When world leaders gathered last night for a White House dinner on the eve of a major economic summit, the faces around the table were not just those of the Europeans and Japanese who normally mix in the highest circles of diplomacy. This time, heads of state from the across the developing world, from China to Brazil to India, had a seat at the table.
Their inclusion in this weekend’s talks on the global financial crisis marks a historic power shift. The summit is being seen as a model of what high-level diplomacy will look like in the future, with emerging giants gaining a voice in a club that long included only the richest of nations. But at a time when China maintains the world’s largest cash reserves and the United States is going deep into debt, the definition of rich has changed.
Leaders from developing countries — which are expected to account for nearly 100 percent of global growth next year as developed countries fall into recession — now see an opportunity to broaden their clout. At the summit today, they will push for more influence in the International Monetary Fund as well as the other institutions that are charged with maintaining global economic stability, but that still remain largely controlled by Europe, the United States and Japan.
Developing countries will also seek to cement their inclusion in global decision-making, pressing for entry into organizations such as the Switzerland-based Financial Stability Forum, which brings together developed world regulators, central bankers and financial officials.
Analysts say the shift toward global inclusion underscores how the financial crisis crippling the developed world has provided emerging giants — which are relatively healthier — with a chance to assert themselves.
(Article continues below)
“We must use the crisis as an opportunity to correct things that were wrong before the crisis and strengthen multilateral bodies, because in a globalized world we need serious and representative forums to take global decisions,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told reporters this week. Lula dismissed the modern relevance of the Group of Eight, an organization of seven developed countries plus Russia, that might have been called on to deliberate on the crisis in another era.
“We need to have other countries and other continents for more democratic, more plural decisions,” Lula said.
With new clout, some say, comes new responsibilities. In an interview yesterday, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso called on nations such as China to offer up some of their vast reserves to the IMF, which has been charged with bailing out a number of countries in recent weeks. With the economic crisis deepening, he said, the IMF would need more than the roughly $200 billion in its war chest to help troubled nations.
Japan would offer as much as $100 billion more, he said, but other countries with deep pockets should fulfill their responsibilities.
“It doesn’t have to be Japan alone that would provide such funds,” Aso said. “Oil-producing countries, China and other countries that have ample reserves could also make their contributions.”
Aso also showed reluctance to quickly cede voting power in organizations such as the IMF. “I don’t think it’s something that should be achieved today or tomorrow,” he said. “I believe that needs to be worked out over time.”
Still, most nations, including the United States, have acknowledged that a new world order has emerged and that the developing world should have a larger say in international organizations.
November 15th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Technically the U.S. is no longer a rich nation as we owe a tremendous amount. I don’t believe a bankrupt nation can be counted among the “rich”. We can’t afford to give money away to everyone and leave our markets open to be decimated by unfair trade and slave labor. “Don’t they know?” asks the LORD. “Are all these evildoers ignorant? They live by robbing my people, and they never pray to me” But then they will be terrified for God is with those who obey Him. Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble, but the LORD is their protection.” (from the Bible, Psalms 14:4-6)
November 15th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Tim: You are crazy! Live free in America? You are totally nuts. To be free you must leave the ‘land of the free’, now how nuts is that?
November 15th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Chooseyourfate: Racism was not a bi-product of free speech you idiot…it exited during the times of the cave dwellers.
Alarmedcitizen: you are the type folks that we should all be alarmed about…you morons who think god had anything whatsoever to do with the bible. You’re just soooo, stupid. The god of the bible is a mass murderer and a serial killer. Do you really think those are the attributes of the devine? Really? You are either incredibly stupid or just plain fucking immoral. Which is it asshole? I think you are stupid and probably a lying, amoral, ass.
Now defend your serial killer god…you dip shit.
November 15th, 2008 at 9:07 am
November 15th, 2008 at 9:29 am
and ‘Multipolar’ is the (vaunted) “New World Order.” China has had the largest role in making it happen, thanks in large part for it refusing to float it currency and beating the Old World Order (Bretton Woods) world banking sydicate in terms of economic growth and development. Its called *economic NATIONALISM* and China has been making it work lately, while the rest of the (OWO int’l banking syndicate-run) world languishes in economic red ink and mediocrity.
The old int’l banking/banksters sydicate h.q. at the BIS in Basel, Switzerland came damn close to winning a (vaunted) global monopoly of all the world’s significant currencies and trade… but China’s success and a few others (Malaysia, Venezuela) has foiled it, or at least it has so far.
