The Decline of The American Empire


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(The Decline of The American Empire was a fine film by Denys Arcand.)


2002-11-02: Pre-war Posturing

America is writhing in its economic death throes, but the scary fact is that the Bush administration seems determined to take down the rest of the world with it by starting a Third World War. The reason for this war? Oil, the lifeblood of modern industrialized society. Realizing that the U.S. will be dependent on Middle East oil within years, the (never properly elected) president George W. Bush, former oil tycoon, is chomping at the bit, aligning his massive war machine in a thinly disguised attack on Iraq, and even trying to bully the United Nations into supporting his oil-thirsty campaigns.

Some chilling reality from oil expert Colin Campbell:

Could this be why 'regime change' in Iraq is so necessary for Mr. Bush?

After failed efforts in Afghanistan to find the one-time CIA cohort Osama bin Laden, and his father's previous failure to remove Saddam Hussein, George junior is determined to march in again, regardless of international law and ethics, with no hard facts or evidence, just an empty gas tank.

Forget these tales of Saddam's deadly weapons; most of these - which were supplied by companies from the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Russia, China and Japan in the 1980's - were destroyed during Gulf War I. The greatest hypocrisy is that it is America who is actively developing biological and chemical weapons, including narcotic gases, biological cluster bombs, antibiotic-resistant anthrax and hallucinogenic weapons, thereby violating international treaties and even blocking weapons inspectors (the latter being the supposed reason for justifying The Long March on Baghdad!). And lest we forget that America has more weapons of mass destruction than anyone, and is not afraid to use them to further its own imperialist aims. A history of war crimes, terrorist funding and use of chemical weapons on its own people makes grim reading.

This uncompromising, power-wielding position is winning few allies, and alienating the rest of the world. In declaring a War On Terrorism, the U.S. administration is shooting itself in the foot, not just because it has its own fair share of terrorist training camps, but because it is trying to fight an enemy it cannot see. The Israeli military's failure to eradicate Palestinian terrorism clearly shows that it is an impossible fight, just making the wounds deeper instead of addressing the real issues.

The American Way has become a disease which is now threatening the world. As a cancer first invades a healthy cell, European settlers massacred the native Indian population and stole their lands. After a few centuries of power-building, not content with their own vast resources, they now look outwards with greedy eyes and are amassing a vast military machine ready to infect the entire organism that is Earth (and space too). Just as a fast-food diet will kill you, so the planet is being ravaged by multinational corporations exploiting resources for quick economic gain. It is difficult to treat as it is by now so entrenched.

McDonalds has been at the forefront of the fast food revolution and been responsible for the changing of local diets and taking a heavy subsidy from governments for 'training' teenagers to fry chips. They have also somehow been cultural ambassadors for the west, entering previously hostile countries before governments officially dare. Watch the rising rates of obesity that follow.

The best way to fight back is not with guns and bombs, but to play them at their own game: boycott the large American companies who are set on world domination through rampant consumerism, and instead support the innovative and creative enterprises which showcase America at its best.


2004-01-19: Time Is Running Out

Take a look at the U.S. National Debt Clock. How long can the rest of the world ignore the fact that the U.S. owes it so much money, a debt that is spiralling out of control? The emergence of China as a new world superpower could well turn the tables.

"China and Japan now own 41% of the monetary system in the U.S." - Sean Trainor

While we applaud President Bush's recent decision to put humans on the Moon and ultimately Mars, furthering the advancement of space science, it is clearly nothing more than a pre-election campaign dream which the nation can in no way afford. How can a spacecraft make it off the ground with such a heavy burden around the country's neck? I mean, he could promise to send people to investigate Uranus, but it means nothing without the ability to pay. And that is precisely what President Bush does not have.


2004-01-25: Post-war Postscript

Since the wars in Afghanistan (remember that place?) and Iraq, much has been done but little achieved. The dreaded weapons of nasty structure have still not appeared. Weapons inspector David Kay resigned, having given up hope of finding the large stockpiles George promised him. Britain has been dragged down into the mire; it could be curtains for Tony. With the continued stream of almost daily U.S. casualties, it's looking like another Vietnam for the U.S. government: even Colin Powell has changed his tune somewhat (not again!). Hmmm, what to believe?

Saddam Hussein was portrayed by the media as a monster; it is hard to know how much of the propaganda to believe, but he was undoubtedly not a good man to lead a country (understatement!), and people I know who have lived in Iraq are glad to see the country rid of him. After a brutal invasion without United Nations support, which made me ashamed to be British, and is now turning very messy, the sad man Hussein was eventually caught, yet Osama Bin Laden, the man believed responsible for the September 11th hijackings (and the reason for invading Afghanistan), is still a free man.

We now live in a world where terrorism is an ever-increasing threat; aggravatory government policies catalyse this process, and capitalise on our fears by introducing draconian new powers in the name of 'freedom'. People are being detained and imprisoned for months or years without trial and without charge, and being deported to other countries with different 'legal conditions' to be confined and tortured with sleep-deprivation into making false confessions. Meanwhile, in the skies, plans to include armed marshals on commercial flights seem to me like an admission of total lack of confidence in airport security. Everyone travelling on an aircraft should have to undergo a full body-search while their luggage is being thoroughly X-rayed; this may, of course, incur passenger delays, but people have to remember that air travel is a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

We, the people of the world, need to show our leaders that we will not accept the rhetoric they spin and injustice they commit, and that we must change course and get back on a true path. These right-wing extremists are doing great injustices to the American Constitution. We welcome U.S. regime change as the only feasible way to achieve freedom for the American People and help reduce tyranny in the 21st Century.

Let those whose way is more noble prosper.


2004-11-03: A Sad Day For The World

Liberty weeps.


2008-02-13: Crashwatch

Wake up before the crash


© copyright Malcolm Smith 2002-11-01 - last updated 2008-08-30 - links verified 2004-01-22