Tag: USA

Spanish far-right party Vox and the changing right-wing politics in Spain

Spanish Social Democratic Party PSOE was the clear winner of Sunday’s general election in Spain. PSOE won 28.7 % of the votes and 123 parliamentary seats, an increase of 38 seats. However, the left-wing coalition Unidas Podemos won 14.3 % of the votes and 42 seats, a loss of 29 seats. (1, 2)

A more significant upheaval seems to be taking place amid Spanish right-wing parties. The conservative party Partido Popular PP suffered historic defeat by losing over half of its seats (loss of 71 seats) and by winning 16.7 % of the votes. Ciudadanos won 15.9 % of the votes and 57 seats, an increase of 25 seats. (1) There have been indications that Ciudadanos is becoming more right-wing and the success of the party in this election will make it challenger of the PP. (2, 3, 4, 5)

The biggest shock was the success of far-right party Vox. The party won 24 seats and 10.3 % of the votes and it became the first far-right party to enter the Spanish parliament after decades (6). Vox has become known for its strong, aggressive rhetoric and its stance against multiculturalism, mass immigration, Muslims and women’s rights. Vox has drawn inspiration from French, British and American hard-line right-win populists. Members of the party have shown their admiration for President Trump and his policies and they like to use slogans that are similar to the ones used by Trump. (7)

Vox has quite interesting connections to neoconservatives and other right-wing politicians in the U.S. camp. Leading Spanish neoconservative and former Prime Minister of Spain, José María Aznar, is seen as influencer or “tsar” of the three Spanish right-wing parties Vox, PP and Ciudadanos (8). Aznar has spoken favorably about Santiago Abascal, current leader of Vox and former member of PP. Aznar said in October that Abascal is a “boy full of good qualities.” (9) Rafael Bardají, another leading Spanish neoconservative and former advisor of Aznar, is now strategist of Vox. Bardají is well-known for his strong support for Israel and for his anti-Muslim stance. Bardají is founder and former director of Madrid-based right-wing think-tank Strategic Studies Group GEES and he is also Executive Director of the Friends of Israel Initiative. (10, 11) Steve Bannon, former advisor of President Trump, endorsed Vox after meeting Bardají, last year. Bannon has wanted Vox to be part of his European far-right alliance The Movement. (7, 10)

Even though Vox is now known for its Islamophobia, the party has actually received funding from Iranian dissident groups. When Vox was founded as a splinter group of PP in 2013, one of the founders of Vox, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, arranged funding for the new party from exiled Iranian group National Council of Resistance of Iran NCRI. According to a spokesperson for the NCRI, the organization gave funding without knowing that Vox would become a far-right party. The NCRI is now considered to be a “front organization” of Iranian terrorist cult Mojahedin-e-Khalq MEK. Several American politicians have shown their support for MEK. President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and National Security Advisor John Bolton consider MEK to be a legitimate opposition to the current Iranian government. (12)

References:

1) “Analysis: How did Sunday’s elections change Spain’s political landscape?” El País 29.4.2019

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/04/29/inenglish/1556519911_184823.html

2) Elecciones generales 2019 – Resultados El País 29.4.2019

https://resultados.elpais.com/elecciones/generales.html

3) “Everyone against Ciudadanos” El País 30.11.2017

https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/11/30/inenglish/1512056948_465189.html

4) “Spain’s Albert Rivera shifts party rightward ahead of vote” Financial Times 24.3.2019

https://www.ft.com/content/1774e27e-4a29-11e9-8b7f-d49067e0f50d

5) “Ciudadanos disputa al PP el liderazgo de la derecha” El País 29.4.2019

https://elpais.com/politica/2019/04/28/actualidad/1556462369_564500.html

6) “Spanish election: socialists win amid far-right gains for Vox party” The Guardian 29.4.2019

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/28/spain-election-socialists-to-win-most-seats-far-right-vox-resurgent

7) “Vox: Who are the Trump-inspired far-right Spanish nationalist party and what do they stand for?” The Independent 11.1.2019

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vox-andalusia-santiago-abascal-spain-steve-bannon-donald-trump-a8723121.html

8) “A Darkening Horizon” Jacobin 17.12.2018


https://jacobinmag.com/2018/12/spain-municipal-elections-vox-far-right

9) “Abascal, busting Spain’s ‘traitors’ to resurrect far-right” Yahoo Finance 29.4.2019


