Economics of Empire (Walden Bello)

[struggle4progress]

(Part I)
http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_9895.shtml

(Part II)
If these are seen as the premises for action, then the following prominent elements of recent U.S. economic policy make sense:
a. Achieving control over Middle East oil. This was clearly aimed partly at Europe, but perhaps the more strategic goal was to control access to the region's resources by energy poor China.
b. Aggressive protectionism in trade and investment matters. One of the most brazen protectionist acts by the United States is its stymicing of WTO negotiations over vital matters of public health. On behalf of the powerful pharmaceutical lobby, it staunchly resists the loosening of patent rights to drugs on all but three diseases.
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Overextension is relative, that is, it is to a great degree a function of resistance. Among the key indicators of over extension are the following :
a. the inflaming of Arab and Muslim sentiment in the Middle East, South Asia, and South East Asia, resulting in massive ideological gains for Islamic fundamentalists;
b. the collapse of the Cold War Atlantic Alliance and the emergence of a new countervailing alliance, with Germany and France at the center of it;
c. the forging of a powerful global civil society movement against US hegemony;
d. the coming to power of anti-neoliberal, anti-U.S. movements in South America; an increasingly negative impact of militarism on the US. economy, as military spending becomes dependent on deficit spending, and deficit spending become more and more dependent on financing from foreign sources.
In conclusion, the globalist project is in crisis.
http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_9928.shtml