The end of imperialism? (originally published on inteldaily.com March 2011)
What the world is witnessing in the Middle East is an unprecedented revolt against
dictatorship and oppression. Of course similar revolts against this form of
government have occurred around the world over millennia, but these have generally
been forgotten.
Much of the Middle East was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and retained for
hundreds of years, this situation was overturned as a result of another imperial
struggle that the Turks were dragged into – the first world war. Having
promised the various nations of Arabia their freedom, the British gained their
support, (largely due to T. E. Lawrence) and eventually defeated the Turks.
As usual, the British and French who between them had control of north Africa
and Arabia, reneged on the deal and kept and divided the entire region as spoils
Ostensibly the British and French empires collapsed following the second world
war, with India starting a trend that would sweep most of the colonial world.
Some countries retained close links with their former imperial masters e.g.
through trade and the British Commonwealth, but in theory all of these former
colonies became independent sovereign nations.
In reality these countries never became truly free – corrupt government,
commercial coercion and unserviceable loans have meant that most of these former
colonies are free in name only – the imperial powers, in the guise of
corporations still plunder the natural resources of the former colonies while
the bulk of the populace remain in poverty.
This situation has continued and even progressed in some cases, with countries
forced to hand over their nation’s wealth to repay the IMF and individual
countries, whilst at the same time giving corporations free reign to exploit
both the land and the population. As the former imperial nations (such as Britain,
America and France) have increasingly depleted their own resources, the need
to further exploit the poor but resource rich former colonies has become increasingly
urgent.
It is only now, in this new century, that the downtrodden are beginning to realize
that their so-called emancipation was in fact a sham - that is why rioting and
rebellion is tearing across the globe in all the nations that are puppet states
of the ex-imperial overloads. It would appear that the game is up, if the ex-imperial
powers want to continue to lord in over these nations it will have to be the
iron fist alone from now on, the velvet glove will no longer conceal their intentions.
It is highly likely that America/Europe will try to oversee the installation
of a new set of puppet dictators to ensure their interests are maintained, however
I doubt that such a ruse will work given the new level of sophistication and
understanding amongst the populace of these countries.
If this fails then that leaves only two options for America/Europe – using
their massive technological advantage to invade and control these nations through
military might, or to renegotiate terms of trade in a way that is fair for these
resource rich countries. At the moment the former option might seem attractive
to America especially, however I believe that the prohibitive cost of gaining
control and maintaining it would be so large that it would be unsustainable
even if it initially succeeded. As the balance of power shifts away from America
and the European former super-powers their machinations become more desperate,
but ultimately they may well be forced to accept governments that are unfavourable
and also be forced to cut trade deals that actually give a fair price for what
was formerly plundered or bought for a pittance.
The final outcome is still very much ‘up in the air’ but it is likely
to lead to downgrading of western wealth to the benefit of resource rich developing
nations, the only other possible scenario is an endless war over resources which
would ultimately benefit no-one and be to the great detriment of humanity and
the planet as a whole.