Anyone who thinks the NWO is something other than the same old international banking syndicate dressed up in sexy language (any scary movie can only be as good as its villain is bad) has been smoking too much dope. Its not rocket science, folks:
1. Basel, Switz. Bank of Intl’ Settlements is (de jure) at the top of the syndicate.
2. Deutche Bank has been reporting to them for over a century… and The EURO is theirs, lock, stock, and barrel… and that means Euro-zone macro economic policies, too. When the govt’s or people there gripe about ‘loss of soveriengty’ they’re right.
US Dollar and so-called ‘Federal’ Reserve also belong to the Syndicate, only for not quite as long as the German banking establishment has.
Of course, the British Pound is also Syndicate-run, and the Japanese Yen, too. All these top-tier ‘global’ or ‘reserve’ world currencies (Euro, Dollar, Pound, Yen) get a direct line to Switzerland, whereas their underlings have to report to them. That’s Eurozone for the Frankfurt types, Latin Amer. and Middle East for the ‘Federal’ Reserve, much of India, Africa, and Commonwealth for London, and much of S.E.Asia for the Yen. The latter (S.E.A.) really got burned by the Syndicate’s “Asian Contagion” crisis of 1997 and are not really happy campers in the system. Now most of the rest of the world’s getting burned by the syndicate… except (as was also true in ‘97) China… which (alone in the world) has always successfully managed to keep its national soveringtly and currency out of floating around in the syndicate’s sea. Can the US say the same? More than 50% of USDs have been traded overseas for some time now, making something of a joke of US economic soveriegnty.
3. Eurozone reports to Frankfurt; India, Africa, and weaker Commonwealth report to London; LAt. America & Middle East report to New York; and much of S.E. Asia reports to Tokyo. And all of these 4 report to Basel. The G8 ‘Summits’ as pre-scripted as the venues and menus there. Someone like George W. or Blair is not going to start telling the Syndicate with its legions of doctorate experts what to do. They’ll read their scripts more of less like anyone else.
4. The Germans, British, Americans, and Japanese were all fooled into handing over the keys of economic sovereignty to the int’l banking syndicate long ago, well before most of us born. War fear and guilt (manipulating nationalism) had a lot to do with all of these hard sells. China did not hand over the keys and retains sovereingty from the int’l banking syndicate.
5. China is being economically attacked for refusing to surrender to the Syndicate.
- currency undervalued
- high oil prices
- relentlessly bad/draconian press
- export dependency rug being pulled out from under it during crisis
Anyway, the main point is, China is the main opposition these days to the international bankster Syndicate’s world order. Think about it sometime. Don’t just react like a pidgeon to the Syndicate’s propaganda. They’ve had nearly 100 years experience in how to program people’s attitudes through mass media.
Don’t be fooled by the Syndicate; they’ve got plenty already.
November 15th, 2008 at 9:35 am
great post from the mainstream !!!!!!!! let there be no doubt about it !!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/profile.....iew=videos
goldieshouse.piczo.com
November 15th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I think that those who keep bashing on belief in god need to really disconnect RELIGION FROM BELIEF, religion is a corruption of belief in god, this is used to disenfranchize people to the fact that the universe was created and didn’t just spur into existence as modern science would teach our youth. Some of the major problems with big bang is that it defies the laws of physics, primarily the 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics as well of the 7th law of the conservation of circular momentum. So you people that keep freeking out on believer saying they are stupid, shut your mouths, in your belief system this is just the whole idea of survival of the fitest so what are you bitching about, there is no bad or good, just being so why complain that your at the short end of the stick. Go back to your sily belief that we are a hybrid monkey.
November 15th, 2008 at 11:45 am
The only thing missing is Batman and Robin!Where is the Riddler when you need him?
November 15th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
There is no such thing as Freedom anymore….are you kidding me #11……I want that too…..
Best thing I can suggest is get off the grid as much as possible….and get prepared…..get your household and your soul in order.
November 15th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Is it just me, or does it look like the other big hitters in the meeting have spotted China as the next cash-cow?
They sure seem hard pressed to grab up as much of Chinas resources as they can get their hands on…
November 15th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
But…I just want to live and be free doing it. Am I crazy?
November 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Racism was a byproduct of free speech. Its lying dead right along side our constitution.
We have here is failure in the government directed American way.
