Plus

Plus

The empire without clothes
By Louis Benedict and Ameen Izzadeen
In our global position scenario for 2002 from a Third World perspective, we focused awareness on the emergence of what we and most Third World analysts see as the biggest, the most powerful and the most destructive empire in world history.
Unlike the Roman or the British empires, which invaded and plundered Third World resources openly though they claimed to be doing it in the name of civilization, the new empire which is unseen works out its strategies through cyberspace with subtle and sophisticated technology or weapons of mass deception.

The George Bush administration with its high priests, Pharisees and Ayatollahs in Washington working under what is known as the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rice (BCRR) Corporation would call this all powerful and ever-present empire the coalition of the willing. But Third World prophets like Arundathy Roy refer to it as the coalition of the bullied and the bought.

Led by the Texan Caesar with a burning Bush zeal and image, the new empire essentially comprises the Group of Eight and works through global giants like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and a multitude of related sub agents like the ADB. They generally propagate crumbs-from-the-table charity instead of justice and have brought about a situation where we see not so much poverty reduction as poverty production and the gap between the rich and the poor widening to catastrophic levels. Latest figures show that as much as 85 percent of the world's wealth and resources are now in the hands of about 15 percent of the world’s population comprising the ruling and privileged elite, with the gap widening and the trickle-down theory drowning in reality.

Subtle attempts
The new empire's agenda or global power strategy is apparently to grab control of the Third World's remaining resources as seen in the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and in subtle attempts to privatize water supplies and even ground water in various countries, including Sri Lanka.

The new empire with its international double agents and transnational corporations often puts on an act on the lines of James Bond's Thunderball. It is not Fleming’s fiction but a fact of international life and the sooner the countries and the people of the Third World come to a wider awareness of it, the better would be the chances of resisting and overcoming.

That is the thrust of this 2003 world analysis and we hope that leaders, thinkers and the people of the Third World would look beneath the surface and try to find out the stories behind the stories that come through world TV channels and other sources which are directly or indirectly controlled and manipulated by the forces of the new empire.

As stated in Thunderball, "He always runs while others walk; he acts while others just talk; he looks at the world and wants it all - they call him Thunderball". The new empire powered by the Texan Caesar and the Washington BCRR Corporation appears to want it all and in the process the world sees even the hijacking of religion.

Though the new empire and its media giants often accuse Osama bin Laden and other militants of hijacking Islam, a story not often told concerns the hijacking of Christianity with the creation of a worldwide American gospel based on wealth, prosperity and success with Mr. Bush being virtually projected as the new messiah or a god. It appears to be creation in reverse with stories from Genesis to Revelation being retold or rewritten according to an American script; so much so that Christians today would need to choose between American Christianity and the Gospel of the poor Jesus of Nazareth.

Though the empire of empires appears to be riding high and mighty on a wave of shock and awe, what is happening in Iraq now is seen as a sign that the all-powerful will be cast from their thrones and that the lowly or the dispossessed will be raised to get their fair share in a new society of justice and equality.

The Bush war machine battered and brutalized Iraq on the basis that it was searching for weapons of mass destruction. All the Bush war horses and experts found little or nothing but with the capture of the apparently drugged former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Washington started describing Saddam as the weapon of mass destruction. Not many would buy that story and the intensity of the ongoing popular uprising and resistance in Iraq shows every sign that the regime change in Iraq, with which Mr. Bush was obsessed, may now take possession of him and the world may see a regime change in Washington at next November's presidential elections.

As we wrote this analysis, the news headline was of the detection of a mad cow in Washington with Japan and South Korea immediately rushing to ban beef imports from the United States. But the imagery of the mad cow may go far beyond BSF and beef-steaks with the very future of President Bush being at stake.

The year began with the US building up troops around Iraq, with the military show of force being backed by gunboat diplomacy to bypass or undermine the United Nations itself. UN weapons inspectors led by the outspoken and widely respected Hans Blix were bullied but could not be bought – unlike the Blairs and the Berlusconis who were widely seen as American lapdogs with personal or parochial interests taking priority.
Warning in the sky.

As the transatlantic Bush-Blair Corporation - the BBC of the new empire - finalized its plans for one of the most blistering attacks in history, there was a fireball warning sign in the skies; but it appeared to have only hardened the hearts of the modern pharaohs and their new Babylon empire. The sign from the heavens in February was the catastrophe of the Columbia space shuttle, as an apparent technical defect carried the craft not to its landing point but to a hell of death. Strangely, Columbia exploded over a village called Palestine in the Bush home-state of Texas and was probably symbolic of what most independent analysts see as the real axis of evil - the Bush-Sharon-Blair axis.

