Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
| ||||||||||||
Economic Expansion
Archived Articles
2004
Current Articles | 2004 | 2003 | 2002Fallujah 101 (November 12, 2004)
After years of British domination, the US has taken over from the colonial power in Iraq. The bombing of Fallujah resembles the British bombing of the country in 1920 to regain control of the region, and foreign ownership of valuable resources dates back to the early 20th century when large Western oil companies controlled Iraqi oil. This article ties the resistance in Fallujah to the long struggle against foreign troops on Iraqi soil. (In These Times)Are the War and Globalization Really Connected? (October 2004)
Foreign Policy in Focus believes links between the war and corporate globalization, such as Halliburton contracts and tax cuts, may demonstrate the Bush administration’s “opportunistic behavior” but could also signify a trend towards “freeing” markets with military action. Instead, the anti-war and globalization movements need to focus more theoretically on how war and the control of oil reserves affect the US and the global economy.West Africa: Where the Empire Will Come to Ruin (September 27, 2004)
US-trained antiterror agency the Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorist Initiative aims "at stopping militant groups gaining a foothold in a region which already provides 15 percent of US oil supplies." This article claims that as the US boosts its military presence in Western Africa it possibly faces its ultimate downfall. (Balkanalysis.com)US Engages Africa in Terror Fight (September 17, 2004)
The US expands its “antiterrorism” efforts in a massive program for recruiting and training soldiers in nine African countries. Analysts expect the 15 percent of US oil originating from Africa to double within the next decade in the very “hotspots” where Washington focuses its military activities. (Christian Science Monitor)Oil, Guns and Money (September 2, 2004)
In an excerpt from Oil: Anatomy of an Industry the author argues that US troop redeployment is not about "fighting terrorism" and "ensuring global stability" but "making sure no one messes with American access to global energy resources." Considering the unstable nature of oil-rich regions and a less-than-favorable international climate, America may get the oil it needs, but at what cost? (Salon.com)Deadlock in Georgia: An Incremental Gain for Russia (August 16, 2004)
The United States has established a military presence in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to protect its access to the vital oil resources of the Caucasus. Conflict over the region's energy supplies could eventually lead to overt confrontation between the US and Russia, but in the short term the rival powers seem content with preserving the status quo. (Power and Interest News Report)US and France Begin a Great Game in Africa (August 11, 2004)
France and the United States have engaged in a growing competition for favors in oil- rich North and West Africa. Both Paris and Washington are supporting African military dictators while seeking access to their natural resources. According to many analysts, “over the next five years a quarter of non-Gulf oil on the world market will come from sub-Saharan Africa.” (Inter Press Service)Reinventing US Foreign Aid at Millennium Challenge Corp. (August 10, 2004)
The US takes a new approach in foreign aid through the Millennium Challenge Corp., an enterprise combining Wall Street savvy and conservative ideology to regulate and monitor impoverished countries’ use of US aid money. To receive foreign aid, countries must “qualify” in accordance with strict criteria. (Washington Post)As Threats to Oil Facilities Rise, US Military Becomes Protector (June 30, 2004)
Claiming to protect offshore oil wells from sabotage by terrorists, the United States assumed the role of “oil police” in the Persian Gulf. The Wall Street Journal argues that the US Coast Guard’s presence in the Gulf is only one part of a “globe-spanning and open-ended US campaign” to guard the world’s oil resources, a campaign that involves the work of US military forces in the Caucusus, Columbia and Yemen.Worldwide Economy Roars Ahead (April 16, 2004)
While the US remains a military superpower, it faces increased economic competition from Japan, China, EU and India. The Director of the Institute for International Economics, C. Fred Bergsten, says that the Bush administration will have to resort to less unilateral economic policies to stay in the “league.” (Christian Science Monitor)Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea Launched (April 14, 2004)
The “Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea” urges the Australian government to respect East Timor's sovereignty and to negotiate a fair maritime boundary between the two countries. Further, the movement insists that the Australian government stop allowing companies to explore petroleum in the seabed territory that is closer to East Timor than to Australia. (East Timor Action Network)Dumping Crude (March 12, 2004)
