New World

Amerigo Vespucci was the first person to name the unknown land he sailed to “New World”. In 1503, Vespucci wrote a letter from Portugal to Lorenzo Medici in Spain, and coined the new frontiers: “… and it is lawful to call it a new world…” Of course, this world was new to him, as there were millions of inhabitants already occupying the land, and living in various tribes and in communal settlements. Amerigo’s discovery was later named after him “The American Continent”. In the same letter he stated: “… for I have found a continent in that southern part; full of animals and more populous than our Europe, or Asia, or Africa, and even more temperate and pleasant than any other region known to us...” One may wonder what happened to the population of the natives he mentioned, as there are presently only a few pockets of them spread out in the US, Canada, and Central and South American countries. According to the estimates of some anthropologists, before 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus, there were more than 100 million natives living in that continent. Notwithstanding that population of all races of the world has increased rapidly since the 15th century, the population of indigenous people has declined dramatically. One estimate in 1976 stated the population of Native Americans as 54 million. Another estimate calculates world population in the year 1500 of 438,428,000 and world population in 1975 of 4,065,408,000 (2003 estimates of Angus Maddison). Accordingly, the population of the world had increased from the year 1500 to the year 1975 by 427% while the population of Native Americans has decreased in the same period by 46%. The reduction was caused by introduction of Europeans’ imported diseases that natives did not have immunity against, such as influenza, plague, and smallpox. But it was also caused by systematic genocide of the natives by the new arrivals (for a detail account of natives’ genocide see Howard Zinn’s "A People's History of the United States").

Prior to colonization, war had never been something new to Europeans. Expanding one’s land and exploitation of people of other lands have been the main reason for wars. In addition to different countries attacking each other in order to expand their territory, nomadic tribes on the outskirts of cities methodically attacked nearby civilizations. There was another kind of war that continued for centuries, called the war of the crusades for different religious ideologies; however it seems to have been for territorial expansion as well. Since the discovery of the New World a new kind of war began: exploitation and annihilation of the natives through excursion to unknown places. Finding some races inferior to the race of the conqueror was not a new idea, but obliteration of the supposedly inferior race by the means of military assault. A nation who strengthened its military ammunition and armada, and therefore became a military superpower, threatened communities or nations without (or with less) military power, and forced them into submission. Upon a victory, extermination of the race was in order. This has been continuing to this day with Israelis’ genocide of Palestinians.

Using military power to subdue a weaker nation is merely one of the methods of expansion. A country with an imperialistic nature can use other means to empower weaker nations. Ancient empires such as Assyria, Iran, Greece, Rome, India, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Aztec, Inca, Byzantine, and many others had a basic agenda to expand the land under their domain by use of force. Military power, therefore, played a crucial role achieving their goal. After conquering a weaker nation, the defeated country was forced to submit to the whims of the defeater. These ranged from keeping the government structure untouched and only pay fiefdom to the victor, to having the government replaced by vassals of the empire. Sometimes a surrendered nation had to adopt ways of life and culture of the kingdom, or even change the speaking language to that of the subjugator. For example, all the so called Arab nations (with the exception of Saudi Arabia) used to be different non-Arab states, until Islam forced them militarily to change their culture, language, religion, and even their basic attire to that of the conqueror. About fourteen centuries ago, most of the countries in the East, in addition to some African and some European nations were vanquished by a new strong military power originated in tribal land of Saudi Arabia. This new world order replaced the old order dominated by Persians, Greeks, and Romans. While the Islamic world was advancing militarily and technologically, Europe was stagnating in Dark Ages of Christianity and Papal power. From the fifteenth century and with the advent of Protestantism (and some other elements that weakened the power of Vatican) a new world order emerged that introduced new empires such as Portugal, Spain, France, Britain, and a few other smaller ones. Powerful nations which had fought with each other for dominance over smaller lands, became preys to these powers. Capturing Africans in their homelands and separating them from their loved ones in order to export them to other countries as slaves, had been an old trade by now. It was crucial to find more land in order to use the free labor to cultivate agriculture and to mine precious stones. Strong European countries started sending ships to find new frontiers. A New World was discovered with a vast fertile land. However, there had been natives living on the land, without having any aspiration or desire for private ownership, as they lived in communal in a vast land. As Amerigo Vespucci said (quoted above), the new found land was “most temperate and pleasant than any other region known to us”. After raiding their precious metals, taking over their land was necessary. Again, military power aided Indian genocide, to create American colonies, which became United States, after seceding from British Empire. Once a dominated nation, the US became an empire of its own, which started its ascendancy of weaker countries by the end of the 19th century starting with domination of Hawaii in 1893. A history of American supremacy around the world, from the first expansionist war to the occupation of Iraq, is detailed in Stephen Kinzer’s 2006 award winning book, “Overthrow”. After World War II, the world order was changed and a new order was put in place, with two new imperialist nations on the East and the West, with dominating military powers. There was no open war however, as each selected its own territory of hegemony, one in Americas and Western Europe, the other in Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe. African countries and some territories in Asia were open to grab by whichever dared the most! Overthrow of smaller nations was not through direct military attack, but through intelligent work within the victim nations, by the means of rebellions, or quo-de-tat and designation of installed dictators. The two imperialist nations stockpiled nuclear armada, in such an extent that it could obliterate the earth more than once! This continued for over thirty years, until the Soviet Union crumpled from within, and disintegrated into smaller and weaker nations. A new world, with the supremacy of the US started from early 1980s. To test the reaction of its nemesis, US government attacked Granada in 1983. From this time on, covert operations (that were used in the past thirty years to eliminate progressive governments and to install client dictators) became overt, and without any fear of retaliation. After destroying the “New Deal” and obliterating unions, Reagan and his handlers started privatization. Although the trend continued, it was slowed down by eight years presidency of Clinton. However, New Conservatives returned to the scene with the second Bush, and with a vengeance! Since the cold war adversary that had been used as an alibi for increasing military budgets did not exist any longer, a new antagonist in the shape of a militant group (originally created by Reagan’s government in Pakistan) called Muslim Terrorist was invented. A campaign of war and destruction in the world, starting with Middle East and Africa started. As the US and European economies could not improve through wars, regulations were eased in favor of multinational corporations. International Monetary Fund and World Bank were used as the arms of exploitations of not only repressed nations, but some western countries as well. Twenty first century started with a new world order that supported enrichment of already rich, and by expanding poverty to more than 90% of population of every nation of the world.

