JulieBee
Hey all together.
I have a burning question.
Is someone able to summarize the main ideas of John Pilgers text "The real story behind americas war" ? It is very important and I hope, someone can help me ...
here's the extract from the article, which has to be summarized. THANKS A LOT !!!
_____________________________________________________
Since September 11, the "war on terrorism" has provided a pretext for the rich countries, led by the United States, to further their dominance over world affairs. By spreading "fear and respect," as a Washington Post reporter put it, America intends to see off challenges to its uncertain ability to control and manage the "global economy," the euphemism for the progressive seizure of markets and resources by the G-8 rich nations.
This, not the hunt for a man in a cave in Afghanistan, is the aim behind U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's threats to "40 to 50 countries." It has little to do with terrorism and much to do with maintaining the divisions that underpin "globalization." Today international trade is worth more than £11.5 billion [$16.5 billion] a day. A tiny fraction if this, 0.4 percent, is shared with the poorest countries. American and G8 capital controls 70 percent of world markets, and because of the rules demanding the end of tariff barriers and subsidies in poor countries while ignoring protectionism in the West, the poor countries lose £1.3 billion [$1.87 billion] a day in trade.
Last month's World Trade Organization [WTO] meeting in Doha in the Gulf state of Quatar was disastrous for the majority of humanity. The rich nations demanded and got a new "round" of "trade liberalization," which is the power to intervene in the economies of poor countries, to demand privatization and the destruction of public services. Only they are permitted to protect their home industries and agriculture; only they have the right to subsidize exports of meat, grain, and sugar, then to dump them in poor countries at artificially low prices, thereby destroying the livelihoods of millions. In India, says environmentalist Vandana Shiva, suicides among poor farmers are "an epidemic."
Even before the WTO met, the American trade representative Robert Zoelliek invoked the "war on terrorism" to warn the developing world that no serious opposition to the American trade agenda would be tolerated. He said, "The United States is committed to global leadership of openness and understands that the staying power of our new coalition [against terrorism]...depends on economic growth." The code is that "economic growth" (rich elite, poor majority) equals antiterrorism.
Mark Curtis, a historian and Christian Aid's head of policy, who attended Doha, has described "an emerging pattern of threats and intimidation of poor countries" that amounted to "economic gunboat diplomacy." He said: "It was utterly outrageous. Wealthy countries exploited their power to spin the agenda of big business. The issue of multinational corporations as a cause of poverty was not even on the agenda; it was like a conference on malaria that does not discuss the mosquito."
Delegates from poor countries complained of being threatened with the removal of their few precious trade preferences. "If I speak out too strongly for the rights of my people," says an African delegate, "the U.S. will phone my minister. They will say that I am embarrassing the United States. My government will not even ask, 'What did he say?' They will just send me a ticket tomorrow...so I don't speak for fear of upsetting the master."
I have a burning question.
Is someone able to summarize the main ideas of John Pilgers text "The real story behind americas war" ? It is very important and I hope, someone can help me ...
here's the extract from the article, which has to be summarized. THANKS A LOT !!!
_____________________________________________________
Since September 11, the "war on terrorism" has provided a pretext for the rich countries, led by the United States, to further their dominance over world affairs. By spreading "fear and respect," as a Washington Post reporter put it, America intends to see off challenges to its uncertain ability to control and manage the "global economy," the euphemism for the progressive seizure of markets and resources by the G-8 rich nations.
This, not the hunt for a man in a cave in Afghanistan, is the aim behind U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's threats to "40 to 50 countries." It has little to do with terrorism and much to do with maintaining the divisions that underpin "globalization." Today international trade is worth more than £11.5 billion [$16.5 billion] a day. A tiny fraction if this, 0.4 percent, is shared with the poorest countries. American and G8 capital controls 70 percent of world markets, and because of the rules demanding the end of tariff barriers and subsidies in poor countries while ignoring protectionism in the West, the poor countries lose £1.3 billion [$1.87 billion] a day in trade.
Last month's World Trade Organization [WTO] meeting in Doha in the Gulf state of Quatar was disastrous for the majority of humanity. The rich nations demanded and got a new "round" of "trade liberalization," which is the power to intervene in the economies of poor countries, to demand privatization and the destruction of public services. Only they are permitted to protect their home industries and agriculture; only they have the right to subsidize exports of meat, grain, and sugar, then to dump them in poor countries at artificially low prices, thereby destroying the livelihoods of millions. In India, says environmentalist Vandana Shiva, suicides among poor farmers are "an epidemic."
Even before the WTO met, the American trade representative Robert Zoelliek invoked the "war on terrorism" to warn the developing world that no serious opposition to the American trade agenda would be tolerated. He said, "The United States is committed to global leadership of openness and understands that the staying power of our new coalition [against terrorism]...depends on economic growth." The code is that "economic growth" (rich elite, poor majority) equals antiterrorism.
Mark Curtis, a historian and Christian Aid's head of policy, who attended Doha, has described "an emerging pattern of threats and intimidation of poor countries" that amounted to "economic gunboat diplomacy." He said: "It was utterly outrageous. Wealthy countries exploited their power to spin the agenda of big business. The issue of multinational corporations as a cause of poverty was not even on the agenda; it was like a conference on malaria that does not discuss the mosquito."
Delegates from poor countries complained of being threatened with the removal of their few precious trade preferences. "If I speak out too strongly for the rights of my people," says an African delegate, "the U.S. will phone my minister. They will say that I am embarrassing the United States. My government will not even ask, 'What did he say?' They will just send me a ticket tomorrow...so I don't speak for fear of upsetting the master."