- Zbigniew Brzezinski's described in his book The
Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives (1997),
how the focus of American global primacy should be to unify the world under
the dictates of the United Nations. This was described in my first article
entitled America's Role as the First, Only, and Last Truly Global
Superpower.
- http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles
- /200710/20071001_Chessboard_1_US_UN.htm
-
- There are many problems associated with the emergence
of the United Nations out of the ashes of the American empire. Brzezinski
makes clear his distain for the limitations that "populist democracy"
puts on his desired movements around the Eurasian chessboard and his revulsion
at the potential for an "impotent global power".
-
- "It is also a fact that America is too democratic
at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's
power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before
has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the
pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion" [emphasis
mine] - 35
-
- "A genuinely populist democracy has never before
attained international supremacy. The pursuit of power and especially the
economic costs and human sacrifice that the exercise of such power often
requires are not generally congenial to democratic instincts. Democratization
is inimical to imperial mobilization." [emphasis mine] - 210
-
- "Indeed, the critical uncertainty regarding the
future may well be whether America might become the first superpower unable
or unwilling to wield its power. Might it become an impotent global power?"
- 210
-
- Four Key Dimensions of Power
-
- "In that context, for some time to come-- for more
than a generation-- America's status as the world's premier power is unlikely
to be contested by any single challenger. No nation-state is likely to
match America in the four key dimensions of power (military, economic,
technological, and cultural) that cumulatively produce decisive global
political clout." [emphasis mine] - 195
-
- Little needs to be said about the first three dimensions
of power; military, economic and technological. The fourth dimension, culture,
is very important and rarely given appropriate attention. Brzezinski and
the elite above and around him are well aware of the power of the creation
and manipulation of culture. It is an essential component to convincing
the American public to execute the elite designed imperial goals as well
as the eventual and necessary removal of American primacy to make way for
the emergence of the United Nations' rise to dominance.
-
- American Culture and the Demise of Empire
-
- The current culture in America is aimed at the ruination
of the American society and the empire few Americans realize they are a
part of. This process requires many different things, but Brzezinski highlights
the major themes; lack of association with empirical accomplishments and
goals, lack of social cohesion, individual decadence, etc.
-
- "Moreover, most Americans by and large do not derive
any special gratification from their country's new status as the sole global
superpower. Political "triumphalism" connected with America's
victory in the Cold War has generally tended to receive a cold reception"
- 36
-
- "More generally, cultural change in America may
also be uncongenial to the sustained exercise abroad of genuinely
imperial power. That exercise requires a high degree of doctrinal
motivation, intellectual commitment, and patriotic gratification. Yet the
dominant culture of the country has become increasingly fixated on mass
entertainment that has been heavily dominated by personally hedonistic
and socially escapist themes. The cumulative effect has made it increasingly
difficult to mobilize the needed political consensus on behalf of sustained,
and also occasionally costly, American leadership abroad. Mass communications
have been playing a particularly important role in that regard, generating
a strong revulsion against any selective use of force that entails even
low levels of casualties." [emphasis mine] - 211
-
- "In addition, both America and Western Europe have
been finding it difficult to cope with the cultural consequences of social
hedonism and the dramatic decline in the centrality of religious-based
values in society. (The parallels with the decline of the imperial systems
summarized in chapter 1 [Rome for example] are striking in that respect.)
The resulting cultural crisis has been compounded by the spread of drugs
and, especially in America, by its linkage to the racial issue. Lastly,
the rate of economic growth is no longer able to keep up with growing material
expectations, with the latter stimulated by a culture that places a premium
on consumption." - 212
-
- Proper Motivation
-
- Brzezinski's geostrategic imperatives will require a
final surge for the dying American empire. To accomplish this, he recognizes
the need for the sudden emergence of a "direct external threat".
-
- "Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multicultural
society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign
policy issues, except in the circumstances of a truly massive and
widely perceived direct external threat. Such a consensus generally existed
throughout World War II and even during the Cold War." [emphasis mine]
- 211
-
- "It is also a fact that America is too democratic
at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power,
especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a populist
democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is
not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a
sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being.
The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice
(casualties even among professional soldiers) required in the
effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to
imperial mobilization." [emphasis mine] - pg 35
-
- This was provided four years later by the attacks of
9/11.
-
- Terrorist threat
-
- Brzezinski does however highlight nicely the inherent
feebleness of today's direct external threat - Islamic fundamentalism.
-
- "A possible challenge to American primacy from Islamic
fundamentalism could be part of the problem in this unstable region. By
exploiting religious hostility to the American way of life and taking advantage
of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Islamic fundamentalism could undermine several
pro-Western Middle Eastern governments and eventually jeopardize American
regional interests, especially in the Persian Gulf. However, without political
cohesion and in the absence of a single genuinely powerful Islamic state,
a challenge from Islamic fundamentalism would lack a geopolitical core
and would thus be more likely to express itself through diffuse violence."
- 53
-
- But, he does also underscore the usefulness of terrorism,
or the threat of terrorism to push his ideas.
-
- "It is also noteworthy that international conflicts
and acts of terrorism have so far been remarkably devoid of any use of
the weapons of mass destruction. How long that self-restraint may hold
is inherently unpredictable, but the increasing availability, not only
to states but also to organized groups, of the means to inflict massive
casualties-- by the use of nuclear or bacteriological weapons-- also inevitably
increases the probability of their employment." - 213
-
- Creating the New Global System With Culture
-
- The planned decay, or collapse, of the American empire
must coincide with the emergence of the United Nations. Brzezinski mentions
the tool to be used to generate a more international culture required for
the acceptance of and obedience to global government.
-
- "These efforts will have the added historical advantage
of benefiting from the new web of global linkages that is growing exponentially
outside the more traditional nation-state system. That web-- woven by multinational
corporations, NGOs (nongovernmental organizations, with many
of them transnational in character) and scientific communities and
reinforced by the Internet-- already creates an informal global system
that is inherently congenial to more institutionalized and inclusive global
cooperation." [empahsis mine] - 215
-
- The use of multinational corporations should need no
explanation with the almost daily international corporate mergers, interdependence
derived from the separation of production and consumption, and the uniformity
of products across the entire globe. NGOs and the scientific communities
are hard at work pushing for international institutions in their rabid
campaign against global warming. The internet too, is a powerful tool in
promoting a global digital culture.
-
- My next article will draw attention to Brzezinski's call
for the expansion of the European Union and NATO, the establishment of
an Asian Union, and his work with the Council on Foreign Relations and
the Trilateral Commission in forming an American Union.
-
-
- Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the
sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those
of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
-
- index.php?context=section§ionName=membership
- To become a Member of Global Research
-
- The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global
Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text &
title are not modified. The source and the author's copyright must be displayed.
For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including
commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor@yahoo.com
-
- www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material
the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions
of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding
of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must
request permission from the copyright owner.
-
- For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com
-
- © Copyright Brent Jessop, Knowledge Driven
Revolution.com , 2007
-
-
- http://KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com/
|
