Re: some musings on oil, war, and empire

In a message dated 1/23/2003 1:32:50 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
p-gomberg@csu.edu writes:

> That is, some U.S. ruling class forces favor a "maximum program" of 
>destabilizing governments from Egypt to Iran, including Saudi Arabia, with the 
>goal of bringing genuine domestic bourgeois forces (modernizing, commercial, 
>industrial, and financial capitalists allied with the U.S. bourgeoisie) to 
>power in modern democracies with all of the usual trappings (periodic 
>elections, legislatures, separation of powers, etc.). They seem to believe 
>that these forces are the only stable long term allies of imperialism, much 
>preferable to the Shah, 
> Saudi ruling family, emirs, etc. 

Indeed.  Such bourgeois forces will likely allow quicker circulation of 
transnational capital, and more directly promote consumerism.  Such are the 
lessons from pushing out 'feudal relics' like landlords and military elites 
from the centers of state power in Latin America.  Whether the US could enact 
such a revolution from above in a part of the world with a relatively vital 
local/regional cultural tradition and a predisposition to mistrust the West is 
another question.

There are a number of good arguments as to why the US would want to go to war 
with Iraq--oil (either for its consumers or to tame its rivals), military 
domination of the world, support for Israel, cultural/political penetration of 
the Arab world.  The key is that all these reasons reinforce and compliment 
each other.

Steven Sherman