On 3/28/11 8:47 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > All that needs to be said about this new criminal aggression can be found in > the last chapter of a book written 8 years ago, Ellen Meisins Wood, The > Empire of Capital. The last chapter is entitled "Endless War." This is just > another of the wars needed to discipline nations or governments that > interfere for any reason with the smooth operations of global business.
The Scotsman, March 28, 2004: IT was only lunchtime but the whisky and gin were flowing from the British Embassy in Tripoli last Thursday. Fresh camels’ milk and water had been on offer outside Colonel Gaddafi’s tent, and the returning diplomats went straight for something stronger. The mood was of mild but universal shock. Even those who had for weeks recited the political rationale of the meeting found themselves stunned at the sight of a British prime minister lunching with one of the world’s most notorious dictators. Tony Blair called it extending the “hand of partnership.” For one embassy guest, this was more than a soundbite: Malcolm Brinded, Royal Dutch/Shell’s head of exploration, had just signed a GBP 110m deal to hunt for gas off Libya’s coast. Britain’s diplomatic invasion of Libya last week was a superbly orchestrated coup which has stolen a march on America. In the 15 weeks since Gaddafi agreed to surrender his nuclear and chemical weapons programme, London has not missed a beat. While Washington has refused to lift trade sanctions and boasts about “moving the goalposts”, Blair has succeeded in positioning Britain’s defence industry alongside Libya while returning Shell to the country after a 30-year absence. This is neither a fortuitous side-effect nor a cynical attempt to make money. Blair last week deployed a carefully crafted model where business is the agent of regime change. It was peace, tailor-made for a country with 30 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
