A Modest proposal for the Empire

[Jim Farmelant]

I think that Carrol is quite right here.  It is simply too
early to tell whether imperialism will benefit or suffer
in the long term because of 9/11.  On the one hand
the events of 9/11 themselves can be seen as a
blow to imperialism inasmuch as they exposed
the vulnerability of the US to terrorist attack.  It
was certainly a psychological blow to the American
populace who have lived in a country that has not known
foreign attacks on its soil since 1812, and where
prior to 9/11 such attack had seemed to be inconceivable.
And it would seem to be rather foolish IMO to think
that others may not be inspired to launch similar
attacks in the future of possible even greater
destructiveness.

On the other hand, in the short run at least 9/11
can be seen as boon for imperialism, since those
attacks have given the ruling class the political
cover required for its undertaking of a campaign
that appears aimed at reinforcing US domination
in the Middle East and the Islamic world generally,
and especially at soring up US control over oil-producing
regions.  It has enabled the imperialists to launch
a "War on Terrorism" that seems intended to serve
as a replacement for the apparently now lamentedly ended
Cold War which had played such a useful role to
imperialism in the past.

But then again, whether or not all this will benefit the
imperialists in the long run, remains to be seen.
Probably, the greatest danger from their standpoint
is that of hubris, especially after the seemingly easy
"victory" in Afghanistan.  Many of the Bushies are
very eager to go after Iraq and other countries,
where there seems less of a prospect for such
easy victories.  There is a great danger of them
overplaying their hand, and of thus causing the
much predicted backlash among the Arab masses
that would topple such US-friendly regimes as
Barak in Egypt, the Jordainian monarchy, and 
perhaps the biggest prize, the overthrow of
the House of Saud.  

Jim F.

On Sat, 29 Dec 2001 08:31:36 -0600 Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> writes:
> 
> 
> Doug Henwood wrote:
> > 
> > . Anyone who thinks 9/11 was a defeat for imperialism isn't
> > looking very closely.
> > 
> 
> I would say that at this point anyone who calls it a defeat or a 
> victory
> for anyone is not looking at it very closely. That will mostly be
> determined either by I wouldn't try to guess or by world conditions 
> a
> year after the U.S. withraws its troops from Afghanistan. Calling it 
> a
> defeat or victory now is simply silly. It is utterly unclear whose
> political aims are being realized, or even what those political aims
> are.
> 
> Carrol

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