[lit-ideas] Re: WTO and War

This begins with a falsehood,  There are no "all those Neocon books" that
I've read.  I gave Andreas & Mike a list of the books I've read recently to
show their assumption false.  Only one writer on there was clearly Right
Wing, David Horowitz, but his subject was an old one for him, the betrayal
of the Left, which isn't a Neocon theme. Andeas, at least, likes his
assumptions better than the evidence.

 

I attempt to find the best writers, the best theorists, the best historians
on the subjects I'm interested in.  Why does Andreas think they are all
Neocons?  I have a theory about that.  He chooses to read narrowly the
writers he agrees with and assumes I must be doing the same thing.   For
anyone who is familiar with the writers I have been reading, their
assumption is an absurdity.  

 

And beyond that, who are the writers of these "Neocon books"?  And what is a
Neocon?  I did a search for Neocon books some time ago and found one,
Present Dangers, Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense
Policy, edited by Robert Kagan and William Kristol.  I guess this is what
you are referring to as the "Neocon Bible." I read several of the articles,
but didn't find them very interesting.  

Since then, Robert Kagan wrote Of Paradise and Power, America and Europe in
the New World Order.  This is an essay rather than a book, but long enough
to offend a host of Europeans.  Maybe there are some more Neocon books out
there but I haven't run across them.  I certainly haven't gone searching for
them.

 

I don't see how you can call adherence to the WTO a "Republican" enterprise.
We joined the WTO in 1995 during a Democratic administration.  In Mead's
categories, this would be a Hamiltonian enterprise.  Are Hamiltonians more
typically Republican than Democrat?  Perhaps.  Why did we join the WTO
during Clinton's administration?  Did Newt Gingrich ram it down his throat
and override his veto?  

 

Lawrence

 

 

  _____  

From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:25 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The SCUD in a Box Scenario

 

In a message dated 2/28/2006 1:43:50 A.M. Central Standard Time,
andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

All those NeoCon books never told you this, did they? All those books that
talk stirringly 
about the upcoming Clash of Nations; they don't quite mention this, do they?

Hi,

Actually, they do and they think it is simply great. 

 

They also do not worry about the deficit--the belief is that no one needs to
worry about it because China, etc, would not be willing to let our economy
completely die. The world is too intertwined, I believe is the belief. (I
believe it was the Neo-Con Bible--which has essays by most of them--which
talked about the financial end of their philosophy.)

 

In regards to those of us who are NOT part of this global economy (ie will
probably not have anywhere close to 200,000 to 500,000 million or even
thousand) 

 

Your comment about how the WTO protects all of us from any state's
mismanagement kind of speaks to a more libertarian (or slightly Republican)
viewpoint--that is, there is no point in government--because government will
just muck things up. No point in having safety guidelines, pollution
standards, etc.  

 

Always interesting to think about when I look at how various systems DO try
to put the safeguards on the selfishness of the global capitalists--who are,
after all, the main ones who have profited from the Iraqi War (think, again,
of Cheney's slave ships scooping up uniformed workers in the Philippines and
taking them to Iraq to work on their reconstruction projects--it IS, truly,
a global world--but, still--that unwillingness to forego a little bit of $$
for the sake of a people whose infrastructure one destroyed for the sake of
being able to control a nation--is kind of sad. 

 

I realize that for a lot of people, it does not matter/bother them to walk
by the poor--to sneer at those who are bewildered (whether in the heart of
Iraq and unable to find a job because of the foreigners who have taken them
all--or the Midwestern families whose values are more towards cozy families
living close to each other and knowing how to play with their kids, knowing
the value of 'roots' as they hold the fabric of the Universe together--)
Most of them do NOT begrudge people making lots of money--but they'd like to
opportunity to not have that gap between their wages and that of those in
charge...

 

The gap between the wealthy (global capitalist types) (ie the thread in the
quilted blanket who weave the quilt blocks to each other as the thread goes
across the blanket) and the middle class (the underemployed and even ones
who work in the donut shop or as a waitress in a restaurant) who are the
quilt blocks which provide the warmth when tied all together--the gap is
growing so big that it will be interesting to see what happens when it
breaks and is not able to tie the blocks together any longer. 

 

Because when the blocks can become their own little feudal communities--they
*won't* need the thread any longer--and there will be those who will create
holes in the block quilt when it was once becoming a lovely warm blanket.

 

I think you might be seeing what IS and what IS will be for a while--but in
terms of tracking the trends--I would tend to look even further down that
road--and thus think that Eric's point is one that should be heeded.  (I'm
an awfully 'big picture' person--granted--and most global capitalist types
are bigger than the quilt squares--but some of us, some few of us, have as
our tasks to be the binding threads that hold the squares together in the
one big square--and when we see the thread tying the different squares
together in a very haphazard manner, it's  a matter of concern.

 

Whether or not it is the oil situation, that I don't know. I do think that
in MY area, we can see this in regards to towns refusing to pay
taxes--trying hard to become independent of the global economy in different
ways.  The 'how' is not so much of an issue as the turning of the direction
-- and with the thread no longer willing to bind and care for the blocks,
they will end up taking care of themselves...

 

but the world will be less because of it...the world which COULD be one of
sweetness...but unless there are more global capitalists who are truly going
to see themselves as stewards of the Big Picture, of the Quilt Blocks in
their care (ie to me, the global capitalsts making the deals in Bombay,
Berlin, China, London and the USA EACH has a responsibility to be caretakers
of their own places of abode--the 'to him much has been given, much is
required'.   The responsibility of a caretaker grows in that sort of a
situation--and that is what concerns ME and, I think, those who see the
selfishness of the slave traders -- for it is just on a larger scale,
sometimes, as those who you state are not caring who guards ports or invades
countries--the question is--would they be as selfish in their money-making
operations as well as in their personal lives as those who run the current
global corporate USA (and other) governments?  

 

I see, sometimes,  that they are the same 'types'--not all--for there are
the ones who create the Open Societies and who take their global minds and
pocketbooks quite seriously and responsibly.  

 

But, I remember the conversation that I had with the one who ran the
Overland Park, KS Chamber of Commerce a few years ago when the big boom in
the computer industry was going on--the different Chambers in the world were
talking about how the ones who now had $$ were very selfish with it--that
they were not willing to invest in where they lived [either with time or
money]--that the sense of social responsibility simply was not there.

 

That was several years ago--I think we're seeing a lot of that mentality not
just continuing amongst those who are the "haves"--but it's growing...

 

Like Eric, it troubles me. The 'globalization' is not so much a 'bad' or
'good' thing--but it is, like much, a tool--and could be used for 'good' as
well as for 'meanness'.  I see the meanness...and few of the 'haves' who
care enough to be the ones who will say 'stop' -- be a steward. Be a
caretaker.  

 

I'm thinking that Eric has the Gift of Prophecy (ie to see what will happen
if the Path does not get changed...)

 

Marlena in Missouri

not even able to be a voice in the wilderness as the wilderness is being
taken away. . .

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