End of Empire

In 1985, Brian Lapping wrote a book titled “End of Empire”. It described in detail major accomplishments of The Great Britain in taking over countries by force, deceit, or bribing local officials. This included blatant and physical take over, such as in India, or staying on the background and empowering and supporting anglophile powers on the land, such as in Iran. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to a country: India, Palestine, Malaya, Iran, Egypt, Aden, Cyprus, Gold Coast, Kenya, Rhodesia. What are missing from this list are places controlled from distant or along with other super powers in a classic colonial setting, or countries divided to smaller territories in order to have a better control, such as the New World and Mesopotamia. After describing each intervention and the general reason for the British hegemony, it explains how the colony or benefits in each country was lost. The book details variety of reasons for the demise of the British Empire and rise of the US Empire. If the history repeats itself, it never does it in the exact fashion as it did the first time, due to constant changes in political, social, economical, and fabric of each society. We are witnessing the fall of the US Empire for the same reasons British or other world powers failed, but in a different fashion. 21st century began with the leaderships of the ultra right in many regions of the world. The most conservative factions of Christianity ruled US, England, and some other so called progressive societies. On the other hand, militarist Islam that had been promoted by the same world powers for centuries, rose to challenge imperialist agenda of their benefactors in language and in action. An attack on US land by the Islamic reactionary gave an excuse to the neo conservatives and right wing opportunists headed by the US to demolish Afghanistan and Iraq, tarnishing the dawn of the 21st century. Military intervention of Iraq and Afghanistan, however disastrous for those living in these two countries, has been a blessing for Southern American countries. Since big brother was busy across the world, countries such as Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, Honduras, and other neighboring countries had a chance to elect their own representatives and breathe the fresh of the air of democracy for the first time, or for the first time after decades of being subjugated by their northern neighbor. A superpower showing muscle is nothing new; however a lengthy involvement will tax the aggressor in monetary and psychological forms. Apathy for continued involvement in Iraq was noticed in presidential election of 2008, and it is resurfacing in the case of Afghanistan nowadays. It also helps the resentment when the financial economy of the US is in despair. In his book, Plunder and Blunder, Dean Baker argues that the bubble economy was manufactured by bad policy making of those in charge, and bubbles could be prevented if wiser policies were made. It is a different discussion what policy should have been adopted instead of creating and helping housing and financial bubbles, but his point that the current economy “will cause enormous pain for years to come” does not sound very comforting for those who live in the US, however true it sounds. It seems from his writings that Dean Baker believes that after years of slump the economy will go back to its former condition. This may ignore the fact that bubbles were created as a last resort to keep the economy from falling and as a temporary measure until a new idea was thought of. Bubbles burst because there was no other new idea! If this theory is right and there will not be another patch to put together capitalist mishaps, then this is the end of another imperialist era. This theory is discussed along with historical facts by David Mason in his book “The end of the American century”. It briefly mentions all American interventions in other countries and makes a point that those interventions will not happen again and Iraq was the last case. As the history shows, there is always one last military intervention that finishes the imperialist. This coupled with many other factors mentioned in this book, such as huge disparity between rich and poor in the US, economical melt down, unemployment, crime rise, and other factors in the book will end the dominance of the US in the world stage. David Mason has predictions for the next superpower replacing the US. However, the question is: does the world need to always have one or more superpowers, or all countries being equally powerful serves the humanity better?