This article argues that US insatiable need for oil from oil-rich regions, and its desire to protect its self-interest, have contributed to the political instability and conflicts in these regions, in turn fueling global terrorism. (TomPaine.com)Conservatives Use Oil to Keep Heat on Mideast (March 9, 2004)
In order to secure its long-term oil interests and to weaken the Middle East's oil dominance, Washington conspired to launch a "cutting world oil prices campaign" and to steer away from the region's oil. This article argues such a campaign could eliminate the possibility of an Arab oil "threat" to the US and therefore strengthen US hegemony in the region. (Inter Press Service)Storm Brews Over US Trade Policies (February 16, 2004)
Former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz suggests that when it comes to international trade, the US commitment is not to free trade, but instead to “getting other countries to give access to American producers to their markets.” (BBC)In Quest for Energy Security, US Makes New Bet: on Democracy (February 4, 2004)
With US companies trying to secure long-term energy supplies, Washington has changed its Middle East strategy from maintaining political stability in the region to changing the political system in individual countries. The US uses the war on terror as an excuse to put “reliable” regime into place, as the case of Iraq has illustrated. (Wall Street Journal)On the Dark Side of Democracy (January 31, 2004)
The author queries the Western liberal view that free markets and democracy are essential to the development and prosperity of poorer countries. Instead she argues the implementation of free-market democracy may inspire potentially catastrophic ethnonationalism, leading to hate-mongering, discrimination and even genocidal violence. (New York Times)Ambitions of Empire: the Bush Administration Economic Plan for Iraq (and Beyond) (January 20, 2004)
The Bush administration contracted US consulting firm BearingPoint to “facilitate” the complete economic reconstruction of Iraq. This article rejects BearingPoint’s plan as a “chicken soup of the most extreme corporate globalization policies past and present” designed to radically alter Iraq’s entire economy and expose its resources to wholesale foreign acquisition. (LeftTurn Magazine)That WSF Bubble (January 20, 2004)
This Indian Express article argues the World Social Forum (WSF) needs to engage with “the popular WSF narrative of the three pillars of an American-led evil empire: the IMF, World Bank and WTO,” to improve the world.US Financial Power: A Bang and a Whimper (January 15, 2004)
No-one denies the extent of US economic power and international influence. Less certain is how and why it exercises this power – critics charge the US with abusing its economic power for imperial control, whilst supporters claim the US exercises its power in a relatively benevolent, even absent-minded manner.(Christian Science Monitor)Cracks in the Empire (January - February 2004)
Tariq Ali argues that the “US empire” rests on two pillars: the “Washington Consensus,” including the economic institutions of neoliberalism, and the US military which, with its presence in 121 states, also enforces the neoliberal global consensus. (International Socialist Review)
2003
Current Articles | 2004 | 2003 | 2002US Hegemony: Continuing Decline, Enduring Danger (December 2003)
The US attempts to preserve its advantage over the European Union and Asia through a “belligerent” trade policy and unequalled military power, but its political and economic supremacy is on the decline. The article argues that the US is no longer able to control an increasingly multipolar world, and its attempts to compete with emerging rivals “can only bring devastation and disruption.” (Monthly Review)The New Great Game (October 20, 2003)
Washington uses the “war on terror” as an excuse to promote US energy interests in the Caspian region. (Guardian)Is Aid Helping Military Abuses in Asia? (August 11, 2003)
International donor governments increasingly use the pretext of fighting terrorism to divert development aid to military aid, says this article. In addition, ‘interventionist’ policies, together with militarized development aid, frequently support human rights abuses. (IBON Red)AIDS, Empire, and Public Health Behaviorism (August 2, 2003)
Current anti-AIDS efforts focusing on prevention education assume that poor people have sufficient means to control the circumstances of their lives. Sanjay Basu argues that public health initiatives to fight AIDS must seek to improve socio-economic environments and health infrastructure. (ZNet)The Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor (August 1, 2003)
“The 13,000 richest families in the US now have almost as much income as the 20 million poorest.” This wealth gap shows whom benefits from global military operations linked to free market ideology. (Socialist Worker)Food Bully (July 27, 2003)
The Bush Administration applies its “for us or against us" foreign relations tactics to trade policy and GMOs, particularly with poor countries. However, US companies paid scientists to create GMOs for huge US farms, not small-scale agriculture. (ZNet)Dire States (July 17, 2003)
While the Bush administration has not concerned itself with world opinion, US companies are worried that Washington's foreign policy will inflame anti-Americanism and damage US exports. (Independent)Bomb Before You Buy (July 15, 2003)