We are being saved from: influence by~ laws, steered beliefs, free speech, and a self destructive economy; to be into a universal mass mind control propaganda of self pity for war profit.
That’s the real economy.
Economy Income 2 ~ Going Green: the carbon tax
Coming to existence near you.
Cant we just legalize using all parts hemp? save our trees, reverse our carbon to oxygen, get big pharma out of the picture, stop the war on drugs, save trillions daily in revenue and healthcare, and pay off our national debt?
Nope that wouldn’t make any cents.
November 15th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
“DESCRIPTIVE INTRODUCTION OF THE SILENT WEAPON
Everything that is expected from an ordinary weapon is expected from a silent weapon by its creators, but only in its own manner of functioning.
It shoots situations, instead of bullets; propelled by data processing, instead of a chemical reaction (explosion); originating from bits of data, instead of grains of gunpowder; from a computer, instead of a gun; operated by a computer programmer, instead of a marksman; under the orders of a banking magnate, instead of a military general.
It makes no obvious explosive noises, causes no obvious physical or mental injuries, and does not obviously interfere with anyone’s daily social life.
Yet it makes an unmistakable “noise,” causes unmistakable physical and mental damage, and unmistakably interferes with daily social life, i.e., unmistakable to a trained observer, one who knows what to look for.
The public cannot comprehend this weapon, and therefore cannot believe that they are being attacked and subdued by a weapon.
The public might instinctively feel that something is wrong, but because of the technical nature of the silent weapon, they cannot express their feeling in a rational way, or handle the problem with intelligence. Therefore, they do not know how to cry for help, and do not know how to associate with others to defend themselves against it.
When a silent weapon is applied gradually, the public adjusts / adapts to its presence and learns to tolerate its encroachment on their lives until the pressure (psychological via economic) becomes too great and they crack up.
Therefore, the silent weapon is a type of biological warfare. It attacks the vitality, options, and mobility of the individuals of a society by knowing, understanding, manipulating, and attacking their sources of natural and social energy, and their physical, mental, and emotional strengths and weaknesses.” -From “Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars”
Please google “Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars” and read. Get everyone you know to read it. Anyone who is opposed to you learning about this is an nwo troll mole with a hidden pig agenda!
November 15th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
we will win our country back people !
we will do what is needed to do so!
you are needed to stand against them strongly!
do not lose hope or faith in what you hold sacred!
they know we are coming and they are worried.
we are the only change that will be real and for the people of America!
if you are afraid- you should know that the only fears you should have are to fear not having ,love, truth, justice, freedom and liberty.
our spirits can be broken at times but we have proven that we mend our spirits and we shall! we arte down but not out folks!
it is your responsiblity to as a citizen of the USA to stop at all cost and any means under god the continuance of the governmental takeover over us its people!
you have been warned! many times by many people now. if you are waiting for others to act before you do – well, they may be waiting for you to do the same.
i am simply stating it must be us to change things and it must be now!
we all have much to lose individually in these actions but none of us has more to lose than our country as a whole!
begin resistance, begin the restoration
LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC!
November 15th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
NWO?
I laff at that.
Come see the REAL coming devastation…
the NEW WORLD 911, NOW in progress:
http://illuminatimatrix.wordpr.....score-wiz/
K
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November 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
What do you do when you no longer believe in something? I used to believe that economically things would eventually bottom out but I now believe we are due for hard times longer than I originally imagined. There are so many factors and fundamentals that refuse to quiet down. Instead, these issues are continuing to grow with a snowball effect. The momentum just grows higher and higher.
“The British Empire was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, the foremost global power.” “By 1921, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 458 million people, approximately one-quarter of the world’s population. It covered about 36.6 million km² (14.2 million square miles), about a quarter of Earth’s total land area.” “At the peak of its power, it was often said that “the sun never sets on the British Empire ” because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous colonies or subject nations.” angelfire.com
So, what went wrong and how did the sun finally set on the British Empire ?
“Undisturbed rule of such an empire needed acquiescence on the part of the ruled. Gradually that acquiescence was withheld.” “By 1945 the home country itself was bankrupt from having fought the Second World War. The costs of the empire were rising, not least because of the threat of guerrilla wars.” angelfire.com
Sounds a lot like the predicament the United States finds itself in today. The money is still in the till but for how much longer? The following comments below were quoted from the most recent meeting of the IMF/World Bank/G-7.
