Geopolitical Hotspots, Global Economy, US War Plans: South China Sea, Yemen and Beyond
Global Research News Hour Episode 178
“A good part of what’s happening in the United States and a good part of American policy-making cannot be understood unless you understand that there is a kind of military-industrial complex tail wagging the American policy and economic dog.” – Professor Radhika Desai (from this week’s interview)
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Americans may have been led to believe through their education systems, their religious institutions, mainstream media and popular culture that their government’s foreign policy is guided by the dictates of conscience, humanitarian considerations, and empathy for chemically mauled infants as well as a national vocation to bring “freedom and democracy” to the world.
A more honest and rigorous review of America’s involvement in military conflicts, and its support for Israel, Saudi Arabia and other rogue states around the world reveal the shallowness of this understanding.
The structure of power in the U.S. as with other imperialist powers throughout history demands certain economic arrangements and military formations on the world stage.
American geopolitical imperatives demand, among other things, reliable supplies of energy (oil) to fuel the empire, the projection of military power (bases) abroad, control over major trade and transport corridors, access to strategically important resources like rare earth minerals, control of the currency of international exchange, and dominance of the strategic terrain of the High Seas and outer space.
A lot has changed since the end of World War II. The U.S. labours under a massive nearly 20 trillion dollar national debt. The Soviet Union has collapsed. A resurgent Russia is proving to be a major and defiant player on the international landscape. Now the Russian bear is forging important military and economic partnerships with Iran and China threatening to thwart the advances of a fading superpower under the leadership of its current idiosyncratic commander-in-chief.
This week, on the Global Research News Hour, we examine a number of hotspots and flashpoints around the globe and put them in the context of larger geopolitical forces. In a conversation recorded at the beginning of April, before the reported Syrian chemical weapons attacks, our guests touch on the U.S. naval maneuvres in the South China Sea, the ongoing conflict in Yemen, the current elections in France and prospects for the demise of the European Union. Our guests are Professors Radhika Desai and Mahdi Nazemroaya.
(video credit: Paul S. Graham)
Dr. Radhika Desai is Professor at the Department of Political Studies, and Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. She is the author of Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (2013) among other books. She co-edits the Geopolitical Economy book series with Manchester University Press and the Future of Capitalism book series with Pluto Press.
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is an award-winning author and geopolitical analyst, author of The Globalization of NATO (Clarity Press) and a forthcoming book The War on Libya and the Re-Colonization of Africa. He is a Sociologist and Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), a contributor at the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF), Moscow, and a member of the Scientific Committee of Geopolitica, Italy.
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