Naomi Klein argues that the Bush administration's economic plan for Iraq constitutes one element of a grander strategy to expand the power and wealth of US-based multinational corporations across the globe. (ZNet)New Lords of Africa (July 9, 2003)
Sociologist Saskia Sassen compares the Bush Administration to the warlords of Africa, describing how the US trades money for essential AIDS medicine in return for oil, military bases, access to markets, and support of US foreign policy. (Guardian)Bush Trip: Africa Appreciates the Words, Awaiting the Deeds (July 8, 2003)
Many Africans worry that President Bush offers aid tied to compliance with US foreign policy. "American unilateralism is at odds with African efforts to gain international cooperation to address the most urgent global priorities such as AIDS, poverty and civil conflict, which have the most devastating consequences in Africa." (allAfrica)The Crisis of the Globalist Project and the New Economics of George W. Bush (July 10, 2003)
Director of Focus on the Global South Walden Bello argues that by rejecting the multilateral globalization of the 1990s in favor of a unilateralist approach, the US has overextended its resources while generating worldwide resistance. (One World)The Economics of Empire (May 2003)
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, dominated by the US, impose neoliberal economic policies on much of the developing world, with disastrous results for poorer countries. Meanwhile, wealthy countries hypocritically violate their professed “free trade” principles when it suits them to do so. (Harper's)South America's Emerging Role (April 20, 2003)
According to the Power and Interest News Report, South America will become increasingly important to the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” as instability in the region spreads and oil production is expected to increase.'Ex-presidents Club' Gets Fat on Conflict (March 23, 2003)
The Observer reveals close links between one of the US' most powerful companies and the Pentagon. The Carlyle Group includes an impressive array of politicians and powerful investors who benefit from government war contracts. (Observer)
2002
Current Articles | 2004 | 2003 | 2002The End of Empire (September 23, 2002)
America’s growing trade deficit compounded with decreasing confidence in the US economy and the government's role as sole superpower will lead to the eventual demise of US global hegemony. (Nation)War on Terrorism Has Oily Undercurrent (September 3, 2002)
This article argues that competing commercial interests hide behind the war on terrorism. While the public, through the media, see warn-torn people and land in Afghanistan, energy companies see potential profits. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)Oil and War (June 2002)
This article states that “to map” the Bush Administrations “ ‘war on terrorism’ is to map the world’s oil.” The authors argue that as “the US is increasingly dependent on foreign oil,” September 11th opened up new possibilities to target the oil rich Central Asian countries. (War Times)Afghanistan Aims to Revive Pipeline Plans (May 30, 2002)
Turkmen, Pakistani, and Afghan leaders, meeting in Islamabad, revived the gas pipeline plans, which some saw as the cause for the US Afghanistan campaign. Although Unocal denies plans to resume its involvement, pipelines remain central to US interests and to Afghan domestic politics. (Los Angeles Times)Nightmares of Reason (May 24, 2002)
The author questions the validity of conspiracy theories regarding the Bush Administration and 9/11. He agrees with the claim that the “Bush Administration and its oil-saturated cronies have used the war on terrorism as a pretext to gain access to and control of Central Asia’s fossil fuel reserves.” (In These Times)Corporations Cash in on War on Terror (May 21, 2002)
Capital Times reports how “many US military contractors have received tens of millions in contracts from the Defense Department that have little if anything to do with the war against terrorism.”Pipeline Politics Taint US War (March 18, 2002)
The Chicago Tribune analyzes the widespread belief overseas that US military deployments in Central Asia are mostly about oil.America's Empire Rules an Unbalanced World (January 3, 2002)
The International Herald Tribune criticizes US role in the world economy since the end of the Bretton Woods regime. The dominance of US unilateralist policies harnesses the rest of the world to its self-interests and provides ammunition for critics of globalization.The Oil behind Bush and Son's Campaigns (October 5, 2001)
Just as the Gulf War was about oil, the new conflict in South and Central Asia is no less about access to the region's abundant petroleum resources. (Asia Times)United States Goes Global: The Control of Pleasure (May 2000)
In addition to the military and economic supremacy that Americans have enjoyed, US ideology is expanding into other parts of the world by its cyber-power and advertising campaigns. This article pinpoints that “America no longer seeks [people’s] submission by force, but by incantation.” (Le Monde Diplomatique)
More information on Empire?