“We remain positive about the long-term resilience of our economies, but near-term global economic prospects have weakened. The turmoil in global financial markets remains challenging and more protracted than we had anticipated.” “In other words: “Damn, we thought we’d be successful in sweeping the whole thing under the rug back when we last met in February in Tokyo , but it hasn’t quite worked out that way” . Not exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to read in a G-7 communique, we grant you, but the essence of the situation nonetheless.” Bill Buckler, The Privateer
And what of the American Empire?
“HISTORY TEACHES THREE pretty clear messages. One is that all empires die. Second, empires take a long time to die. Finally, the citizens of the empire rarely recognize the warning signs for what they are.” “Empires think they have beaten the rule of change. They haven’t. Empires think size will protect them. It won’t. Empires think their military might will protect them. It won’t. Empires think charismatic leaders will protect them. They won’t. Nothing will. The old makes way for the new. The American empire is beginning to die.” San Francisco Chronicle
The US dollar is the component that helps to keep the US Empire afloat. What happens as the dollar continues to sink?
Laurence M. Vance – “The kingdom of Alexander the Great reached all the way to the borders of India . The Roman Empire controlled the Celtic regions of Northern Europe and all of the Hellenized states that bordered the Mediterranean . The Mongol Empire, which was the largest contiguous empire in history, stretched from Southeast Asia to Europe . The Byzantine Empire spanned the years 395 to 1453. In the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east to Hungary in the northwest; and from Egypt in the south to the Caucasus in the north. At the height of its dominion, the British Empire included almost a quarter of the world’s population. Nothing, however, compares to the U.S. global empire. What makes U.S. hegemony unique is that it consists, not of control over great land masses or population centers, but of a global presence unlike that of any other country in history.”
What destroys empires? Often it is not a weakened military. Many empires throughout the ages have fallen having a strong military. Obviously there are other external factors that weigh in the balance. The financial stability of a nation affects its overall strength. The US is strong militarily but its economic structure is weakening more and more every day. And of course the elements we refer to as the agents of destruction are a heavy debt load and a currency that is losing its value around the world.
“Weakening dollar reflects USA’s fading world status” “The U.S. dollar, long the undisputed king of international exchange, is — like this nation’s prestige on the world stage — sagging badly. Economists differ over what this downturn signals, but this much is clear: The American greenback has lost its luster abroad.” “The dollar’s declining value, Cole says, results from this nation’s growing national debt and staggering trade deficit.” “We’re running internal deficits, which we’re asking foreigners to fund for us. And then we keep pumping dollars to those people so they can send us cheap goods. This depreciation of the U.S. dollar is in lieu of the United States … paying our own way,” Cole says.” “Once the world’s economic strongman, the U.S. economy is much less that today. And unless the United States gets its financial house in order, Cold War history might need to reconsider its verdict on winners and losers.” USA Today
It’s not too late to invest in gold related equities to take advantage of their wealth generating attributes. We are living in the last days of cheap resources and cheap commodities. By David Vaughn
Gold Letter, Inc.
P.S. Think about your life and what you have done with so far.
November 15th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Economic Collapse: The Financial Death of the US Empire
Doug Bandow
The American empire is kaput. Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama realizes that fact yet, but the myth of the omnipotent unipower, the essential nation, the country which declares that what it says goes, has been exposed to all. The Iraq debacle sullied Washington’s reputation, but did not destroy the illusion of American indispensability. Assorted politicians, like McCain and Obama, promised to restore US primacy, either through more bluster or better diplomacy. But the financial crash has wrecked the economic basis of America’s imperial pretentions. Washington simply can’t afford to attempt to run the world any longer.
The US stock market has dropped 2500 points in 9 days. Trillions of dollars in wealth disappeared as the Dow lost six years worth of growth. The Bush administration and Congress have tossed ever increasing amounts of money at failing firms, hoping to appease the economic gods, rather as the ancient Canaanites sacrificed children to Baal. But the markets refuse to be appeased, and financial contagion has circled the globe.
Even before the economic crisis spiraled out of control, the US government was effectively broke. The national debt currently stands at $9.8 trillion, up $4 trillion (about 72 percent) since George W. Bush took office. With the pre-bail-out federal deficit in 2009 expected to hit a half trillion dollars, earlier this year Congress upped the debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion. But truly frightening are the many liabilities yet to come due. Uncle Sam is an extraordinary wastral and soft touch, like the person who cosigns notes for relatives, buys rounds of drinks for his friends, and promises everyone he knows that he’ll take care of them.
