The laws of progress, Part two

Today socialcritics and historians have suggested an end to history, according to them humanity has reached a point of progress which cannot be surpassed and the radical changes in earlier history is a thing of the past. In our progressive era, man has seized to be a hostage of ideologies and is from here on mainly guided by compromise and co-operation. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What these historians have missed or wilfully ignored is the incredible changes taking place in the world’s communities today, changes which are highly ideological and haven’t gone unnoticed by anyone even though some might not understand how severe these changes are for our future and where they are derived from.

After a peace agreement had been signed between America and The Soviet Union in effect ending their power struggle a huge power vacuum emerged due to the forfeit by the Soviet leadership, a power vacuum that no one seemed to be able to fill, except for America.

It was therefore within the American leadership largely agreed that America should fill that void and reign supreme, the methods of how to achieve this might have differed but not the general ideas, it was regarded as essential that America was to be a beacon of light in a dark world, a place of freedom and democracy, a land like no other which could lead mankind into a century more prosperous than ever before.

This was a beginning of a modern power struggle within the government which took place from the end of the cold war until today, many victories have been made by one side since then but the war within is in a sense still going on.

The players in this game of global chess was of course thousands of individuals with diverse interests and game plans but a few essential ones should be mentioned, , firstly is the Neoconservatives in the Republican party such as Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld.

Especially Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld were essential due to their membership in PNAC (The project for the new American century) which is a highly influential organisation with members such as Robert Zoellick, The World Bank president, and deep connections within both the American and the Israeli security apparatuses.

The group’s main objective is the creation of a U.S. –lead world order.
Dick Cheney was also a highly influential character due to his mentor-like relationship with the former U.S. President and his powerful network within the executive branch of the government.

On the other side of the battlefield stood a collection of more moderate advocates of US supremacy, a few notable fighters is Bush Senior, former Secretary of state Colin Powell and former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft.

They were all hesitant towards the invasion of Iraq and suggested other, less aggressive ways of responding to the attack on America on the 11^th of September, 2001. 

However, the radical neocons with Dick Cheney in front had bigger plans for Americas future, what they wanted to achieve was essentially what every leader of great political power wishes for, a global empire, to achieve this, a leader needs three things, a faith, an enemy and a prize. With the fall of the USSR America was missing practically all three of them but after 9/11 an opportunity of grand proportions arose.

Trough the attacks they gained an enemy, the terrorists, he already had his own faith, free trade democracy and the prize was what he as a man with a background in the oil business had probably always desired, US control over the worlds energy supply. 

With these three pillars he saw an opportunity to build a new world for the next century and hopefully beyond. Backed by the Israel lobby, right-wing Christians, The arms and energy industries and with a frightened American public demanding revenge in order to feel relieved and slip back into their safe little bubble Cheney just had to convince a single person, the then president of the United States of America, George W Bush.

With his father unsupportive of the war due to more moderate views and perhaps because of the fact that his loyalty was entrusted rather to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia than to Israel many people within the administration would have guessed that Bush Junior would have gone in his fathers footsteps and denied Cheney his Empire but George W Bush Junior determined to be his own man, went against his father and declared war.

In Craig Unger’s book the Fall of The House of Bush, based on interviews with people with great insight in this power struggle it is claimed that George W Bush was the victim of a very skilful manipulation by his power-hungry mentor, it’s also been claimed that this betrayal is the real reason behind George H W Bush’s tears during his speech to Florida’s legislators where he was praising his other son, Jeb Bush.

After the invasions of Iraq that followed the invasion of Afghanistan America has gone even further, the neoconservative wing of the national security apparatus suggested in the late 90’s, seven states which they considered to be states in need of a regime change, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Syria.

These states all have a few things in common, they all have strong forces within the country negative towards Israel and America, they are all heavy influenced by Islam and many of them are extremely rich in energy resources, especially Iran and Iraq.

 They also have a very important geographic role; these countries are placed around America’s middle eastern allies Israel and Saudi Arabia and at the same time around the majority of the worlds energy supply and in a region where a large portion of the world trade has to pass through on its way to its destination.

The geostrategic importance of this area has even been claimed to be of significant importance by the PNAC member himself Paul Wolfowitz in his infamous Defence plan the Wolfowitz Doctrine, where he stressed an invasion of Iraq and increased U.S. influence in global affairs, it was released as early as 1992 but it was quickly rewritten by Dick Cheney and Colin Powell due to public outcry even though many of it’s ideas re-emerged in the Bush Doctrine.

Former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski has also highlighted the importance of this area and in his view control of the Eurasia is the key to America’s power and was to every other superpower in earlier history.

All of these so-called enemy states have had some sort of interference by either Israel or America since the writing of the Wolfowitz Doctrine, Iraq was invaded and it’s leader hanged, Sudan has suffered a civil war, been split in two and was recently bombed by Israel, in addition they also have a small U.S. lead peacekeeping force within the country, Somalia has suffered heavy bombardment by American drones who also support the government military with arms, training and funds.

Syria is suffering a civil war against various rebel groups which have been accused of receiving arms, intelligence and other support from France, Israel,Saudi Arabia and America. Lebanon is heavily involved in Syria’s crisis and is receiving constant threats from Israel of an attack if Hezbollah is not kept under control, the country also risks being pulled into a civil war of it’s own between Syria friendly and western friendly groups if the conflict escalates further.

Libya was invaded in 2011 and it’s leader Khaddaffi was thrown out of office and killed at the hands of rebels, after suffering from torture. Iran seems to be next on the list, with Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria pretty much under US control or with to deep internal problems to put up a fight it’s only a matter of time before America pretty much has Iran surrounded and without strong allies.


