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

Friday, July 24, 2015

The Eurasian Big Bang: How China and Russia Are Running Rings Around Washington

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from TomDispatch. (If you wish to skip the introduction to the article by Tom Engelhardt, you will need to scroll down to the article.)

It's quite amazing to see so many astute political analysts viewing an event with such different perspectives. This piece by Escobar offers views of the Iran deal which is in sharp contrast to others that I have posted on my website. I'm referring specifically to Petr Lvov ("Iran is Heading West Now"), Keith Jones of World Socialist Web Site ("Obama promotes 'historic' nuclear deal with Iran"), and Eric Draitser ("The Geopolitics and Economics of the Iran Nuclear Deal"). All of the above view the Iran deal as a victory for the Empire and a setback for countries who wish to pursue an independent path.

Escobar has long been viewing the efforts of the BRIC countries, led by Russia and China, to create what he celebrates as a great alternative to the Empire's hegemony, thereby creating what he sees as a wonderful "multi-polar world". And, in this piece he sees the deal as a victory for the BRICS and their plans to create an independent union and a multipolar world. In this celebration he ignores all concerns about this alternative ending in a nuclear confrontation with the Empire nor the substantial contribution to global warming by this alternative's grand plans for development of Eurasia which will require huge amounts of fossil fuel energy. 

Finally he ignores the fact that their governments intend to use the engines of capitalism to realize their plans without any concern that the capitalist classes in the BRIC countries will eventually overwhelm or co-opt the somewhat independent, bureaucratic classes of their respective countries in order to implement the same hegemonic tendencies of the existing US-led Empire. What unites these countries now--opposition to the hegemony of the Empire--could eventually, assuming they were successful, lead down the same destructive path that these same critics see the Empire on today.