The federal government makes loans and loan guarantees for most any purpose known to man or woman – education, energy research, housing, agricultural land, airlines, veterans, and more. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is billions of dollars short of the reserves necessary to cover expected bank losses. Washington is on the hook for generous pensions for its own workers as well as billions of dollars in guarantees of pensions for private workers whose companies fail. Then there’s Medicare and Social Security, which together have an unfunded liability – that is, promised benefits exceeding expected revenues – of more than $100 trillion. No one knows where the money is going to come from to pay all of these bills, but that hasn’t stopped Congress from continuing to expand benefits. In 2003 the Republican Congress and Republican president created the Medicare drug benefit without bothering to figure out how to pay for it, adding trillions of dollars more to the system’s unfunded liabilities.
Now the government’s liabilities are going up again, as Congress and the administration spend wildly in an attempt to revitalize the economy. Indeed, the administration and Congress apparently are prepared to bankrupt America to save American business. So far this year they have spent: $850 billion for the Wall Street bailout plus the financial “sweeteners” needed to buy enough votes for passage; $300 billion to bail out the housing industry largely through the Federal Housing Administration; $200 billion in Federal Reserve loans to commercial banks; $200 billion (and probably more) to bail out and essentially nationalize the political piggy banks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; $144 billion or more to buy mortgage-backed securities through Fannie and Freddie (yes, the same entities being bailed out by Uncle Sam because of their past purchases of bad debt); $87 billion to repay JPMorgan Chase for financing Lehman Brothers trades; $85 billion for a loan to bail out and effectively nationalize insurer American International Group; $50 billion to guarantee money market funds; $37.8 billion in a second loan to AIG, $29 billion to finance the buyout of Bear Stearns; $25 billion in loans to the auto industry, which continues to sink as demand for cars falls; $10 billion in direct Treasury Department purchases of mortgage-backed securities; $4 billion in mortgage community grants.
That’s $2 trillion, which is real money even in Washington. It’s even more to the American people, running about $18,000 per household. Some, and hopefully much, of that money eventually will be repaid. But don’t hold your breath. And the bailouts aren’t over. Just two business days after Congress approved the $700 billion buy of bad securities and any other assets desired by the Treasury Secretary, the Federal Reserve announced that it may purchase unsecured short-term corporate debt. If so, the Fed will be directly lending to the firms in the biggest financial trouble with no security; we all know how that is likely to end. Moreover, the Treasury Department says it wants to “directly strengthen the balance sheet of individual institutions” by acting like a common investor and buying an equity stake in companies. Treasury also is considering taking a formal ownership position in US banks, giving them cash directly. The Fed then cut interest rates, even though its ongoing policy of cheap, easy money is one of the primary causes of the boom that just went bust.
As Congress and the president continue to pile debt upon debt, America’s financial problems will cascade. In May the Congressional Budget Office warned: “Budget deficits that grow faster than the economy ultimately become unsustainable. As the government attempts to finance its interest payments by issuing more debt, the rise in deficits accelerates. That, in turn, leads to a vicious circle in which the government issues ever-larger amounts of debt in order to pay ever-higher interest charges. In the end, the costs of servicing the debt outstrip the economic resources available for financing those expenditures. At some point, then, policy has to change: Taxes must be raised, spending must be reduced, or both.”
With the post-bailout 2009 budget deficit now expected to run around one trillion dollars, Uncle Sam may soon have to worry about who is going to buy all of this debt. Will the Chinese continue purchasing securities from a financially irresponsible entity that keeps adding obligations with no obvious means of paying? Will Americans want to take on the increasingly risky paper? Will they be able to afford to do so?
Earlier this year – before the tsunami of federal bailouts covering anyone even walking near Wall Street – Moody’s Investors Services announced that it was considering downgrading federal bonds, citing the government’s failure to fund Social Security and Medicare. “These two programs are the largest threats to the long-term financial health of the United States and to the governments’ AAA rating,” Moody’s Vice President Steven Hess explained. Tom Lemmon, also of Moody’s, warned that “the underlying credit rating of the US government faces the risk of downgrading in the next ten years if solutions are not found to our growing Medicare and Social Security unfunded obligations.” Lowering the investment rating for US debt would hike federal expenditures even more.
