Tags for This Article:

Imperialism (550)  France (178) 

Populum Tag Cloud
       Control Panel
Fine tune your search to access content
Articles
Diaries Products
Events All
All time
Last 6 mos
Last month
Last week
Last 24 hrs
From:
Month  Day   Year

To:
Month  Day   Year
Alphabet
Popularity
Count ON
Count OFF
This Level
Sub-levels

 

 

 

Tag(s): ;
Add to My Group
April 22, 2007 at 05:39:18

Owning the World – The Great Illusion

by Siv O'Neall     Page 1 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

 
Tell A Friend

View Ratings | Rate It  

In the sixties and seventies, a group of right-wingers in the United States formed a society of vindictive and power hungry men who thought they could reinvent reality. Initially they received little notice and operated inside the American Enterprise Institute; that think tank became the womb for these megalomaniacs and their monstrous ambition of remaking the world. Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz were among them and the movement was to turn into a preposterous beast. The group called themselves Neoconservatives although they were hardly conservatives in the traditional sense and were very much out there on a new and tenuous limb.

As the group assumed greater visibility, they established their goal as the creation of an artificial world which the U.S. empire would rule single-handedly. Ignoring history, they were set on creating an illusory world, one where they alone would set the rules, decide who would run big corporations, who would dominate the world scene, who would control the enormous oil wealth of the Middle East and Central Asia, who would dictate the fate of the world – without taking into consideration the ambitions of the rest of the world or the aspirations of human beings. This virtual universe began to turn into a frightening reality decades later when these men managed to seize power. And they did this through manipulating the Supreme Court into appointing a clown as President, a marionette to serve as their front man. The clown didn't have to do anything other than smirk and occasionally lift his hand in a fist; they knew that would be enough to impress the world and, in particular, the American people. Oh yes, and he would pretend to be one of the people, just like your cousin Dave or your next-door neighbor.

These men shared the illusion that all that needed to be done to control the world forever was to attack and occupy the nations that were in the way of world-wide domination. In view of the unequaled military and economic power of the United States, nobody would be able to resist or object. The United Nations was irrelevant, the industrialized world and the developing world were irrelevant; the only relevance was the military power of the United States.

So they made a plan to play the world as though it were a game of chess. This was to be an illusory world where human beings didn't count, where nationalism didn't exist. The outcome was certain before the first pawn was moved. Opponents were going to fall, they thought, like so many chessmen before the king; the fact that the king is vulnerable was not taken into consideration. This was a gambit to grab control of the world’s riches; nobody was to know what hit them until everything was in the hands of mighty U.S. corporations.

The field is open

When the Soviet Union was unmasked as being merely a mouse that roared rather than a fearful dragon, the Neoconservatives saw the opening they had awaited; the United States could now take over the running of the planet.

They had lost their most valuable asset, the cold war that had justified the arms race all by itself. But now, in their megalomania, they saw the chance to enlarge the U.S. empire to previously unheard of greatness. The groundwork had been laid by presidents Reagan and Clinton but with their clown prince in the White House, they seized upon the events of 9/11 to solidify control of the newly unipolar world.

The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) has been built to provide a gospel for these armchair warriors and its dogma assured there was no limit to the aggression the U.S. empire would permit itself to undertake. America the great, America the morally upstanding, America the invincible. They saw the world as clearly defined by good versus evil; America was all good. But to move PNAC forward, an enemy had to be created. September 11 came to the rescue.

Under cover of a 'war on terrorism' and 'national security', the now-ruling clique could count on solid levels of cooperation from people who had not previously been part of the Neocon junta. Generals and civilians played the game, willingly to begin with, and the Neocons knew they could count on that so long as the game could be made to appear as if the U.S. had the upper hand. A war on terrorism provided the perfect tool; such a war can never be won, so the basis was in place for an eternal war. That was all that was needed to make the arms manufacturers happy and keep business moving; the economy would take care of itself. Or so they thought.

They believed the best way of winning over one's enemies would be to own them. Or to dominate them by military and economic means, if needed. One easy way of dealing with enemies would be to convert most of the peoples of the planet to the American way of life. The spread of America’s so-called culture, which had started right after World War II first in Europe and Japan, seemed to be a propitious way of tilling the ground for the planned American empire that was going to take shape. Military aggression might be needed in some cases, but always there would be insidious propaganda. The cultural domination, if thorough enough, might alleviate any need for the military to complete the task, or at least soften the blow on masses no longer culturally resistant to a U.S. invasion. Once the U.S. was allowed to install military bases on foreign land, the end was achieved and the empire could spread its tentacles to the next client state. The U.S. now needs Europe to play their ball game. And so they have eagerly pushed for the formation of an EU bloc, which is wholeheartedly set on playing the neoliberal game.

The Neocon grand scheme, which took root firmly in the 1990s as the Republicans were all set on a long-term plan to outsmart the Democrats, was clearly with the intention of taking over the world. They would begin with a takeover of the United States and they intended never to let go of their supremacy. 'Pax Americana' would rule the world. So simple. The United States would own the world economically or militarily; in either case, the goal would be achieved.

