New American Imperialism - Bush's War on Terror and Blood for Oil

Author: Vassilis Fouskas
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Dr. Vassilis Fouskas, an international relations scholar at the University of Stirling, UK, and his co-authors wrote a book titled Neo-American Imperialism: Bush's War on Terror and Blood for Oil, arguing that the United States is acting as a "neo-imperialist" force in the world. The "neo-imperialism" of the United States is manifested in three aspects: First, the United States has established the dominance of the dollar by controlling the international monetary system and the oil-dollar pricing mechanism. Second, it has established its position as the "center of the free world" through the "hub and spoke" relationship with its allies. Third, it justifies and militarizes its foreign policy by exaggerating the threats the world faces. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War gradually gave way to a new world order, with the United States becoming the sole superpower. However, before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the organizational principles of the world order in the early 21st century were not yet clear. Now they are—long-term war against communism has been replaced by a persistent "war on terror." Whether the U.S. military will stay in Iraq for longer or what further military actions will be taken, George W. Bush will continue as a "wartime president," with his foreign policy guided by the Pentagon. At the same time, the authors argue that this new phase of neo-imperialism, which focuses on the oil of Eurasia, is a new development of the ideas and actions of figures like Dean Acheson and Paul Nitze after World War II. But 2005 is not 1945, and the United States is not liberating Iraq and Afghanistan in the way Germany and Japan were liberated; nor is it rebuilding Iraq and the former Yugoslavia as it did with the Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Western Europe. Due to overextended military power and fiscal deficits, the United States cannot today adopt such measures. The authors argue that the United States is simply coercively exploiting the natural resources of developing countries and forcing other developed countries to rely on the United States for the management of the global economy. The authors assert that this situation can never last, and the United States is entering a period of deep crisis. American neo-imperialists must avoid the bad nightmare—the formation of a strategic and economic alliance between Europe, Russia, China, and OPEC—before the human and environmental safety are severely damaged, by orderly withdrawing U.S. military forces. This book consists of 10 chapters, including: Money, Oil, and Power; Controlling Foreign Governments; New Ways of American Warfare; The Ideology of Neo-Imperialism, etc.