A little background:
As is well established through any serious thinking and the reading of Chalmers Johnson, Chomsky, Andrew Bacevich, Chris Hedges, John Perkins, Sheldon Wolin, Gabriel Kolko, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, William Greider, Ralph Nader , etc, etc,... a global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE has now fully taken over the one remaining global military SUPERPOWER, our former country, by hiding behind the facade of a TWO-Party 'Vichy' sham of faux democratic government (aided by the equally 'Vichy' corporatist propaganda media).
The extent of the take-over or 'capture' of the entire government (not just MMS, Treasury, EPA, DOD, FED, Congress, Supreme Court, etc. etc.) was, as the Brits might say, a "long, hard, expensive slog" by the corporatocracy, which involved massive amounts of lobbying, PR, media control, citizen "Hoodwinking" (as John Perkins notes in his most recent book of that title), and a well greased 'revolving door' between the nominal 'Vichy' government and the global corporate EMPIRE --- which intends to shift the very paradigm of Empire power from the five century model perfectly critiqued by Paul Kennedy in his epic "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers", of nation-state centric EMPIRES to a 'Brave New World" era of truly global corporate-centric EMPIRE (singular) ---- and they (the global corporate EMPIRE) don't want no competition from any friggin up-start, late comer, wannabe, alternative corporate empires trying to leverage a different former nation-state vehicle.
Understanding the seminal importance of the specific use of 'our' former government (and their 'highly sucessful' investments) to 'capture' this single SUPERPOWER can best be appreciated by reading Gary Wills fantastic "Bomb Power" --- which reveals that the real 'golden rule' today is not merely, "he (the Empire) that holds the gold rules", but must be backed up with "the corporate EMPIRE that holds the bomb rules". Thus the current well planned, long developing, and well disguised behind the facade of 'democracy' grand scheme global corporate EMPIRE which is already extant, wants to send an unmistakable 'signal' to ANY other potential wannabe corporate Empire pretenders that the "Great Game' is over --- that this existing (though carefully disguised global corporatist EMPIRE) which rules behind the US government facade and its cast of pliant political pawns is THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN.
The difference in how Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, CitiGroup, AIG, Exxon, Halliburton, Boeing, Lockheed, etc. etc. and even GM were dealt with during and after the Middle East imperialist oil wars,and during and after the global financial crisis (ie. 'shakedown' of other former nation-states), and how the nominally British incorporated BP was treated during this oil spill example is THE MESSAGE, THE 'SIGNAL', THE RULE of how this new singular, signal, seminal global corporate EMPIRE is going to work.
This 'signal' is clear and unmistakable to any multinational 'global' corporation that aspires to be a part (partner) in the new global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE --- and the signal is "this is how we are going to operate behind the facade of the former US government that we have already co-opted at great cost in planning and long term investment, this is the only extant global EMPIRE that controls the only military 'superpower', and the only global corporatist EMPIRE that controls a dumbed-down but violently supportive citizenry that has proven (multiple times) to be complacent and supporting global military power to do our bidding, and this is the only fully functioning global 'Vichy' charade of democracy with the media guile and international legal power to overpower all waning nation-state resistance".
Therefore, this message, this 'signal' to BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Sinopec, UBS, Allianz, HSBC, ENI, BNP, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Daimler, Volkswagen, Siemens, Samsung, Hitachi, Airbus, ... is that this is the way the new 'members only club' is being chartered --- that one single global corporatist EMPIRE is being forged and merged together behind the facade of the one surviving old nuclear super-power 'nation-state':
"It's already a fait accompli.
It's already being played by these rules.
It's already being played on this center court.
And anyone who doesn't agree (and accept it) will suffer the consequences.
And the real benefit to you as an agreeable member of this new global corporatist EMPIRE is that we use the ageless trick of EMPIRES, of 'divide and conquer', only on the proles, the rubes, the patriotic citizens, the oil territories and former nation-states, etc. ... and that we enforce an absolute unity of purpose in our single global EMPIRE --- but quietly, for the time being."
That's what getting real is really about in this BP example, signal, thingy --- and that's how the new "Empire Rules" really work!
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