Neoliberalism, the prevailing economic system today, has served well in the hands of the unipolar megalomaniacs who have reached out greedily into all the corners of the planet. In a parallel way, there has been a gradual replacement of native culture by American standards. Even in cultures traditionally very different from the United States, such as India and the countries of south-east Asia, an American-tainted way of life is emerging.

The cultural crusaders hit a snag

Gradually converting people into Americans has worked to a certain extent in some regions of the world; but, in others, nationalism has proved stronger than the Neocons anticipated. In fact, nationalist instincts seem to have been left out of their vision altogether, a phenomenon outside their narrow understanding of human nature. They had set up their virtual game with no regard for or even consideration of human feelings and aspirations.

Their credo was that the world would love them for their 'freedom'. They utterly failed to grasp that the freedom people want is to live their own lives, in their own particular ways, even if that way was not seen as democracy.

The fact that 'Pax Americana' actually stands for eternal war was not supposed to be so obvious as it is. We were all meant to be taken in by the Orwellian Newspeak; when the Neocons say ‘peace’ we are supposed to feel secure and protected. However, the 'freedom' that they are selling to the world has finally been discredited as a hollow word.

 1  |  2

 

Siv O'Neall was born and raised in Sweden where she graduated from Lund University. She has lived in Paris, France and New Rochelle, N.Y. and traveled extensively throughout Europe, the U.S. and other continents, mainly several trips to India. Siv retired after many years of teaching French in Westchester, N.Y. and English in the Grandes Ecoles (Institutes of Technology) in France. In addition to her own writing, Siv has also provided Axis of Logic with translation services. She has been living in France, first Paris, then Lyon, for 30 years. In addition to her political activism and writing, her life is filled with family, music, animals, reading, traveling and she also feels that 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever'.

 

Bookmark this page: (what's this?)

NETSCAPE      DIGG THIS      Add This Page to Mr Wong!           NEWSVINE      DEl.ICIO.US      Looksmart Furl      My Web      Tag!RawSugar      Blink List     (More...)
Comments: Expand   Shrink   Hide  
3 comments

A grouchy but well-informed know-all with much experience of the low-down low-life infesting and animating 'high-finance', and what to do about it, Keith P. occasionally emerges from the obscure depths of the Youreapeon forests to eye the current world, growl a few obscenities and lurch back into the darkness whence he came.
amazinA grouchy but well-informed know-all with much experience of the low-down low-life infesting and animating 'high-finance', and what to do about it, Keith P. occasionally emerges from the obscure depths of the Youreapeon forests to eye the current world, growl a few obscenities and lurch back into the darkness whence he came.

Let's get this straight, shall we?

The kernel of the whole scam of 'Owning the World' is the lie that you can 'own' anything. They get you to believe that and they can convince you that it was their right when they swindled you out of whatever it was you thought you had 'owned', and you will even support them in their 'right' to do so.

You can 'own' nothing, not even the six feet of earth that will finally hold you. You will not own it: it will contain you. Understand that? They kidded you!

by amazin (32 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 396 comments) on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 10:26:07 AM
 


I am a 63 year old semi retired citizen who has always believed that we live in the greatest country in the world.  I am now deeply concerned about the direction our country is headed.  I pray for the future of our young ones.
Ron McCallieI am a 63 year old semi retired citizen who has always believed that we live in the greatest country in the world.  I am now deeply concerned about the direction our country is headed.  I pray for the future of our young ones.

Corporations

Compare the administration's support for the Nigerian president, who lets the corporations control their oil assets, to their intolerance toward Venezuela and their democratically elected president, who believes that their resources belong to the people.

by Ron McCallie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments) on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 2:19:02 PM
 


"The most violent element in society is ignorance.": Emma Goldman
Karl Moore"The most violent element in society is ignorance.": Emma Goldman

I have to ask

What the heck do you mean by "neoliberal economic system"? America's "economic system" is Capitalism! Do we really need another label?

by Karl Moore (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 15 comments) on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 4:14:45 PM
 

 

3 comments

 

Tell A Friend

 


Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2008

Blog Ads

 

 

 

 

Most Popular Articles
in the Last 2 Days
(by Recommend Emails)

Representatives Were Threatened with "Martial Law" if Bailout Bill Did Not Pass by Patrick Henningsen

Tell Karl, John, Dick, and Sarah in a Letter to the Editor that this Ayers Tactic Just Won't Work! by Stephen Fox

30 Lies Refuted about Ayers and Obama Posted by John Wilson

Those Who Call Obama A Muslim Posted by Rob Kall

Albright, Clarke, 200 Diplomats Laud Obama's Willingness to Talk Directly to Adversaries Without Preconditions Posted by Stephen Fox

Palin Debate Performance Deconstructed by Steven Leser

This is Your Nation on White Privilege Posted by Siv O'Neall

Palin Hates Native Alaskans, Black Folks Too Posted by Hans Bennett

All that's missing are the uniforms! Posted by W. Christopher Epler (Bill)

Meet The $700 Billion Bailout Czar by Rob Kall

Go To Top 50 Most Popular