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/abascal-busting-spains-traitors-resurrect-far-222819746.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmZpLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMYJjsTJ3i2PaUP1Jh6mZOPRvgFACNlkpkcZ7dxqzSUZRF06chuy9BAHJ4_xb3eDp1qKBpLjTaOopzV4wuuJ0Vt8_CnFTYgweE4PSF3_H3VDr5bXtugKcJQRzoYr4iUT946T3rjKgPXVifIPB_eW73VoWyPAfOc9RigUY6L_BD40

10) “Bannon sets his eyes on Spain” European Council on Foreign Relations ECFR 24.10.2018

https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_bannon_sets_his_eyes_on_spain

11) Contributors – Rafael Bardají Octavian Report

https://octavianreport.com/contributor/rafael-bardaji/

12) “Spain’s Vox Party Hates Muslims – Except the Ones Who Fund It” Foreign Policy 27.4.2019

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/27/spains-vox-party-hates-muslims-except-the-ones-who-fund-it-mek-ncri-maryam-rajavi-pmoi-vidal-quadras-abascal/

Important statement in defense of two-state solution

Large group of prominent European politicians published a letter in defense of the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Read the full letter in today’s The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/14/europe-must-stand-by-the-two-state-solution-for-israel-and-palestine

As American-Israeli alliance is becoming more and more right-wing and the Trump administration is more and more biased, it is up to European and other countries to make sure that we can reach peaceful and fair solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

President Trump’s decision regarding the Golan Heights and American-Israeli oil interests

Hello again. After my last post my computer crashed and it has taken a little while to fix everything. The horrible terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, have had serious consequences for example in Britain, where amount of anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 593% in the week after the attack (1). While we are still trying to find out all the reasons why the Australian man became a white supremacist terrorist, this post is about slightly another kind of right-wing politics.

President Trump made controversial and provocative decision by formally recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over Israel-occupied Golan Heights. Trump’s declaration was condemned widely. According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “clear that the status of Golan has not changed.” The Arab League said that “Trump’s recognition does not change the area’s status.” (2, 3)

Trump’s decision has been seen as an attempt to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to win the parliamentary elections next month (2), but there may be other reasons, as well. In 2013, Israel granted the first license to explore for oil and gas in the occupied Golan Heights to an American company called Genie Energy – the company’s advisory board includes former vice president Dick Cheney, Lord Jacob Rothschild and media mogul Rupert Murdoch (4, 5). One of the biggest owners of Genie Energy is hedge fund Renaissance Technologies LLC – Robert Mercer, the co-CEO of the hedge fund, was also financial backer of Cambridge Analytica, a voter-data firm that worked closely with the presidential campaign of President Trump (6, 7).

The Economist reported in 2015, that Genie Energy and its Israeli subsidiary Genie Oil & Gas believed to have found an oil reservoir “with the potential of billions of barrels” (8). In 2017, Genie Energy created a new subsidiary, Atid Drilling Ltd., to take care of various drilling projects in Israel. Atid has worked together with another Genie Energy subsidiary, Afek Oil and Gas, in order to drill oil exploration wells in the Golan Heights. (9, 10) Zack Colman reported in E&E News in February 2018 that (former) US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke met Efraim “Effie” Eitam, far-right former Israeli politician and head of Afek Oil and Gas, in September 2017. Colman wrote that Afek Oil and Gas “has drilling operations in the Golan Heights, a disputed territory that the international community has explicitly said does not belong to Israel.” Colman continued that the meeting raised “concerns about the appearance that the Trump administration is sanctioning unlawful energy exploration.” Colman also mentioned that Ira Greenstein, ex-chairman of Genie Energy’s former parent company, IDT Corp., is a family friend of Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. Greenstein also worked in the White House. (11)

F. William Engdahl wrote in 2017:

“…unless there is some very careful rethinking on the part of Washington and of Israel, we might find ourselves in another war for oil in of all places the Golan Heights…” (9)

References:

1) “Anti-Muslim hate crimes soar in UK after Christchurch shootings” The Guardian 22.3.2019

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/22/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-soar-in-uk-after-christchurch-shootings

2) “Trump formally recognises Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights” Al Jazeera 25.3.2019

