The US Empire appears to be floundering on many fronts.
Perhaps the most profound areas are in the realm of economics. There's a
growing cadre of world leaders that are finding ways to not only irritate
American hegemony but in some cases openly defy it.
Sometimes the messages are subtle and other times they're
pretty outspoken.
The move by the so-called BRICS countries...Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa to create their own development bank is a
geo-political throwing down of the gauntlet.
This is a direct threat to the aspirations of US (and EU) dominated
globalization as administered through the IMF and World Bank.
If the developing world has other alternatives, then the US
and its sometime ally the EU will have no way to pressure and leverage poorer
countries into accepting the policies desired by the international business community
and the political forces that it finances.
Weaker countries that attempt this are often under a more
direct threat. Ecuador's Correa (while still finance minister) attempted to use
oil profits for social programmes and was quickly corrected by the World Bank.
Privatization and the reduction of social programme spending are mandatory
provisions for World Bank loans.
Not long after Correa (by then something of a national hero)
took over as president of Ecuador and began seeking a loan with Chavez of
Venezuela. These actions led to a great deal of animosity and a vicious response
from the United States in the form of faux and provocateur inspired grass roots
protests in 2010. Some have viewed it as a coup attempt.
The US of course denies all involvement.
The US can try to push around some of the poorer nations in
Latin America but it's becoming more difficult. The nature of the game has
changed and either the US is getting sloppy, or it's getting tougher or a lot
more people are on to them.
Venezuela and Ecuador
have benefitted from the commodity boom that has taken place over the past
couple of decades. It's given them some muscle and ability to stand on their
own two feet.
Brazil on the other hand has to dance a bit more carefully.
On the one hand its star is ascendant and it is trying to enter the US
dominated upper tier of nations. But at the same time there have been quite a
few incidents in recent years that have given the leadership occasion to pause
and wonder if the US is really befriending them or using them.
Like the commodity rich nations of Central Asia, Brazil is
trying to keep a degree of autonomy and in this case is throwing in with a
coalition of nations that are either somewhat hostile to US policy (Russia and
China) or wary and trying to steer a middle course (India and South Africa).
It's interesting to observe. The Snowden revelations have
also played a part in this especially when it comes to a nation like Brazil.
They're well aware of the game the United States is playing in Latin America.
They're benefitting from some of it but in some cases it has proved
detrimental.
They have not supported US policy with regard to Honduras
where many understand that a US supported (if not instigated) coup took place.
I think Brazil also feels somewhat betrayed by Bush's
inaction when Morales of Bolivia nationalized the natural gas industry. This
directly harmed Brazilian supply as well as Petrobras, the massive Brazilian
energy conglomerate.
But Bush was a little tied down in 2006. The Iraq War was
rapidly reaching its worst point. The US hasn't been idle. They're beefing up
military activity next door in Paraguay and making various moves around the
continent. God willing I'll write more on that later. I had an interesting
conversation with an American Reservist who recently spent some time there.
One thing you can count on... the mainstream media in the
United States is not going to give the background to BRICS or much of anything
happening in Latin America.
The US is reaching a crisis point. Will it continue its
massive military project at domestic expense or will it begin to scale back and
give up the Empire?
Or worse, will it simply break resulting in both domestic
and international crises, perhaps on an unprecedented scale? When US hegemony
ends it will create a lot of problems around the world as the dust tries to
settle. If it breaks apart quickly (as the USSR did) the ramifications will
play out over several decades.
Here are some pertinent links:
