Newsweek: The One-Note Superpower

[leftchick]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4051669/


Snip:

<On all these, America is now largely silent. "It's not that we don't worry about terrorism," a head of government (of a pro-American country) said to me. But for him, as for other leaders, it's not how he sees the world: "I have to grapple with a different set of issues. And I have the feeling that the United States has gone off into its own universe and cannot hear or say anything to me about my problems." There is a disconnect between America and the world.

Of all the leaders who attended this meeting, no one could be more concerned with terrorists than President Musharraf of Pakistan. They have, after all, repeatedly threatened his life. Yet his schedule of private meetings, which were mainly with businessmen, reveal his priorities: investment, growth and development. Turkey has recently suffered terrorist attacks. But Prime Minister Erdogan wanted to impress on his audience Turkey's determination to meet the European Union's criteria for membership. Both leaders are showing flexibility on longstanding political disputes (Kashmir and Cyprus) because they realize that these are obstacles to their most important goal: modernization.


The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad by
Most countries and companies see that globalization is creating enormous opportunities, but also new problems. "We have increasing global trade and commerce, but we still have a hodgepodge of differing standards for everything from earnings to ethics," said Jurgen Hambrecht, chairman of the board of the German company BASF. But Washington is not likely to take the lead on creating new standards or solutions, presumably because it somehow smacks of world government. Even in the war on terror, where the United States seeks (in Cheney's words) "greater cooperation," it has not tried to create a global system that shares information and creates common standards of security. Instead it prefers ad hoc measures. This lack of leadership means, ultimately, a less secure world.>

[Jackpine Radical]

1. The one note

is world domination.

Terrorism is just the instrument they're currently playing it on.

[leesa]

4. Perfect. That is the perfect description of what is happening.

The War on Terrorism is simply a tool to invade, steal resources and topple non-compliant governments. Just like the War on Communism and the War on Drugs, etc. etc

[Toots]

2. This lack of leadership means, ultimately, a less secure world.>

I believe this is true. But then again that is exactly how this Cabal wants it. How else will GOP campaign contributers like Haliburton get so many lucrative contracts and have so much kick-back monies? :shrug:

[ixion]

3. problems of empire—disorder on the periphery

by stating this, IMO, the author marginalized all the facets he was just saying the US was currently ignoring, thus subtly towing terrorism talking point, and furthering the disconnect.

The disorder is not on the periphery. Well, there's disorder there, but the problem is disorder at the very core, which Cheney's speech makes perfectly clear. This mal-administration has pretty much cut the line of diplomacy with every other country, including the members of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, and instead taken the defensive stance of "we'll-talk-to-you-as-long-as-you're-playing-our-game approach, the end result, being: you're either with us or against us.

And here's another example of the disconnect:
The other countries derided Cheney's speech for not talking about development, but rather focusing on the military complex. See, that's the point... the neocons idea of development IS the military industrial complex, which includes Big Oil, Big Aerospace, Big Armaments, Big Logistics and just about every other 'Big' cronyist complex you can come up with.