As credit dries up and the US economy stalls, how can Washington continue to engage in social engineering the world over? The Iraq war continues. Nearly $600 billion so far has been wasted on Bush’s folly, and the total cost will exceed $2 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and maybe $3 trillion or even more, if Joseph Stiglitz’s and Linda Bilmes’s numbers come true. Getting out now would cut the expense, but many of the costs are impossible to escape, such as the expense of caring for America’s grievously wounded, which will stay with us throughout their lifetimes.
Then there are Washington’s other military activities. America accounts for roughly half of the globe’s military outlays. The US maintains nearly 800 military bases and other facilities around the world. In 2009 Uncle Sam will be spending roughly $515 billion on “normal” military operations – more, in real terms, that at any time since World War II. That means Americans now are spending more per year to patrol the globe than they spent to fight the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War.
But that’s not including Iraq and Afghanistan, which together cost roughly $12 billion a month. Toss in those costs and include some money for unexpected contingencies, and we’re talking $700 billion. That’s the amount of the Wall Street bailout, but an expense that will continue year after year.
It’s one thing to act like the global dominatrix when the country is living on easy street, enjoying record economic growth and government revenue. But as the economy is crashing and Uncle Sam will soon have to visit the equivalent of global loan sharks to finance its operations, the time for the pretention of international hegemony is over.
Why are over-burdened US taxpayers expected to defend the Europeans, who have a larger collective economy and population, from nonexistent threats? Yes, the government in Moscow has an ugly edge, but Vladimir Putin is not the reincarnation of Joseph Stalin and there will be no Red Army dash through Germany and France and on to the Atlantic. And if that was a possibility, then why shouldn’t the Europeans sacrifice a little more of their abundant wealth to defend against it? In fact, with the financial crisis hitting Europe as well, military spending there is likely to drop. Observed Mark Stoker of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, “I can’t see defense is going to escape any kind of austerity measures. It would be very difficult for any government to justify cutting health and education in favor of, say, building two aircraft carriers and buying a load of planes to stick on them.” Surely the US shouldn’t be subsidizing Europe if those nations spend even less on their own defense. What they spend for the military obviously is their decision to make, but they should bear the full consequences of whatever decision they do make.
Even worse, why should Washington take on the role of protecting former pieces of the Soviet Union and even the Russian empire? We should wish the Baltic States, Georgia, and Ukraine well. But they never counted as a security interest to America. Just how much US money and blood should be spent to guarantee Georgia’s right to supress secessionists and settle a century-old feud to its satisfaction? If Europe believes this to be an important goal, wonderful. Let the Europeans spend the money and take the risks necessary to make it happen.
It is equally nonsensical for America to continue subsidizing the defense of Japan, which has the second or third largest economy in the world, depending on the measure used. Yet it spends less than one percent of its GDP on defense, a quarter of America’s burden. The ongoing economic crisis is a good time to tell Tokyo: you’re a big country now, so defend yourself and your region.
The same goes for South Korea. It possesses one of the largest economies in the world and has 40 times the GDP of its decrepit northern antagonist. A majority of younger South Koreans say they fear America more than North Korea. Why are nearly 26,000 US troops still on station there? Bring them home and demobilize them, while the Republic of Korea takes over responsibility for its own defense. South Korea has matured. It should act like it and take on “adult” international responsibilities.
Finally, it’s time for Washington to give up on nation-building. Social engineering is difficult enough at home. It’s well-nigh impossible for outsiders, especially naïve and ignorant – even if well-intentioned – Americans, to transcend history, tradition, geography, religion, ethnicity, and culture to remake other societies. Iraq has been a catastrophe. We’ve been trying to fix Haiti for more than a century. Arresting warlords in Somalia was one of Washington’s dumbest ideas. Neither Bosnia nor Kosovo are real countries, despite years of American attention.
And, to be perfectly blunt, who cares if they become real countries? We should be concerned about the mistreatment of people everywhere. But Washington has demonstrated no competence in setting foreign nations right, and ivory tower humanitarians have no right to risk the lives of our brave servicemen and women in the name of a glorious crusade for democracy in Mesopotamia, the Balkans, Caribbean, Africa, or anywhere else. War truly must be a last resort, which means no resort at all unless American society truly is at risk in some fundamental way. No wars of choice or convenience, no matter how easy and cheap they appear likely to be.