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/trump-formally-recognises-israeli-sovereignty-golan-heights-190325153937336.html

3) “Trump’s support for Israeli Golan Heights draws global anger” Al Jazeera 26.3.2018

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/trump-support-israeli-golan-heights-draws-global-anger-190325185150944.htmlh

4) “Israel Grants First Golan Heights Oil Drilling License To Dick Cheney-Linked Company” Business Insider 22.2.2013

https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-grants-golan-heights-oil-license-2013-2

5) Company overview of Genie Energy Ltd. Bloomberg 26.3.2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/board.asp?privcapId=113359359

6) Top 10 owners of Genie Energy Ltd CNN Business

https://money.cnn.com/quote/shareholders/shareholders.html?symb=GNE&subView=institutional

7) “Robert Mercer, Bannon Patron, Is Leaving Helm of $50 Billion Hedge Fund” The New York Times 2.11.2017

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/business/robert-mercer-renaissance.html

8) “Black gold under the Golan – Just one catch” The Economist 7.11.2015

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2015/11/07/black-gold-under-the-golan

9) “Golan Heights, Israel, Oil and Trump” New Eastern Outlook 30.3.2017

https://journal-neo.org/2017/03/30/golan-heights-israel-oil-and-trump/

10) “Drilling firm to pursue water, gas, oil projects” The Jerusalem Post 10.1.2017

https://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Environment/Drilling-firm-to-pursue-water-gas-oil-projects-477953

11) “Zinke met Israeli energy boss who called Arabs a ‘cancer'” E&E News 9.2.2018

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060073391

The growing threat of right-wing extremism

According to some media reports, Australian white supremacists have attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing several Muslims. This is another terrible reminder that right-wing extremism and terrorism is becoming a truly serious threat to us all.

Before we get more information about the horrible attack and the attackers, here is an old post of mine regarding the growing problem of right-wing extremism and terrorism in USA – I published this post in my old blog in August 2017:

STATISTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT DOMESTIC TERRORISM IN USA

The threat of Islamic extremism and terrorism was one of the most important themes during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. After becoming the president, he has banned foreign nationals from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering USA. Several wealthier Muslim-majority countries, where the Trump Organization has business interests, are not on the list. President Trump claimed that the temporary ban is needed in order to avoid terrorist attacks. Some critics have argued that the ban is just a backdoor way to bar Muslims from entering USA (1).

What seems to have been overlooked is right-wing extremist terrorism. The Investigative Fund and Reveal have compiled a database of nine years of domestic terrorism incidents in USA (2). The database gives very interesting statistical information about the domestic terrorism in USA.

DOMESTIC TERRORISM INCIDENTS IN USA

January 2008 – End of December 2016


Type of domestic
terrorism

Number of
incidents
Foiled plots*
(% of total)
Number of
fatalities

Islamic extremist

63
76 %
90

Right-wing extremist

115
35 %
79

Left-wing extremist**

19
–
7

* foiled plots = no attack took place    ** including ecoterrorism and animal rights (Source of the data: The Investigative Fund)

During January 2008 – end of December 2016 there were 63 Islamist terrorism cases. Vast majority (76 %) of these cases were foiled plots, i.e. no attack actually took place. 48 % of these cases were sting operations. 13 % of Islamist terrorism cases caused fatalities. However, the total number of fatalities was greater.

According to the database, there were nearly twice as many (115) right-wing extremist terrorism incidents. Only 35 % of these cases were foiled plots and only 12 % were sting operations. The right-wing extremist terrorism was often more deadly – nearly 1/3 of these incidents caused fatalities.

Left-wing extremist terrorist incidents were comparatively rare. Only 10.5 % of these cases were sting operations.

