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From: Oleh Sniezko
Category: Exhibitions
Date: 08 March 2003
I know I am approaching spamming here and I apologize Jasper... however the transplant of my response did not work the first time. Here it is again.
>All the mistakes in your arguments, besides your ignorance of history ( latin american instability was mostly created by american interference, Iraq was created by Colonial order, Japan and Germany were coherent self determined states and germany was a democracy in the 20s: Weimar Republic, frankly it bores me to go over this stuff ad nauseam, read a history of Europe and the world not written by an American, and see if you can spot the differences), stem from one idea. -----------------------------
I do not wish to enter into a credential exchange. Furthermore we digress here. However may I suggest that you are guilty of oversimplification of the highest degree. Latin American instability had a large number of causes. Over-implemented import substitution schemas, the hijacking of the land reform movement by Stalinists and Maoists, German influence on military-civil relations, crime waves in Rio and Buenos Aires and yes… in several cases, US approval of coups. The oil shocks of the 70s blew up what was already a bad situation in Argentina, Brazil and several other nations into large scale instability. Note that US did not actively promote coups in either Argentina or Brazil. And while Allende apologists like to blame the CIA for the actions of the whole of the Chilean Army and large numbers of urban middle class I think such an approach is ignorant at best, oaf-headed at worst.
Not sure how your comment on the creation of Iraq is relevant true as it is. Germany was a democracy which is why I qualified my statements by saying democracy was more alien for Japan than for Germany. However I believe that the Weimar republic was far weaker a democracy than you imply. Militancy is not a sign of a strong democracy as neither is a large number of exclusionary uncompromising extremists in the legislative bodies. If you will the US and Britain brought to West Germany a democracy that was very different from what the Germany practiced during the 20s.
May I suggest that you reconsider insulting my knowledge base. Feel free to attack the analysis which I am sure is open to criticism but rooster-like crowing will score you few points. I can exchange raw data for months.
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>>>That what happens, history, morality, pain, suffering, death, only matters if it affects Americans or at a stretch Europeans. Clearly you could say that the fate of Americans the only important thing in the world, but then you would be an evil fascist, a title Americans have never desired. If your argument about the strategic importance of oil is taken to its logical conclusion, then America should invade the whole Middle East and set up a series of puppet governments (not so far from actuality). I think that this is one of the ideas that antiwar people reject. We really do not want to return to the days of The British Empire. You see non- white people do hae some other value besides what they can supply us with.
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I believe your logic fails you here. Perhaps I was not explicit enough in conveying what I believe the danger is. The question is not of controlling and exploiting oil, not of stealing it or running colonial oil “plantations”. You seem to make the mistake of expanding the concept of colonialism to the point where it becomes unrecognizable as a coherent idea.
The point of this exercise is to ensure that the market is not, nor feels threatened by control of an important resource by one, irrational party. Even the perception of such danger would drive oil prices to heights unassailable. One does not need to turn off the spigots to run the world economy into the ground.
As for the implication of racism you inject here, I will not say what I wish to say in regard to such tactics. Believe it or not it is my humble opinion that the 3rd world would be the first place to suffer calamity and on a far larger scale than the US and Europe, were the oil supply to be threatened. While my concern is for the US it is also for every one else who would be effected.
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