via chycho
Contrary to what some have been hoping for, the future of Africa looks to be bloodier than its past. The reasons for this are as vast and varied as the continent itself, such as resources (oil, water, land, minerals), economic interests of external powers (growth, trade, monetary policy), and ideological differences (structure of governments, corruption, tradition, ethnicity).
One of the main reasons that this scramble for Africa has intensified in the last few years and will most likely continue to escalate for the next few decades is because western nations are losing major battles on multiple other fronts. Just to name a few: the coalition of the willing has lost Iraq as well as Afghanistan; Syria is a stalemate; Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Algeria, Congo, and Mali are a disaster; Bahrain is in lockdown; Latin America is freeing itself from U.S. control; and Israel has gone rogue.
Allan Nairn: As U.S. Loses Its Global Economic Edge, Its “One Clear Comparative Advantage is in Killing, and It’s Using It”
As Noam Chomsky has pointed out:
“Iraq was an attempt to reinstitute by force something like the old system of control, but it was beaten back. In general, I think, US policies remain constant, going back to the Second World War. But the capacity to implement them is declining….
“Take the Clinton doctrine. The Clinton doctrine was that the United States is entitled to resort to unilateral force to ensure ‘uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies, and strategic resources’.…
“Then he expressed the reason. He said that ‘one of the main functions of the international institutional order is precisely to legitimate the use of deadly military force by western powers’.…
“So the principle on which the international system is based is that the United States is entitled to use force at will. To talk about the United States violating international law or something like that is amazingly naive, completely silly.…
“That’s why you get all this talk about American decline. Take a look at the year-end issue of Foreign Affairs, the main establishment journal. Its big front-page cover asks, in bold face, ‘Is America Over?’ It’s a standard complaint of those who believe they should have everything.
“If you believe you should have everything and anything gets away from you, it’s a tragedy, the world is collapsing. So is America over? A long time ago we ‘lost’ China, we’ve lost Southeast Asia, we’ve lost South America. Maybe we’ll lose the Middle East and North African countries. Is America over? It’s a kind of paranoia, but it’s the paranoia of the superrich and the superpowerful. If you don’t have everything, it’s a disaster.”
This mentality has become a serious problem, especially since international law is not being applied equally across-the-Board. It’s equivalent to giving the bully in the yard the right to do anything they want, with impunity, without accountability, for all to see:
“Italy’s former intelligence chief Nicolo Pollari has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the rendition of a terror suspect. The court in Milan also sentenced his former deputy Marco Mancini to nine years in jail over the 2003 kidnapping….
“The Italian trials, which began in 2007, were the first in the world to bring to court cases involving extraordinary rendition, the CIA’s practice of transferring terror suspects to countries where torture is permitted….
“Pollari was [initially] acquitted when the first trial ended with the conviction of 23 Americans – all but one of them CIA agents – in 2009. The CIA’s Milan station chief at the time, Robert Lady, was given an eight-year term, while the other 22 Americans convicted – one of them a US air force colonel – were sentenced to five years in prison.
“All of them are believed to be living in the US and are unlikely to serve their sentences.”
As Italy Sentences 23 CIA Agents in Rendition Case, Obama Refuses to Prosecute Anyone for Torture
Part 2: Alfred McCoy: “Torture and Impunity: The U.S. Doctrine of Coercive Interrogation”
And this is the agenda that threatens Africa. The United States has been given a mandate to do what it deems necessary to maintain western supremacy and its dominant role on the world stage. Africa happens to be an integral part of that plan, guaranteeing its bleak future. The following are the first three parts of a series that is meant to delve deeper into this subject. More will follow over the next few years as events unfold:
Western Powers Go Full Retard on Africa: China vs. AFRICOM, a Resource War (permalink)
tl;dr – Africa has resources that are required to maintain our current economic system.
France Has Forgotten the Battle of Algiers, Africa Never Will: “Ordinary Victories” by Manu Larcenet (permalink)
tl;dr – Atrocities were committed in the first scramble for Africa. Atrocities will be committed in this one as well.
Recolonization of Africa, a Symptom of Our Addiction to Growth: Differential Accumulation, Why GDP Growth Rates Influence Foreign Policy (permalink)
tl;dr – Many western powers are facing a serious economic crisis and they believe that Africa, assumed to be a soft target, will provide a lifeline.
continued at chycho
