THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 20, ISSUE 37
COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER
By Malik Isasis
Colony Collapse Disorder is when a Western power such as a European country or the United States is unable to maintain its military and/or economic colonization of a developing nation usually located on the continent of Africa, in the Middle East or in the Latin Americas.
Okay, so CCD actually refers to honey bee colonies disappearing but I wanted to use the analogy to write about Bush, and the despotic Republicans and the incorrigible Democrats and why they continue to try and colonize the Iraqi people in a bloody occupation.
The decadence of the nearly 12 years of absolute power by the Banana Republicans and the sheer cowardice of the Democrats to do anything about it has resulted in the United States circling the drain, displaying all the symptomologies of a dying superpower. The value of the dollar as compared to the Euro is exactly forty cents. There are airplane specials that book two and three-day trips from Ireland just to shop here in New York City. Hostile takeovers like the recent purchase of Budweiser by InBev a European beer company, are becoming regular. The New York City landmark, Chrysler building has been bought by the Abu Dhabi Group. The Bank of China holds $20 billion of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt.
With my tin foil hat on, I can’t help but wonder if there is a conspiracy to collapse the U.S. economy by conglomerates and their meat-puppet George Bush. I watch and read the corporate media and the economy and Bush are mentioned as if one has nothing to do with the other. It is Bush’s policies that have wrought the economic pain Americans are feeling. The corporate mind is so narrowly focused on short-term gain that everything else is secondary, including the survival of the middle-class, but then again, without a middle class, we have an oligarchy: the very rich and the very poor. Advantage: the investment class.
Not an Exception to the Rule
Superpowers are delusional by nature because they truly believe that they can hold onto power and keep others from obtaining it. It is in this delusion that all empires rise and fall. They believe that what happened to their predecessors will not happen to them. For example, the ethos of American exceptionalism--that the United States is benign and benevolent, keep Americans from accepting the systemic failure in governance and the certainty of economic and military collapse due to non-sensical foreign policies.
Occupying and trying to colonize Iraq is not exceptional, yet our politicians want us to believe that our occupation of Iraq is not like that of Europe’s occupation and colonization of African, Latin, and Asian nations, which was brutal, and uncivilized—not to mention, leaving behind tragic consequences that has bloomed into genocides and decades of civil unrest.
Johan Galtung, a Professor of Peace Studies wrote a research paper titled, “THE DECLINE AND FALL OF EMPIRES: A THEORY OF DE-DEVELOPMENT” for the United Nations Research Institute on Development in which he states:
Looking at the list of the ten empires, their creators certainly did not think of their project as existing on a limited lease of time only. The presumed viability was forever; the project was irreversible. They thought they had created an End of History through a new reality. Reality, however, put an end to their project. Why? How?
One answer: "because of dialectics". Action creates reaction. Push long enough and counter-forces arise. Empire-building without "pushing" is difficult, to put it mildly. To grow economically some "pushing" is also needed. A single counter-force may not tear down what has been built, being too weak. But in the margin of the system these forces will accumulate and their synergies may ultimately lead to decline and fall as the system exhausts itself fighting or in general trying to control the disruptive forces.”
As the Roman Empire became model for other empires, at least in the West, its decline also became archetype for other declines, defining the discourse. One more example of how the Roman Empire has survived its own demise, dominating our thinking even about the death of empires.
Illusions of Grandeur
The United States has a long history of colonization in its short existence from the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa, Virgin Islands to Hawaii. Since the rise of the Military Industrial Complex at the end of World War II, the United States has been in a state of perpetual war--starting with Korea 1950-53, Indonesia, 1950-53, Guatemala 1950-53, Congo 1964, Cuba 1959-61 Vietnam 1961-73, Peru 1965, Laos 1964-73, Cambodia 1969-70, Lebanon 1982-83, Grenada 1983, El Salvador 1980, Libya 1986, Nicaragua, Bosnia, Iraq 1990-currently.
The United States’ hubris stems from its historical roots of white supremacy, which it inherited from its ancestor Great Britain. It is hard for politicians in this country to grasp that people do not want to be occupied—but that doesn’t matter does it? The United States knows what is best for the natives, and will give the Iraqis democracy whether they want it or not.
As America trips and falls into the pile of bodies of former empires, the baton will be caught by China. Will China prove any different from the any number of empires throughout history? Probably not, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
Maybe imperialism is nature’s way of recycling human beings.
COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER
By Malik Isasis
Colony Collapse Disorder is when a Western power such as a European country or the United States is unable to maintain its military and/or economic colonization of a developing nation usually located on the continent of Africa, in the Middle East or in the Latin Americas.
Okay, so CCD actually refers to honey bee colonies disappearing but I wanted to use the analogy to write about Bush, and the despotic Republicans and the incorrigible Democrats and why they continue to try and colonize the Iraqi people in a bloody occupation.
The decadence of the nearly 12 years of absolute power by the Banana Republicans and the sheer cowardice of the Democrats to do anything about it has resulted in the United States circling the drain, displaying all the symptomologies of a dying superpower. The value of the dollar as compared to the Euro is exactly forty cents. There are airplane specials that book two and three-day trips from Ireland just to shop here in New York City. Hostile takeovers like the recent purchase of Budweiser by InBev a European beer company, are becoming regular. The New York City landmark, Chrysler building has been bought by the Abu Dhabi Group. The Bank of China holds $20 billion of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt.
With my tin foil hat on, I can’t help but wonder if there is a conspiracy to collapse the U.S. economy by conglomerates and their meat-puppet George Bush. I watch and read the corporate media and the economy and Bush are mentioned as if one has nothing to do with the other. It is Bush’s policies that have wrought the economic pain Americans are feeling. The corporate mind is so narrowly focused on short-term gain that everything else is secondary, including the survival of the middle-class, but then again, without a middle class, we have an oligarchy: the very rich and the very poor. Advantage: the investment class.
Not an Exception to the Rule
Superpowers are delusional by nature because they truly believe that they can hold onto power and keep others from obtaining it. It is in this delusion that all empires rise and fall. They believe that what happened to their predecessors will not happen to them. For example, the ethos of American exceptionalism--that the United States is benign and benevolent, keep Americans from accepting the systemic failure in governance and the certainty of economic and military collapse due to non-sensical foreign policies.
Occupying and trying to colonize Iraq is not exceptional, yet our politicians want us to believe that our occupation of Iraq is not like that of Europe’s occupation and colonization of African, Latin, and Asian nations, which was brutal, and uncivilized—not to mention, leaving behind tragic consequences that has bloomed into genocides and decades of civil unrest.
Johan Galtung, a Professor of Peace Studies wrote a research paper titled, “THE DECLINE AND FALL OF EMPIRES: A THEORY OF DE-DEVELOPMENT” for the United Nations Research Institute on Development in which he states:
Looking at the list of the ten empires, their creators certainly did not think of their project as existing on a limited lease of time only. The presumed viability was forever; the project was irreversible. They thought they had created an End of History through a new reality. Reality, however, put an end to their project. Why? How?
One answer: "because of dialectics". Action creates reaction. Push long enough and counter-forces arise. Empire-building without "pushing" is difficult, to put it mildly. To grow economically some "pushing" is also needed. A single counter-force may not tear down what has been built, being too weak. But in the margin of the system these forces will accumulate and their synergies may ultimately lead to decline and fall as the system exhausts itself fighting or in general trying to control the disruptive forces.”
As the Roman Empire became model for other empires, at least in the West, its decline also became archetype for other declines, defining the discourse. One more example of how the Roman Empire has survived its own demise, dominating our thinking even about the death of empires.
Illusions of Grandeur
The United States has a long history of colonization in its short existence from the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa, Virgin Islands to Hawaii. Since the rise of the Military Industrial Complex at the end of World War II, the United States has been in a state of perpetual war--starting with Korea 1950-53, Indonesia, 1950-53, Guatemala 1950-53, Congo 1964, Cuba 1959-61 Vietnam 1961-73, Peru 1965, Laos 1964-73, Cambodia 1969-70, Lebanon 1982-83, Grenada 1983, El Salvador 1980, Libya 1986, Nicaragua, Bosnia, Iraq 1990-currently.
The United States’ hubris stems from its historical roots of white supremacy, which it inherited from its ancestor Great Britain. It is hard for politicians in this country to grasp that people do not want to be occupied—but that doesn’t matter does it? The United States knows what is best for the natives, and will give the Iraqis democracy whether they want it or not.
As America trips and falls into the pile of bodies of former empires, the baton will be caught by China. Will China prove any different from the any number of empires throughout history? Probably not, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
Maybe imperialism is nature’s way of recycling human beings.
posted by Malik Isasis at
12:14 AM
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