New Government for a New World
:: a new model of global governance for the New Millenium
Just as the fall of the communism had severe political and economical consequences for the entire planet, America's intelligence failure and its subsequent foreign policy implications will impact the course of the new millennium in profound and underestimated ways.
On 9-11, progress halted in the third world: The new anti-terror cover given to governments worldwide is already allowing corrupt regimes in developing countries to avoid real democratization and much needed transparency in public affairs and the management of state resources.
In the developed world, paranoia and orwellian allegiance to the ruling class has allowed foolish rushes to mad decisions go unquestioned and criticism to become unpatriotic. Subsequent government inquiries into failures are easily becoming whitewashes: Blair does not even get a wrist slap from Lord Hutton and for a while we were going to have Henry Kissinger's bloody hands on America's review of its own 9-11 intelligence failure.
Alas, the last remaining conflicts that were seen anachronistic during Clinton's reign have now become the tectonic fault-lines of our New World's fascination with an interminable war of terror.
At this low point of hope and enthusiasm for global prosperity and progress, one frightening question remains: while the unique superpower is in an ever-increasing dire economic and political disarray, how will the rest of the world find the willingness to improve the human condition in political and economical terms. The ranks of the discouraged and overworked masses in the developed world swells with every monthly jobless report and increase in official productivity rates.
America's increasing fascination with physical and financial security have lead to logic-defying fears of foreigners: in a millennium where all borders were designed to be shattered, no wall is tall enough and no barrier is strong enough to keep the foreign threat out.
Lou Dobb's Exporting America exposes nightly an adequate representation of the absurd heights of America's current xenophobic state. China and India have become scapegoats for Bush's three million strong job depletion record, the strong Yuan and Euro are seen as excuses for a falling dollar, while the main source of America's dismal economic times is Bush's runaway deficit. The deficit by itself is proof of the disappearance of the checks and balances written into the "World's Best Democracy's" constitution. Congress and the current administration are in a mad dash to win votes by mortgaging the future of America. Unfortunately, the US is also setting the blueprint for the developed world for the new millennium: already G7 leaders are dropping their deficit and debt reduction objectives and newly elected governments in Argentina and Brazil are questioning the merits of pursuing IMF recommendations.
In the run-up to the Iraq war, the US lost its credibility on the world scene. In hindsight, we realize that Saddam's regime was not the main loser in the war: the shock and awe campaign unleashed in March 2003 was the kiss of the death for the UN and consequently NATO. Already watered-down by the military industry-driven expansion to Eastern Europe, by 2001, NATO had already become a thorn in Russia's eye. In 2003, demonstrating the irrelevancy of the UN compounded by America's disregard for France and Germany dealt an irreversible blow to NATO.
Europe has managed to even convince Euro-skeptic Britain to rethink the Old Continent's defense strategy by moving the European defense headquarters away from NATO's base.
Of course the UN has been irrelevant for a while: an unelected, toothless, cash-less institution that can only emit disrespected resolutions can not be a parliament for global representatives. It is merely a forum where appointed diplomats quibble over benign unenforceable projects written in antiquated settings of the end of the Second World War. The foreign policy instrument of the Cold War can not be tinkered with to become the governing body of a New World.
Perhaps, the best news is that matters can not get much worse. World progress must have economic prosperity as an engine. By now, we are convinced that real global economic progress relies on free and fair trade; and for free trade to be accepted by the rest of the world, political improvements and government transparency are indispensable. China, India and Brazil are now leading the developing world and recent technological advances will enable the group to leapfrog the OECD countries in terms of growth. Real change needs to be adopted for truly global economic expansion: America needs to tackle its deficit head-on while Europe genuinely reforms its pension system and limits its over-creeping state interventionism.
A neo-liberalist focus on bringing back the American deficit to where it was in 2000 and finding global incentives for economic progress and prosperity will end the War of Terror.
In times of peace, paranoiac states will not have to play a never-ending game of nuclear chess and alliances. Extremist militaristic regimes have no choice but to cede to liberal economic-expansion elected governments to respect the wishes of their expanding working middle classes who are the consumers of worldwide free trade.
Once the World's last military super-power shows once again that every one wins with peace by electing a responsible government, then most countries compete in being the leader in offering the highest quality of life and not being the ones with the biggest and more lethal weapons. Only then, the thirst for success will lead to political progress in the developing world.
Yes, the solution is very simple. Liberalism: Free and fair trade and the end of the reign of terror.