Before President Trump signed the ban regarding the six predominantly Muslim countries, he claimed that vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offences since 9/11 came from outside USA. According to the database, only 13 % of perpetrators or alleged perpetrators were foreign born and only 1 % of them came from the countries that are on Trump’s list. The Department of Homeland Security analysis came to the same conclusion – it stated that citizens of nations named in the ban are “rarely implicated in U.S.-based terrorism.” (2)

References:

1) Samuel Osborne: “Muslim-majority countries where Donald Trump does business not included in travel ban” The Independent  27.6.2017

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-travel-ban-muslim-majority-countries-business-organisation-syria-iran-yemen-islamic-a7810711.html

2) David Neiwert: “Home is where the hate is. Trump’s fixation on demonizing Islam hides true homegrown US terror threat” Reveal  21.6.2017

https://www.revealnews.org/article/home-is-where-the-hate-is/

President Trump’s eventful campaign rally in Texas

President Trump had, even in his own opinion, an eventful campaign rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday the 11th. President Trump once again criticized media as well as the Democratic Party, or “radical left.” The lively audience was cheering and booing, and there seemed to be several skirmishes. (1) In one incident Trump supporter attacked BBC cameraman (2). Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, and members of his far-right armed militia were seen in the front row. Rhodes has expressed willingness to train and form an armed militia to do whatever President Trump wants. (3)

References:

1) President Trump’s campaign rally in El Paso, Texas 11.2.2019, link to Fox News video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/do2YCAGPr4E

2) “Trump supporter attacks BBC cameraman at El Paso rally” BBC News 12.2.2019

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47208909

3) “The founder of this extremist armed militia had a front-row seat to Trump’s rally” Media Matters 12.2.2019

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/02/12/founder-extremist-armed-militia-had-front-row-seat-trump-s-rally/222849

US Senate approves anti-BDS bill

The US Senate approved new anti-BDS bill by votes of 77-23, yesterday. The bill will be sent to the House of Representatives where it will probably face new debate. The only Republican who voted against the bill was Senator Rand Paul. (1, 2) He said:

“Our country was founded upon the concept and in the midst of a great boycott. At the time, we were boycotting British goods and most specifically, British tea. There is likely nothing more American than to protest, to dissent and to boycott.”

“The sad thing today is that we will be debating whether or not to place limitations on the First Amendment right to boycott, and we will do it because the vast majority of this body disagrees with the concept of what the people are boycotting over.” (1)

Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders said last week:

“While I do not support the BDS movement, we must defend every American’s constitutional right to engage in political activity. It is clear to me that this bill would violate Americans’ First Amendment rights.” (2)

References:

1) “US Senate approves anti-BDS bill, slowdown of Syria withdrawal” Al Jazeera 6.2.2019

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/senate-approves-anti-bds-bill-slowdown-syria-withdrawal-190206041549376.html

2) “Senate approves Syria, anti-BDS bill” The Hill 5.2.2019

https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/428572-senate-approves-syria-anti-bds-bill

USA and far-right Azov Battalion in Ukraine

USA has had military cooperation with radical groups particularly in the Middle East. However, the cooperation with far-right parties and militia groups, such as Azov Battalion, in Ukraine may have been one of the most controversial and it may also backfire handsomely.

The Azov Battalion, or Azov Regiment, is one of many privately-funded volunteer battalions that were formed during the crisis in Ukraine in 2014 (1). Far-right volunteers from different parts of the world joined Azov Battalion. Azov Battalion has benefited from the funding, weapons and training USA has provided for Ukrainian military groups. Azov has gradually developed into a far-right, neo-Nazi movement with street-patrolling militia and own youth camp (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Because of the neo-Nazi element of the battalion, US Congressmen John Conyers and Ted Yoho drew up an amendment to House Defense Appropriations bill in 2015. The amendment “limits arms, training, and other assistance to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia, the Azov Battalion” and it was passed unanimously. However, US Department of Defense objected the amendment. The ban to give any kind of support or training to Azov Battalion finally came to force last year. (3, 4)

The Azov Movement and other similar far-right groups and parties have become increasingly severe problem in Ukraine. Their militia groups have been allowed to be some sort of part of law enforcement and they have attacked minority groups, often with impunity. There have also been attacks on anti-fascist groups, city council meetings, media outlets, art exhibitions, foreign students and women’s marches (1, 5).