One may wonder how a war could be profitable since the whole act of war is destruction of life and property. In fact, destruction creates dependence to the powerful (militarily as well as economically), since those who instigate wars are usually not involved in the act of war. For example, there are wars presently in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, South Yemen, Syria, Libya, with the US government's hand in each one of them. Among thousands of people in the top level of the government, no one can be found who has a member of his or her family or any relation in active war theaters. The instigator attempts to keep combat operations away from one’s own turf as well. At the time when the economy is in a disastrous situation and unemployment is in double digits, sending young people to war reduces number of unemployed (whether they survive the war or not), considering that the army of workers needed for the business owners to bring the wage down is sufficient. When recruitment of fresh soldiers slows down, the government may contract them from other countries (soldiers of fortune), or use drones. The problem is that surviving soldiers return from a military (adept to crime and polluted with street gangs) continue carnage while unemployed.
 

In an upcoming presidential election and in a debate administered by private organizations, the faith of Big Bird was discussed, among all other subjects! As every four years term, American voters who are so adept to two-party system who cannot even imagine voting for other parties, force themselves to vote for the lesser of the two evils. The interesting factor about this election is that the one who is less popular and has less chance of election in pre-election poles, is candid about his views. He has a specific agenda however, to enrich the rich, and all his policies are towards that. When this does not seem popular in some locations, he comfortably wobbles around it. However, his policy is clear and those who are for this policy can vote for him with ease, no matter how many times his advisers make him repudiate his previous statements! Studying Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, one wonders how backward and regressive a person who is planning to govern the most powerful nation of the world can be. A brief section of Joseph Smith’s biography in Wikipedia discloses his family values: “In April 1841, Smith wed Louisa Beaman, and during the next two and a half years he may have married or been sealed to 30 additional women, ten of them already married to other men …” It is also interesting to know that Joseph Smith campaigned for presidency as well, and some of his political views on some issues are stated in the same article in Wikipedia: “While campaigning for President of the United States in 1844, Smith had opportunity to take political positions on issues of the day. Smith considered the United States Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, to be inspired by God and ‘the Saints' best and perhaps only defense’. He believed a strong central government crucial to the nation's well-being but thought democracy better than tyranny—although he also thought that a theocratic monarchy was the ideal form of government. In foreign affairs, Smith was an expansionist, though he viewed ‘expansionism as brotherhood’….Despite having published a pro-slavery essay in 1836, Smith later strongly opposed slavery. During his presidential campaign, he proposed abolishing slavery by 1850 and compensating slaveholders through sale of public lands. Smith did not believe blacks to be genetically inferior to whites; he welcomed both freemen and slaves into the church. But he opposed baptizing slaves without permission of their masters, and he opposed miscegenation.” The other candidate beats the same drum about who owns America, but considers minority votes as well, a determining factor in winning of last election. Although he tries to appeal to the mainstream, he is perfectly aware that his performance of the last four years has averted some of such voters.

Since the policy of trickle down economy of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the disparity between the rich and the poor has been constantly widening. Businesses also use this as a threat to move their location if they do not receive government assistance. In a recent radio interview with regards to California Proposition 30, the opponent of the proposition used the same line that has always been used to benefit the rich. He opposed taxing the rich by the state because if the rich was taxed more, they would leave the state and the state would lose the tax it had already been receiving from them! United States and its allies have been changing our globe into a new world dominated by the rich owning military industrial complex, in 21st century. In this new world, a handful of people have the wealth and power previously shared with a larger number. The rest of the population are either agents of the wealthy, or receive minimum handout from them. Every government in the world pays homage to the largest military superpower, while exploiting its own people through "austerity measures". US military bases are accessible from any place on the map, to put down any objection to accumulation of capital. United States currently has about 750 military bases around the world. Any country trying to measure up to this power, i.e. Russia or China, will be dealt with militarily. Environment is used in any fashion that increases the wealth of the one percent with power and money, and any environmental degradation in the future is considered a problem of the future generation. Multi-national corporations owned by the handful will have access to world resources and will be using all those resources to its maximum. The new world is yet to come!