarism willbring the world into a state of perpetual war, leading to more terrorismagainst Americans wherever they may be and a growing relianceon weapons of mass destruction among smaller nations as they tryto ward off the imperial juggernaut (Johnson 2004:285).Violencebegets violence and leads to blowbacks against the US and otherrich countries.The military solution approach to global inequalitystrengthens the US military-industrial complex and builds militarymight and a culture of militarism which undermine US democracy.The danger is that the size of the US military establishment and itsoverseas expansion will take on a life of its own where US generalsinfluence on US political leaders is such that the military agendabecomes the determining issue in US politics moving the US furtheralong a pathway towards some form of fascism.Greed and a climate of fear undermines support for the Americanidea of human progress and questions the sincerity of the US elite intheir declared mission to bring freedom and liberty to humanity.Theascendancy to power of neoconservatives indicates growing supportfor the ideas of social Darwinism and the survival of the fittest amongthe electorate.Market fundamentalism is one major instrument topromote inequality and shift the blame on the losers or victims.Another instrument is to ignore the plight of people who are surplusor even a threat to the continued comforts of the G7.This newracism explains the US tendency to let Africa die rather than makethe necessary effort to build the economies of the continent and savemillions of children from deaths.The US refused to act in Rwanda in1994 and succeeded in removing most of the UN peacekeepers, thustriggering the killing of some 800,000 Tutsi and politically moderateHutu.Writer Samantha Power described the 1994 Rwanda genocide Confrontation with Asia 175as the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the twentieth-century(Power 2001).US actions during the crisis and its explicit policy ofstaying out of Rwanda and denying UN help made it an accomplicein the massacres during which US officials were forbidden to use theterm genocide for fear of being obliged to act (Power 2001:86).Legitimacy is essential to US hegemony and its mission to makethe world safe for democracy.But there are signs that credibilityand respect for what the US says it is trying to achieve is wavering.To some extent the US vision for the world is being undermined byUS domestic problems about widespread corporate corruption andscandals and growing inequality among its citizens.US attempts topropagate market fundamentalism have raised serious concerns inmany countries about US motives when farming subsidies are at anall-time high.John Gray argues that the claim that the US is a modelfor the world is accepted by no other country.The social costs ofAmerican economic success for US society are such that no Europeanor Asian culture will tolerate (Gray 1998:216).The legitimacy of theUS democratic model is also a stake in the US China conflict andChina has questioned the authenticity of US claims of a superiorbrand of civilisation with attacks on US domestic problems such asfamily breakdown, corporate crime, drug and crime problems, andthe failure of most US citizens to vote in federal elections.Equally problematic is the rise of anti-Americanism in the worldfuelled by widely publicised events which expose major contradictionsbetween what the US preaches and what it does.What is unfoldingtoday is a repetition of the past.US massacres of civilians and theuse of torture were a major problem during the Vietnam war andChristopher Lasch wrote at the time that already the war has madeus the most hated nation in the world (Lasch 1971).At the beginningof the twenty-first century the situation has been exacerbated bynew but similar dramas [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]