Imminent decline of the American empire?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

By Ramzy Baroud
Online Journal Contributing Writer

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_693.shtml

<snip>

In a recent interview, MIT professor Noam Chomsky, known for his sharp criticism of US foreign policy particularity in Indochina, Central and Latin America, delineated a new global political reality that is being forged as the US stubbornly insists on fighting a lost battle in Iraq. "What’s happening is something completely new in the history of the hemisphere. Since the Spanish conquest, the countries of Latin America have been pretty much separated from one another and oriented towards the imperial power. For the first time, they are beginning to integrate and in quite a few different ways."

That integration is evident, according to Chomsky, not only by examining the rise of the Left in these countries and the almost immediate alliances -- economic cooperation, for example -- that these popular governments have achieved. There is a simultaneous rise of the political relevance of the indigenous Indian population in Bolivia, and the opportunities it represents to the Indian population of Ecuador and Peru. Moreover, there is a noteworthy South-South integration that is already breaking regional boundaries and significantly undermining the overpowering grip of the IMF, which has played the infamous role of the unfair middleman between the rich and hapless poor.

China and India, on the other hand, continue to achieve astounding economic growth with China’s economic might and relevance to soon surpass that of the US. In fact, there is an intense diplomatic clash underway between the US and China, since the latter has dared to violate the understanding of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which gave the US alone the right to manage its Latin American domains. For the first time, says a BBC analysis, a foreign country has challenged American influence in the region, and successfully so. Indeed, China is upgrading its economic relations with Brazil -- both increasingly formidable economic powers -- in ways that will eventually help Brazil break away from a domineering US hold.

These are all part of the "warning signs" to which Hyde was refereeing in his speech. While there are indications that Washington is finally waking up to this grim reality, which it has helped create, there are no signs whatsoever that a fundamental change of course in US foreign policy in the Middle East is taking place: the destructive war in Iraq rages on; the self-inflicting damage of unconditionally backing Israel in its endless colonial ambitions perpetuates; and the same detrimental policy line used with Iraq is employed, almost identically with Iran. US policy planners are as ever insistent on following the same destructive course that has compromised their nation’s global standing.

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[BrklynLiberal]

1. Bush, etal, could not have done a better job if they had actually been

moles placed here by enemies of the US many years ago with plans to surface sometime in the future just to destroy the US; ala "The Manchurian Candidate".

[norml]

2. They destroy the people and their governments in order to better dominate

the people and their governments.

The greater the crisis they've created, the more drastic the measures they say must be taken.

It's a vicious cycle.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Perfectly "1984"

[lvx35]

4. Its not suprising to me at all.

If I were in another country, I would be really worried about the US since the fall of the soviet union. Unbalanced power tends to not sit still.

[enough]

5. k&r