Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Libya and the new US strategic doctrine

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Libya and the new US strategic doctrine

Click here to access article by Thierry Meyssan from Voltaire Net.

The author sees a new doctrine that is guiding the policies of the Empire which he calls the "Gates doctrine". He credits Thomas P.M. Barnett for identifying and elucidating the doctrine in his book, The Pentagon’s New Map. War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century.

Another, more realistic, imperial vision has progressively surfaced at the Pentagon.

...The world will be divided in two. On one side, the stable centre constituted around the United States by developed countries that are more or less democratic. On the other side, a periphery - left to its own devices - plagued by under development and violence. The role of the Pentagon will be to ensure the civilised world gets access to the necessary natural resources located in the periphery, which is inept to make use of them.

I think it is mostly the strategies that the Empire will employ to gain "access to the necessary natural resources located in the periphery" that is a bit different than previous strategies.