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--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- Below is a short clip from a conversation with Naomi Klein, a fellow Canadian and our generation's most potent threat to the Borg-like menace currently, collectively known as the World Bank/IMF/G8. Few people can riff this fluidly when asked about the structural analysis of the expansionist corpo-military paradigm in Iraq.Naomi: In Iraq, all that we hear is: it's a mess, it's a mess, it's a mess. It's a morass. It's a quagmire. It's a disaster. And that's true, on a military level. It's a disaster because people are dying and it's a disaster because it's deeply disorganized. But that whole discussion, that strategic military discussion, is covering over the broader question of: What were the goals of this war? And if we ask the question of what were the goals of this war, then we can ask the more serious question of: have those goals been achieved? I believe that the goal of this war was to bomb, into being, a new free trade zone. Precisely because of the enormous backlash against these economic policies by countries that have already adopted them. Capitalism functions like a drug addict. The drug is growth. It needs growth to survive. It needs growth to expand. The market has not actually recovered, it is in desperate need of new growth and it finds itself in a situation where its usual suppliers, its usual dealers, are cutting it off. That's what is happening in Latin America. When attempts to privative energy and water in Bolivia are resisted, when huge popular movements are saying 'we don't want the free trade area of the Americas'... in Cancun, the last WTO round, when poor countries banded together and said 'we'd rather have no deal than a bad deal.' That means that they're getting cut off. Because what's embedded in these deals are opportunities for expansion and growth; new markets, services on the agenda and so on. I would call that free trade lite: that wrestles market access through the WTO and FTA negotiations. And it's precisely because of that desperation... the desperation of a junkie that now it's been upgraded to this free trade at a barrel of a gun, or free trade supercharge. Where we will get our free trade and expansion, we'll get our shock therapy - which is what these economic policies are called in Latin America and Russia - through shock and awe military force. And if you believe, as I do, that that is actually the goal of the war: market expansion and growth... not just oil but water, roads, schools, hospitals, private jails, anything that can be turned into a commodity and sold, then you have to say: 'OK, if that's the goal, how's it going?' It's going great. It's not a mess. It's not a morass. It's not a quagmire. In fact, it's going so well that the Economist recently describe Iraq as a "capitalist dream." And the Financial Times described what Paul Bremer has managed to achieve in terms of economic reforms as "a wishlist for foreign investors." And he has done, in six months in Iraq, what it took three decades to achieve in Latin America. In a single day, on September 19, he passed a set of policies that literally usually take three decades to get passed. Iraq's economy was protected somewhat, as are all the economies of Middle East, which is why it's not really about Iraq. Iraq is just the wedge. And countries that have oil wealth have been able to use that oil wealth to protect large sectors of the economy that, in other parts of the world, are open to privatization. So in Iraq's constitution it very clearly says that there are sectors of the economy which are considered essential services and not open to privatization. Not just oil, but water and so on. And it also says that Iraqi businesses cannot be foreign-owned. Very clear rules embedded in Iraq's constitution. On September 19, Bremer introduced Order 39, which overturned Iraq's constitution. It allowed 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses and it put 200 Iraqi state companies up for privatization, up for sale. And it also said that companies coming into Iraq can take 100 % of their profits out of the country. It also gave them a massive tax break. Bigger than anything Bush has been able to achieve. The top tax bracket in Iraq before September 19 was 45%, which is what it is in Canada. It's now a 15% flat tax. So this is an economic overhaul. It is shock therapy. It has already led to 70% unemployment, as you know. And we're not hearing about it. All we're hearing about is this strategic discussion from the military side. It's a distraction from the truth... from the fact that the reason they went into the country was to achieve this structural adjustment... to open it up. Crack it open. Senator John McCain described Iraq as a "pot of honey that's attracting a lot of flies". And we know what the honey is. And we know who the flies are: Bechtel, Halliburton and MCI. And they're having a field day. GNN: War is always presented by government as an ideological crusade. As a battle between good and evil. But a quick study of history reveals that so often it is really just about economics and the expansion of markets. Is the attack on Iraq and, what you call, the bombing of a new free trade zone the new template for globalization? Is it the new model? Or is that too dramatic a description? Naomi: I think it's very clear that this is the new model for free trade. Which is bombing free trad zones into being. But that doesn't render the old model obsolete. Because the other countries see this, see what happens when you don't cooperate and that makes their trade negotiations a little bit easier. So I think that the free trade lite and this free trade supercharge work hand-in-hand. But I'm not resigned about this. I think it's absolutely clear that this is the new model, that this is the new template that they're trying to sell. And Iraq is being treated as the dream economy for the most ideological of Washington's neo-conservatives to come and create the kind of economy that only exists in their own economics text books. Because they actually can't achieve this wish-list this capitalist dream at home because democracy gets in the way. And I am hopeful about this situation for a couple of reasons. The first is that it is a response to desperation and not an expression of strength. The way that the U.S. likes to present itself to the world is as this swaggering, unilateral superpower that doesn't have to care about the rest of the world's opinion. If you see it in this other context, where the world is, in fact, standing up in an unprecedented way to this superpower. That there is an economic model that is not actually capable of thinking rationally, it can only think about how to get what it needs, which is growth and expansion. Then, what is happening is Iraq can be seen as an act of desperation and not of swaggering power, although it is an extraordinarily lethal, dangerous form of desperation. And its important that those of us who oppose this economic system undertand that. Because it can give us power and insight and allow us to better organize ourselves, strategically, to defeat it. http://www.guerrillanews.com/bunker/west/doc3366.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> <FONT COLOR="#000099">Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. 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That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
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