As the conflict and confusion got more complex, we saw the year ending with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowing to go solo in working out his own road map for the region – of course gobbling up the occupied West Bank by building a security wall. Two days before Christmas, his troops blasted refugee areas in Gaza, provoking Palestinian militant groups to threaten more attacks or suicide bombings like those which rocked the region several times during the year.

In March, apparently not influenced by the ides of his Roman predecessor, President Bush unleashed guided missiles, cluster bombs and the mother of all bombs on Iraq. For the first time, the world saw live TV coverage as millions of blistering bombs turned the night skies orange.

Whatever the politics or the military dynamics of this adventure, the economic or business dimension was that the giant arms manufacturers and dealers who backed the Bush administration got an opportunity to test their new weapons on the innocent people of Iraq. These business giants would have got new contracts worth billions of dollars with insider trading and wheeler dealing on a massive scale. The scandal surrounding the Halliburton company of which Vice President Dick Cheney was once the CEO is a case in point. The company not only got most of the contracts to rebuild Iraq but allegedly charged blackmarket rates from the very administration which gave it preferential treatment.

No weapons of mass destruction were found and neither was Saddam Hussein. But on April 9, Saddam's statue in Baghdad was pulled down, and on May 1, President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over. It was then seen as a victory speech, but the May 1 message may now sound more like a mayday distress signal.

What appears to be emerging in Iraq is not just another Vietnam, but possibly an Armageddon for a final conflict. The Bush empire might project it as a battle between the civilized world and the evil forces of terrorism. But most countries and the people of the Third World would see it from a totally different perspective as a battle between the rich world and the Third World of the dispossessed and marginalized people.

While the west was still living largely on trees, one of the world's greatest civilizations had flourished in Iraq. The priceless heritage of this Mesopotamian civilization was ruthlessly plundered after the US invasion of Iraq raising major questions as to who needed to be civilized by whom. It also brought back horrifying memories of how the native people of the land now known as America were butchered and had their resources plundered by white settlers who whitewashed themselves as paragons of civilization.

SARS outbreak
While the world stage was dominated by the advances and the adventurism of the Bush empire, mystery and fear gripped the world with the outbreak of what came to be known as the SARS epidemic in April. This Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome which a Sri Lankan scientist thought was from outerspace caused horror in several Asian countries and spread as far as Canada.

Thousands of people wore face-masks and fever tests were carried at many airports. Thankfully, the battle was won, at least temporarily, and the WHO declared, three months ago, that SARS was overcome, though isolated cases were reported from Taiwan and Singapore this month.

The battle between the privileged and the dispossessed world took a significant turn in September when the Third World virtually rebelled against the policy and the thrust of the WTO. At the Cancun meeting, the Third World led by India, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia and others insisted they would not sign the TRIPS agreement until rich countries compromised on the huge subsidies they were offering to their farmers. By the year’s end, President Bush settled the dispute he had with his G-8 partners over US steel imports, but collectively the rich world has shown little desire or inclination to give the Third World a fair deal in world trade.

One of the powerful and prophetic personalities leading the Third World battle was Malaysia's veteran prime minister, Mahathir Mohamed. He retired in November this year after more than two decades of exemplary leadership during which he carried not only Malaysia but also Asia and the Third World to new heights and a new voice.
Significantly, one of Dr. Mahathir's last acts was to swipe his work card out. He had done it dutifully everyday as an example to his people not only in hardwork but also in humility and a humble lifestyle of servant leadership.

Closer home, India and Pakistan were behaving pro-actively as shown by Mahathma Gandhi and taking practical steps towards crisis-management and conflict resolution, especially on the explosive Kashmir issue.

This month, Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, who narrowly survived an assassination attempt, made the most significant move by saying his country was ready to drop one of its main demands on Kashmir. With this spirit of accommodation and signs that both countries were moving to the hallowed middle path, South Asia marks the end of 2003 on a hopeful note with the much postponed South Asian summit also now set to take place in Islamabad next month.

The new empire ends the year offering the Third World a tempting new apple saying it is the best democracy money can buy. But as investigative journalist Greg Palast says in a bombshell book, the Third World needs to search for the truth about globalisation – which most independent analysts see as a new 'brand name' for old forms of international investment and exploitation. The thinkers and the people of the Third World would do well to make a New Year resolution to learn more about or investigate the corporate cons, high finance fraudsters and the political deception or diabolical deceit of the new empire.

Back to Plus