THIS one's about the OIL.
The Great Game ResumedAuthor: John Pilger.
This is an edited extract from The New Rulers of the World, by John Pilger, published this month by Pan Macmillan Australia. Date: 03/07/2002
In his latest book, The New Rulers of the World, John Pilger argues that the ``war on terrorism" is a charade, masking an all-powerful oppressor that dares not speak its name. IT IS nearly 10 months since September 11, and still the great charade plays on. Having appropriated our shocked and humane response to that momentous day, the rulers of the world have since ground our language into a paean of cliches and lies about the ``war on terrorism" when the most enduring menace, and source of terror, is them.
SNIP...
When the Soviet Union collapsed, a new opportunity arose. The economic and political crisis in the developing world, largely the result of post-colonialism, such as the blood-letting in the Middle East and the destruction of commodity markets in Africa, served as retrospective justification for imperialism. Although the word remains unspeakable, the Western intelligentsia, conservatives and liberals alike, boldly echo the preferred euphemism, ``civilisation".
From Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, an ally of crypto-fascists, to impeccably liberal commentators, the new imperialists share a concept whose true meaning relies on a comparison with those who are uncivilised, inferior and might challenge the ``values" of the West.
The great divisions opening up between the rich and poor are reduced to platitudes of how best ``we" deal with ``them" an attitude expressed in the return of xenophobia and racism towards refugees, led aggressively by the Howard Government. There are many blueprints for the new imperialism, but none as cogent as that of Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to several American presidents and one of the most influential gurus in Washington, whose 1997 book is said to have biblical authority among the George W. Bush gang and its ``endless war" intelligentsia. In The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives, Brzezinski writes: ``Ever since the continents started interacting politically, some 500 years ago, Eurasia has been the centre of world power."
CONTINUED...
http://www.progressivelabour.org/great.htmBTW: A hearty welcome to DU jayavarman! WTF ya been?
EDIT: fucking html