The American economy will eventually recover from its current trauma. But the myth of US omnipotence likely is shattered forever. Over the last six years the US has tossed away its moral superiority, diplomatic indispensability, and military infallibility. Now it has lost its economic security. Washington is broke, having made a succession of financial promises the country can ill afford to cover.
There was never a good time for empire. But if there ever was a good time, it has passed. Instead of attempting to micro-manage global affairs, America should again become a normal country, strong enough to protect itself, but no longer claiming responsibility for maintaining global security, stability, and prosperity. Doing so isn’t possible, at least at an affordable price.
Empire isn’t worth the risk to American society or the lives of American military personnel. It certainly isn’t worth the cost, especially at a time of economic crisis. Let us make John Quincy Adams’ apt dictum the lodestar of our new foreign policy: America “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”
November 15th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Wow! Eric,seems to me that you got financial stuff together man! What do you think of Ron Paul?
November 15th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
So For all those Americans out there who do not believe in Karma .Now is your oppotunity to see it in action
America has ruined country after country with their fascist regime and attempt at global dominance …whilst its people go on living in their plastic Micky mouse world of fast food and dental perfection ..Addicted to TV sitcoms, soaps and personal advice shows . Oblivious to the harm their life style has created globally . Now the balance sheet of mother nature is being signed sealed and delivered .
It was Inevitable !
November 16th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Micro chipmunkey
You fellas from Langley are all over these sites, aren’t YA!
I trust this site though. Unlike InformationClearing House Gang of Hoods that run that site (such as Tom Feeley, who is an agent) This site at least the owner is vocal and interactive with his audience, like Michael Rivero.
I really detest the CIA/Mossad/Russian Mafia/NSA and just about anyone connected to these thugs.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I just have one thing to say…umm….. WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!! Say goodbye to loved ones and embrace the dark storm that is approaching. Let it feast upon your human will and independence. The founding fathers died in vain apparently.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Eric, but if you had to write a fortune cookie and condense all that to say 5 words…what would it be…use 6 if need be.
November 16th, 2008 at 1:00 am
micromonkey…yes, America has some splainin to do but so do all the European nations…especially London…and the Khazar states…who lent the money to Hitler? and Churchill? Who moved into the whitehouse with Woodrow Wilson…
and your hatred for straight teeth tips off the fact you are most likely British…
November 16th, 2008 at 1:03 am
of course your phrasing of OppOtunity suggests you may indeed be JJ Walker…
November 16th, 2008 at 1:35 am
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Good friendly people!!
November 16th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Tired of flouride in the water? Want a way to make more money without having to put in long hours in a fascist employment type of environment?
Support the earth here and find out all kinds of great information by clicking: “Click Here to Become
a Preferred Customer!” and “Join Now”:
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Good stuff!
November 16th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
World leaders bringing Order out of Chaos. divide and Conquer! The Nwo is into effect, I urge all of you to watch the movie “Children of Men.” Maybe a soon Reality! Look for the clues
in this movie, a hint of what is to come globally!
November 16th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
New World Order, they can have it, after all they created it as an inhuman method to transfer wealth from the people who produce it to the one percent club that control everything.
End the new world order by not participating in it, think local, act local.
Drop your Ipod and your cell, turn off CNN and think about who you are, what you want and what kind of World that we can build without banks or an oppressive monetary system and governments that keep us on a never ending treadmill.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I have known for the past 30 years this would all be happening. Call it premonition, call it spirit of decernment…. Listen to #11. I’m tring to get off the grid but we have no fricken privacy.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Legalizing weed would…
Save State outgoing funds
Provide low cost:
-clothing material
-building material
- fuels (instead of bio fuels using corn)
-paper products
-Health care (homeopathic use saving billions of Medicare users state appointed funds in doctor visits and medications)
~cancer
~glaucoma
~headache
~appetite inducer
~depression (major contributor here!)
~many many more
Creating:
-Trees for carbon reversal
-less dependence from fossil fuel
-Thousands of jobs
-less drug addicts
-less pill addicts
-less mental sickness
-less pushers
-less violence
-over 25% less prison congestion on non violent offenders
-rebirth of a partial bartering system
-open revenue of cash from saved expenses (prisons, health care, pharmaceutic research, & war on drugs funding) redirected to paying our national debt.
-An easy way to save America.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:29 am
November 17th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Think local, act local!!! awesome also remember to watch what the do with the water now.
http://www.flowthefilm.com