Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

History stands on the side of the people. In Peru, Father Paul McAuley, has led the fight to protect the Amazon Rainforest around Mazan (a settlement on a tributary of the Amazon River). The Peruvian government has practically given away the Peru's forests to transnational corporations at the orders of the World Bank to privatize Peru's resources. A familiar tale of transferring wealth out of nations while loading debt onto those same nations.

Father McAuley argues:

"The government first sold off the oil to foreign companies, then the forests, and now they say they'll be selling off the rivers," he told The Independent on Sunday. "The authorities are supposed to make economic, social and environmental surveys before timber concessions are granted, but none has been carriedout."

Also typical is that the President of Peru is a former employee or the World Bank. In Bolivia, the former head of the energy ministry is a oil company consultant. In Afghanistan, the President is a former consultant for Unocal. In the U.S., we watch the revolving door of corporate power and political power brought to its fruition in the persons of the Bush Administration - certainly the most corporate of any administration the U.S. has ever seen.

One might well ask about the transmutation of economic power into political power and whose interests are being served.

This, of course throws into high relief some potential shifts that are going on elsewhere. The questionable state of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia raises degrees of certainty about the "friendship" between the House of Saud and the U.S. Under King Fahd a deal was struck between U.S. oil, economic, and political interests, to make Saudi Arabia a jewel in exchange for privileged status for the U.S. (and its corporate representatives), and protection of the rulership of the House of Saud. Now, the King lies failing in a hospital and who will rule next rests in the balance. Will, Crown Prince Abdullah slip Fahd's leash and follow his support of a reformist strategy, or will Defence Minister, Prince Sultan who is more supportive of fundamentalist Islam take the reins (Independent/UK, 5/29/05)?

Do these changes and challenges across the globe have anything to do with the Bush Administration's review of the war on terrorism? Apparently, there is talk of expanding the focus beyond al Qaeda, and to the broader "violent extremism," but the focus still remains on "radical Islam" - belying the revoked construction of the "conflict" as a "crusade." The Post article does give backhanded acknowledgement to the role that the U.S. invasion of Iraq has had on the growth of "terrorism:"

Much of the discussion has focused on how to deal with the rise of a new generation of terrorists, schooled in Iraq over the past couple years. Top government officials are increasingly turning their attention to anticipate what one called "the bleed out" of hundreds or thousands of Iraq-trained jihadists back to their home countries throughout the Middle East and Western Europe. "It's a new piece of a new equation," a former senior Bush administration official said. "If you don't know who they are in Iraq, how are you going to locate them in Istanbul or London?"

Of course, much of the "war on terrorism" in South America is couched in the funding for the "war on drugs" but serves the same purposes of manipulating who is in power, and protection of U.S. "interests."

Pick your spot on the globe, and the bloody dynamics of the confluence of affluence rears its ugly head. It is not coincidence that the U.S. is intimately involved in virtually every conflict. It is not the oft bemoaned "U.S. as global cop" sticking its nose in everywhere. It is the networks of power and influence being manipulated and protected by U.S. "interest." This scenario is not confined to the Bush Administration - they have simply brought the whole process to a new level. "Manifest Destiny" did not die with the theft of what became the United States from its rightful owners, it simply moved to the larger stage of the entire planet.