Add also the heavy bombing by U.S. drones in Pakistan and the invasion of Afghanistan and it’s easy to understand the gravity of this enormously ambitious battle operation. Its effects on the world are still not quite clear but it’s obvious that it was a major turn in American foreign policy and the events will have grave historic repercussions.

This was made clear by the election of a new U.S. president Barack Obama who despite his ambitions to end the wars instead managed to increase U.S. activity. 

Obama who belongs to the more moderate faction and with a security board handpicked based on the advice of former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, is still unable to do anything to change the course of American foreign policy. If it’s due to apathy or failure I do not know but moderates within the administration used to think that it was a practical impossibility to just withdraw the troops and leave Iraq and Afghanistan to its destiny.

The decision to enter the war may have been incorrect but what’s done is done and the suffering caused by a sudden withdrawal would be worse than the suffering caused by staying seems to be the way the argument goes.

Upon Obama’s election many neoconservatives feared a return to a more moderate and less aggressive foreign policy; any attempt of this was however prevented. By launching a fierce media campaign against Obama mostly through their own media outlet Fox News, the neoconservatives tried to portray Barack Obama as a Muslim, a socialist, a communist, a tyrant, the antichrist and any other anti-American insult you can think of.

They even managed to help spread a rumour that he forged his own birth certificate and isn’t even a real U.S. citizen.

Through this Barack Obama simply had his hands tied, any attempt of him to rebuild the torn relationships with the Arab world, advocate less military spending and put an end to the wars would be easily pictured as an American declaration of defeat by his antagonists. A move easily portrayed as anti-American in a time where the people feel threatened.

With little support in congress he even ratified the NDAA act, giving an additional 662 billion dollars to the national security apparatus and legalizing the right of the government to imprison U.S. citizens suspected of being terrorists without any obligation to give them the right of a fair and just trial.

With all this in mind it’s an accomplishment that he at least managed to get the troops back from Iraq, even though he was helped by the fact that the war was a complete failure according to the official reasons for instigating it. However this didn’t stop him from launching a new intervention in Libya, while increasing U.S. military presence in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Today the conflict at large seems to be in a bit of a standstill where America is plotting to make its next move. Israel has recently launched several attacks against Gaza, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari and countless civilians. Even threats of a ground based invasion have been voiced. The Israeli and various supportive lobby groups advocate a sudden attack on Iran to get a new regime in place. Voices are also being raised for an intervention in Syria.

The American public, theoretically the rulers of the nation,  seem anxious to end the war and so does the people in the concerned region, chances are high that the next move will be determined during this presidency, whilst Mitt Romney was a strong supporter of the Israeli stance Obama has taken a more careful view, he seems afraid to anger the Israeli leadership to much, he’s stated that Iran will not get the chance to acquire nuclear arms and that such a move will be stopped by any means necessary, he has on the other hand not supported an invasion and seems reluctant to throw America in yet another Middle eastern conflict.

In a way this next presidency will be a strong test of U.S. democracy, if Barack Obama decides to invade Iran or Syria it’s proven without a doubt that the neoconservative hardliners are in complete control within the military administration, no matter who is elected president or what he’s views on foreign policy matters is they run the show.

It will also be proof of the American leaderships complete disregard for reality, the three goals of the operation, to win the war on terror, spread democracy and free trade and to gain control of the worlds energy supply have all failed. High-ranking military officials and analysts have stated that the threats to America is greater than ever before, the war on terror has actually increased the number of potential terrorists and flooded the region with arms and desperate people willing to grab them.

Hillary Clinton showed her unwillingness to face reality when she asked herself how a U.S. Ambassador could have been attacked in a country that she and her co-workers supposedly liberated.

All over the region anti-American and pro-Islam movements are gaining ground, even in the countries with no real stake in the matter resentment towards America is growing, take for example Latin America, a region long plagued by failed American leadership, There is now a strong leftist anti-American coalition steadily being created with new ideas, institutions and fierce resistance to U.S. dominance. Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro seem to be the strongest figures in this group but their views are reaching new heights also in other countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Brazil.

These movements are not only gaining ground but also working together with each other, for instance the two leading countries in these separate movements Venezuela and Iran have an excellent relationship and both countries get the occasional friendly gesture from both China and Russia.

Even in Europe, Americas most reliable ally is starting to question American leadership, all over the continent nationalist parties unwilling to accept the current state of the world are rewriting the rules of the political game. This development is so far strongest in Eastern Europe but even in the more Americanized western-Europe the support of these movements are increasing.

In it’s desperation to topple Saddam, the middle class in Iraq , historically the key component of every democratic take over, has been steadily erased by the U.S. , now forces are gaining ground with the complete opposite views of American based democracy.

The process is now being repeated in Iran where U.S. and European sanctions is hitting hardest at the middle class, erasing their savings and actually forcing them to seek protection at the hands of the regime which now has an even easier task then before to identify America as the number one enemy to their society. 

The aggressive foreign policy created by the neocons is not only harming millions of people world-wide but their also strengthening Americas enemies; even though officially the aim of the policies are to promote democracy the effects are opposite. Instead of bringing peace, democracy and prosperity these policies are bringing war, oppression and poverty, this is undermining the American world order instead of strengthening it.

Add the enormous national debt, an exhausted American public still unsatisfied by the unfulfilled promises of hope and change, a steady devaluation of the dollar and a congress unwilling to cooperate with the countries president it’s a bit of an understatement to claim that Barack Obama is in over his head.