The Azov Movement also wants to extend its cooperation with other far-right radical groups in Europe and North America. Olena Semenyaka, the international secretary for Azov’s political wing, the National Corps, says that Azov has gained popularity and become “small state in a state” in Ukraine. Semenyaka believes that in the current climate it is possible that far-right leaders can come to power in Europe and Azov wants to form coalitions and be in front of the far-right movement. There has also been more and more cooperation with American neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists. According to FBI, Azov’s military wing is “believed to have participated in training and radicalizing United States-based white supremacy organizations.” (5)

References:

1) “Commentary: Ukraine’s neo-Nazi problem” Reuters 19.3.2018

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cohen-ukraine-commentary/commentary-ukraines-neo-nazi-problem-idUSKBN1GV2TY

2) “Foreigners join far-right militias in Ukraine’s fight against rebels” The Irish Times 17.7.2014

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/foreigners-join-far-right-militias-in-ukraine-s-fight-against-rebels-1.1868779

3) “Congress Has Removed a Ban on Funding Neo-Nazis From Its Year-End Spending Bill” The Nation 14.1.2016

https://www.thenation.com/article/congress-has-removed-a-ban-on-funding-neo-nazis-from-its-year-end-spending-bill/

4) “Congress bans arms to Ukraine militia linked to neo-Nazis” The Hill 27.3.2018

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/380483-congress-bans-arms-to-controversial-ukrainian-militia-linked-to-neo-nazis

5) “Azov, Ukraine’s Most Prominent Ultranationalist Group, Sets Its Sights On U.S., Europe” Radio Free Europe 14.11.2018

https://www.rferl.org/a/azov-ukraine-s-most-prominent-ultranationalist-group-sets-its-sights-on-u-s-europe/29600564.html

From friend to foe – new American approach to Europe

Perhaps one of the most surprising changes during the Trump presidency has been the change in the attitude towards Europe and particularly the European Union. When asked to identify his biggest competitor or foe during an interview in July 2018, President Trump said:

“Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.” (1)

USA and particularly Republicans have increased their cooperation with European far-right and right-wing populist leaders. The former leader of British far-right party UKIP, “Mr. Brexit” Nigel Farage has had close ties particularly to President Trump and Steve Bannon (2). Farage is still campaigning for Brexit and according to him President Trump is a “believer in Brexit” (3, 4). In last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC, organized by American Conservative Union ACU, one of the guest speakers was Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, who describes herself to be “the political heir” of her grandfather Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French far-right party National Front (5).

President Trump has appointed ambassadors who have caused controversy. The US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra has worked closely with some American anti-Muslim organizations and he has made several unsubstantiated anti-Muslim claims (6). The US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell caused controversy already before his appointment because of his insulting and derogatory remarks about women. After becoming the ambassador Grenell gave an interview to far-right news outlet Breitbart and said that he wanted to “empower” anti-establishment right-wing forces throughout Europe (7, 8). Steve Bannon has been trying to start a “Trump-style populist insurgency” with his Brussels-based group The Movement. However, many European far-right parties or politicians haven’t been very keen to join his operation (9).

Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has joined Bannon’s group (9, 10). Salvini has also wanted to create “Italian-Polish axis” that could help to spark right-wing populist “European Spring” and replace the center-right “French-German axis” in Europe (11). Poland has become increasingly important ally of USA. President Trump has praised Poland and Polish people “for standing up for their independence, their security and their sovereignty.” The ruling Polish nationalists have wanted to strengthen the American-Polish alliance even more by requesting that USA would establish a permanent armored base, “Fort Trump”, in Poland. European diplomats have been worried that “hard-liners in the White House are using a willing Warsaw as a wedge to divide and weaken the EU, with which Trump has clashed over trade, climate change, defense spending, Middle East diplomacy and global governance” (12).

Reference:

1) “Donald Trump calls the EU ‘a foe’ ahead of Putin summit” Independent 15.7.2018

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-calls-eu-foe-putin-summit-european-union-china-russia-a8448421.html

2) “Nigel Farage on the story behind his friendship with Trump” The New Yorker 30.11.2016

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/nigel-farage-on-the-story-behind-his-friendship-with-trump

3) “Nigel Farage: Trump supports Brexit because it will upend ‘global bureaucracy’” Breitbart 20.12.2018

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/12/20/nigel-farage-trump-supports-brexit-because-it-will-upend-global-bureaucracy/

4) “Nigel Farage joins Leave Means Leave campaign as Vice Chairman” Leave Means Leave

https://www.leavemeansleave.eu/nigel-farage-joins-leave-means-leave-campaign-vice-chairman/

5) “Trump’s GOP is morphing into France’s far right” The Washington Post 23.2.2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/23/trumps-gop-is-morphing-into-frances-far-right/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.12446e5a9a6c