And for Americans, change starts at home
:: a new model of global governance for the New Millenium
Just as the fall of the communism had severe political and economical consequences for the entire planet, America's intelligence failure and its subsequent foreign policy implications will impact the course of the new millennium in profound and underestimated ways.
On 9-11, progress halted in the third world: The new anti-terror cover given to governments worldwide is already allowing corrupt regimes in developing countries to avoid real democratization and much needed transparency in public affairs and the management of state resources.
In the developed world, paranoia and orwellian allegiance to the ruling class has allowed foolish rushes to mad decisions go unquestioned and criticism to become unpatriotic. Subsequent government inquiries into failures are easily becoming whitewashes: Blair does not even get a wrist slap from Lord Hutton and for a while we were going to have Henry Kissinger's bloody hands on America's review of its own 9-11 intelligence failure.
Alas, the last remaining conflicts that were seen anachronistic during Clinton's reign have now become the tectonic fault-lines of our New World's fascination with an interminable war of terror.
At this low point of hope and enthusiasm for global prosperity and progress, one frightening question remains: while the unique superpower is in an ever-increasing dire economic and political disarray, how will the rest of the world find the willingness to improve the human condition in political and economical terms. The ranks of the discouraged and overworked masses in the developed world swells with every monthly jobless report and increase in official productivity rates.
America's increasing fascination with physical and financial security have lead to logic-defying fears of foreigners: in a millennium where all borders were designed to be shattered, no wall is tall enough and no barrier is strong enough to keep the foreign threat out.
Lou Dobb's Exporting America exposes nightly an adequate representation of the absurd heights of America's current xenophobic state. China and India have become scapegoats for Bush's three million strong job depletion record, the strong Yuan and Euro are seen as excuses for a falling dollar, while the main source of America's dismal economic times is Bush's runaway deficit. The deficit by itself is proof of the disappearance of the checks and balances written into the "World's Best Democracy's" constitution. Congress and the current administration are in a mad dash to win votes by mortgaging the future of America. Unfortunately, the US is also setting the blueprint for the developed world for the new millennium: already G7 leaders are dropping their deficit and debt reduction objectives and newly elected governments in Argentina and Brazil are questioning the merits of pursuing IMF recommendations.
In the run-up to the Iraq war, the US lost its credibility on the world scene. In hindsight, we realize that Saddam's regime was not the main loser in the war: the shock and awe campaign unleashed in March 2003 was the kiss of the death for the UN and consequently NATO. Already watered-down by the military industry-driven expansion to Eastern Europe, by 2001, NATO had already become a thorn in Russia's eye. In 2003, demonstrating the irrelevancy of the UN compounded by America's disregard for France and Germany dealt an irreversible blow to NATO.
Europe has managed to even convince Euro-skeptic Britain to rethink the Old Continent's defense strategy by moving the European defense headquarters away from NATO's base.
Of course the UN has been irrelevant for a while: an unelected, toothless, cash-less institution that can only emit disrespected resolutions can not be a parliament for global representatives. It is merely a forum where appointed diplomats quibble over benign unenforceable projects written in antiquated settings of the end of the Second World War. The foreign policy instrument of the Cold War can not be tinkered with to become the governing body of a New World.
Perhaps, the best news is that matters can not get much worse. World progress must have economic prosperity as an engine. By now, we are convinced that real global economic progress relies on free and fair trade; and for free trade to be accepted by the rest of the world, political improvements and government transparency are indispensable. China, India and Brazil are now leading the developing world and recent technological advances will enable the group to leapfrog the OECD countries in terms of growth. Real change needs to be adopted for truly global economic expansion: America needs to tackle its deficit head-on while Europe genuinely reforms its pension system and limits its over-creeping state interventionism.
A neo-liberalist focus on bringing back the American deficit to where it was in 2000 and finding global incentives for economic progress and prosperity will end the War of Terror.
In times of peace, paranoiac states will not have to play a never-ending game of nuclear chess and alliances. Extremist militaristic regimes have no choice but to cede to liberal economic-expansion elected governments to respect the wishes of their expanding working middle classes who are the consumers of worldwide free trade.
Once the World's last military super-power shows once again that every one wins with peace by electing a responsible government, then most countries compete in being the leader in offering the highest quality of life and not being the ones with the biggest and more lethal weapons. Only then, the thirst for success will lead to political progress in the developing world.
Yes, the solution is very simple. Liberalism: Free and fair trade and the end of the reign of terror.
And for Americans, change starts at home
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