17-11-2016, 02:18 PM
There are many different but interlocked matters to be discussed in the foregoing essay.
Not least of is is the extreme view about the "Core" and what needs to be done to secure it, who is a member, who wants to be a member and how fooling the people of the US and it's government are absolute required to achieve the aims (The "Core" is articulated in Part 2)
To achieve this diseased intellectual construct requires:
The naked assumption in this scenario is that America has some sort of privileged right to assume the role of "global cop". This is where it all falls down, as the author outlines.
And yet the secret team behind this dangerous ideology realize all too well that they must target their own citizens and government to achieve their megalomaniac aims:
This need to convince friends and foes alike forms a central thrust of the Wolfowitz Doctrine:
Yup rampant megalomania.
Let's call the men in white coats today.
Not least of is is the extreme view about the "Core" and what needs to be done to secure it, who is a member, who wants to be a member and how fooling the people of the US and it's government are absolute required to achieve the aims (The "Core" is articulated in Part 2)
Quote:Barnett's vision is neoconservative to the root. He sees the world as divided into essentially two realms: The Core, which consists of advanced countries playing by the rules of economic globalization (the US, Canada, UK, Europe and Japan) along with developing countries committed to getting there (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and some others); and the rest of the world, which is The Gap, a disparate wilderness of dangerous and lawless countries defined fundamentally by being "disconnected" from the wonders of globalization. This includes most of the Middle East and Africa, large swathes of South America, as well as much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. It is the task of the United States to "shrink The Gap," by spreading the cultural and economic "rule-set" of globalization that characterizes The Core, and by enforcing security worldwide to enable that "rule-set" to spread.
To achieve this diseased intellectual construct requires:
Quote:"America as global cop creates security. Security creates common rules. Rules attract foreign investment. Investment creates infrastructure. Infrastructure creates access to natural resources. Resources create economic growth. Growth creates stability. Stability creates markets. And once you're a growing, stable part of the global market, you're part of the Core. Mission accomplished."
The naked assumption in this scenario is that America has some sort of privileged right to assume the role of "global cop". This is where it all falls down, as the author outlines.
Quote:Yet the equation of "shrinking The Gap" with sustaining the national security of The Core leads to a slippery slope. It means that if the US is prevented from playing this leadership role as "global cop," The Gap will widen, The Core will shrink, and the entire global order could unravel. By this logic, the US simply cannot afford government or public opinion to reject the legitimacy of its mission. If it did so, it would allow The Gap to grow out of control, undermining The Core, and potentially destroying it, along with The Core's protector, America. Therefore, "shrinking The Gap" is not just a security imperative: it is such an existential priority, that it must be backed up with information war to demonstrate to the world the legitimacy of the entire project.
And yet the secret team behind this dangerous ideology realize all too well that they must target their own citizens and government to achieve their megalomaniac aims:
Quote:Based on O'Neill's principles of information warfare as articulated in his 1989 US Navy brief, the targets of information war are not just populations in The Gap, but domestic populations in The Core, and their governments: including the US government. That secret brief, which according to former senior US intelligence official John Alexander was read by the Pentagon's top leadership, argued that information war must be targeted at: adversaries to convince them of their vulnerability; potential partners around the world so they accept "the cause as just"; and finally, civilian populations and the political leadership so they believe that "the cost" in blood and treasure is worth it.
This need to convince friends and foes alike forms a central thrust of the Wolfowitz Doctrine:
Quote:The U.S. must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect their legitimate interests. In non-defense areas, we must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.
Yup rampant megalomania.
Let's call the men in white coats today.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14