“We are living through one of these historic, defining times. We are seeing a new world order - post World War II, post Soviet Union implosion.”Some officials have even spoken of the ISIS conflict lasting up to 30 years. Certainly, if the US insists on remaining the global cop with an obligation to intervene militarily and otherwise whenever it deems its interests or those of its allies are threatened, the new world order will involve constant wars. However, many of these may involve low level conflict with minimal risk of casualties to Americans as with drone attacks in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. In other instances the US will employ proxy forces as in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State.
Hagel noted that one of the important questions facing the American people is what role the US should play in this new world. The answer seems to be coalitions and continual wars as indicated by his position on the battle against the Islamic State:
"What we’re seeing in the Middle East with ISIL is going to require a steady, long-term effort. It's going to require coalitions of common interest."Hagel complained that at present cooperation between the two main US parties was distinctly lacking and that there had to be political unity about the path forward.
However, the new world order involves constant threats overseas according to Hagel:.
"Tyranny, terrorism, the challenges and threats to our country ... is going to be with us. It’s a reality. I see these things continuing to stay out of there."
Hagel mentioned in a recent trip to India a couple of months ago said that India would help shape the "new world order" that was emerging in the twenty-first century saying:
"When you look at the world today, and you're all quite familiar with this, that India not only represents one of the most significant countries by any measurement in the world today, but will help shape a new world order that is emerging in this young century.The relationship between the United States and India certainly for our interests, for US interests, and I think for India's interests, as well as the Asia Pacific, but also global interests, is important."No doubt the US is attempting to draft India into a campaign that will help balance the increasing power of China throughout Asia. Relations between the two countries should involve closer military ties. Hagel notes:
We are doing more than we've ever done military-to-military with India with joint exercises. We want to continue to build on those exercises. We'll talk about where we can expand the potential for joint exercises."
The phrase 'new world order" is often associated with a group of theorists who believe that there is a conspiracy to create a world government:
The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government—which will replace sovereign nation-states—...Significant occurrences in politics and finance are speculated to be orchestrated by an unduly influential cabal that operates through many front organizations. Numerous historical and current events are seen as steps in an ongoing plot to achieve world domination through secret political gatherings and decision-making processes.Different theorists identify varying groups as the main agents behind the conspiracy. Some claim it is the Illuminati, others the Bilderberg group, others Freemasons, and of course Zionists. At one time a popular view was that there was a communist conspiracy to create the world government. American televangelist Pat Robertson in his, The New World Order, written in 1991 wove a complex tale of how Wall Street, the Bilderberg Group, and the Federal Reserve System, and other groups were working together to create a world government for the Antichrist.
Aside from the conspiracy elements in the theories there are usually aspects that are based upon genuine facts, some of which simply reflect the development of global capitalism, but others reflect the existence of certain powerful groups who indeed try to shape the future. However, any powerful group in society will try to shape the future in its own interest and may very well try to hide this fact from the public when it thinks it is in its interest to do so.
There has been a process of globalization in the last decades. Institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are transnational financial bodies mainly under the control of the US and to some extent the EU. Loan terms often take control of financial policy away from individual debtor countries. Multiple country trade agreements such as NAFTA transcend and limit the powers of the countries involved. Some quite significant pending trade agreements give corporations rights to sue governments and will limit the powers of individual governments to regulate corporations including the Transatalantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Because of the secrecy with which these agreements are negotiated, it is not surprising they might be thought of as conspiracies. However, it is simply a matter of the interests involved not wanting the public to know what is up because the governments involved might have political difficulties with an informed public Yet the process is not simply one elite cabal determining what happens. All sorts of conflicting interests fight out specific issues and sometimes a deal cannot even be worked out as in many World Trade Organization meetings.
While these new international structures and agreements along with many others such as the UN transcend the nation state, they hardly constitute a world government. The UN is virtually powerless without the agreement of the world's more powerful nations on the Security Council who can veto any UN resolution that would result in action they do not like. There is another common use of the phrase "new world order" at present. The phrase points to the fact that there are many new and powerful economic forces within developing global capitalism including the BRIC countries. China is outstripping the US as the world's largest economy and India is also developing into an economic powerhouse. As these countries develop they will demand changes in the power structures such as the IMF and World Bank that finance global capitalism.
An article in Foreign Affairs discusses the new world order understood in these terms. Even Putin called for a "new world order" by which he meant that the US lead role should change. The same article points out that the old order with the US as leader has been eroding for some years now.
Hagel's remarks can be seen as a reaction to this developing new world order. The US can retain at the very least a prominent position and even remain a leading world power, if it recognizes that other countries such as India are going to be more powerful in the future. It is important to forge links between the US and countries such as India. The US provides a security umbrella for capital within the US orbit even if the corporations protected are transnational. Together with its European and new allies joint action can be taken against countries or groups that for whatever reason are regarded as inimical to the interests of the US and its allies. This will involve not only political alliances but military alliances and continuing wars not only against external enemies but against internal protests as populations react against a system that has huge assets and capacities but uses them mostly to protect the power and privilege of the few. I append a "documentary" on the Bilderberg group and the one world government conspiracy.
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