US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks of these
being historic and defining times and sees in the tuture a long war with
the Islamic State and various other enemies of the US state.
Wednesday at the Aspen Institute's
"Washington Ideas Forum," Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel warned:
“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.