6) “New US ambassador to Netherlands regularly made unsubstantiated ‘no-go zones’ claims, speculated 15% of Muslims could be jihadists” CNN 9.1.2018

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/09/politics/kfile-pete-hoekstra-no-go-zones/index.html

7) “Senator weighs holding up Trump nominee over ‘insulting and derogatory’ tweets” The Daily Beast 12.7.2017

https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-democrat-holding-up-trump-nominee-richard-grenell-over-insulting-and-derogatory-tweets?ref=scroll

8) “New US ambassador to Germany under fire for rightwing support” The Guardian 4.6.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/04/new-us-ambassador-to-germany-under-fire-for-rightwing-support

9) “Steve Bannon’s far-right Europe operation undermined by election laws” The Guardian 21.11.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/21/steve-bannons-rightwing-europe-operation-undermined-by-election-laws

10) “Italy’s Matteo Salvini joins Bannon’s European populist group” The Guardian 8.9.2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/08/italy-matteo-salvini-joins-steve-bannon-european-populist-group-movement

11) “Salvini calls for ‘Italian-Polish axis’ to replace Paris-Berlin” EurActiv 10.1.2019

https://www.euractiv.com/section/eu-elections-2019/news/salvini-calls-for-italian-polish-axis-to-replace-paris-berlin/

12) “Poland’s risky ‘America first’ policy” Politico 6.10.2018

https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-risky-america-first-policy-jaroslaw-kaczynski-donald-trump/

Geopolitical thoughts about the American “empire”

Because of some recent events in different parts of the world, here are some timely geopolitical thoughts about USA as an “empire.” These thoughts are from Stratfor, an American geopolitical intelligence platform founded by George Friedman in 1996 (1). Stratfor is sometimes called “Shadow CIA.” (2)

George Friedman explained the nature of the American “empire” during a media conference in 2015. Here is a YouTube link to that part of his speech:

https://youtu.be/dMxcKB0_C0c

Here are some extracts of a Stratfor article “The Geopolitics of the United States, Part 1: The Inevitable Empire.” (3)

“The two world wars of the early 20th century constituted a watershed in human history for a number of reasons. For the United States the wars’ effects can be summed up with this simple statement: They cleared away the competition.

Global history from 1500 to 1945 is a lengthy treatise of increasing contact and conflict among a series of great regional powers. Some of these powers achieved supra-regional empires, with the Spanish, French and English being the most obvious. Several regional powers — Austria, Germany, Ottoman Turkey and Japan — also succeeded in extending their writ over huge tracts of territory during parts of this period. And several secondary powers — the Netherlands, Poland, China and Portugal — had periods of relative strength. Yet the two world wars massively devastated all of these powers. No battles were fought in the mainland United States. Not a single American factory was ever bombed. Alone among the world’s powers in 1945, the United States was not only functional but thriving.

The United States immediately set to work consolidating its newfound power, creating a global architecture to entrench its position.”

“There is another secret to American success — both in controlling the oceans and taking advantage of European failures — that lies in an often-misunderstood economic structure called Bretton Woods. Even before World War II ended, the United States had leveraged its position as the largest economy and military to convince all of the Western allies — most of whose governments were in exile at the time — to sign onto the Bretton Woods accords. The states committed to the formation of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to assist with the expected post-War reconstruction. Considering the general destitution of Western Europe at the time, this, in essence, was a U.S. commitment to finance if not outright fund that reconstruction. Because of that, the U.S. dollar was the obvious and only choice to serve as the global currency.

But Bretton Woods was about more than currency regimes and international institutions; its deeper purpose lay in two other features that are often overlooked. The United States would open its markets to participating states’ exports while not requiring reciprocal access for its own. In exchange, participating states would grant the United States deference in the crafting of security policy. NATO quickly emerged as the organization through which this policy was pursued. “

References:

1) Stratfor in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratfor

2) “Stratfor, a.k.a ‘Shadow CIA,’ Had Contracts With 13 Federal Departments: WikiLeaks” Huffington Post 14.2.2014

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/15/stratfor-canadian-government_n_4449505.html

3) “The Geopolitics of the United States, Part 1: The Inevitable Empire” Stratfor 4.7.2016

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/geopolitics-united-states-part-1-inevitable-empire