Washington’s “Two Track Policy” to Latin America
… Marines to Central America and Diplomats to Cuba – Published on Global Research.ca, by Prof. James Petras, May 28, 2015.
Everyone, from political pundits in Washington to the Pope in Rome, including most journalists in the mass media and in the alternative press, have focused on the US moves toward ending the economic blockade of Cuba and gradually opening diplomatic relations. Talk is rife of a ‘major shift’ in US policy toward Latin America with the emphasis on diplomacyand reconciliation. Even most progressive writers and journals have ceased writing about US imperialism.
However, there is mounting evidence that Washington’s negotiations with Cuba are merely one part of a two-track policy. There is clearly a major US build-up in Latin America, with increasing reliance on ‘military platforms’, designed to launch direct military interventions in strategic countries.
Moreover, US policymakers are actively involved in promoting ‘client’ opposition parties, movements and personalities to destabilize independent governments and are intent on re-imposing US domination.
In this essay we will start our discussion with the origins and unfolding of this ‘two track’ policy, its current manifestations, and projections into the future. We will conclude by evaluating the possibilities of re-establishing US imperial domination in the region.
Origins of the Two Track Policy: … //
… The Re-Introduction of the ‘Two Track’ Policy: … //
… (Long) Conclusion: … //
… Epilogue:
US empire-builders have clearly demonstrated throughout the world their inability to intervene and produce stable, prosperous and productive client states (Iraq and Libya are prime examples). There is no reason to believe, even if the US ‘two-track policy’ leads to temporary electoral victories, that Washington’s efforts to restore dominance will succeed in Latin America, least of all because its strategy lacks any mechanism for economic aid and social reforms that could maintain a pro-US elite in power. For example, how could the US possibly offset China’s $50 billion aid package to Brazil – except through violence and repression.
It is important to analyze how the rise of China, Russia, strong regional markets and new centers of finance have severely weakened the efforts by client regimes to realign with the US. Military coups and free markets are no longer guaranteed formulas for success in Latin America: Their past failures are too recent to forget.
Finally the ‘financialization’ of the US economy, what even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) describes as the negative impact of ‘too much finance’ (Financial Times 5/13/15, p 4), means that the US cannot allocate capital resources to develop productive activity in Latin America. The imperial state can only serve as a violent debt collector for its banks in the context of large-scale unemployment. Financial and extractive imperialism is a politico-economic cocktail for detonating social revolution on a continent-wide basis – far beyond the capacity of the US marines to prevent or suppress.
Links:
Two proposals for creating a parallel currency in Greece, on page 2 of the whole donwloaded Issue 71 of Real World Economics Review RWER, May 28, 2015;
Robot given ‘animal instincts’ recovers from damage in just 40 sec (VIDEO), on Russia Today RT, May 28, 2015;
Video: Town Hall at Freddie Gray’s Gilmor Homes, published on The Real News Website, 35.07 min, May 28, 2015: TRNN producer Eddie Conway hosts a town hall in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore in the aftermath of Freddie Gray’s deat … (also on YouTube, uploaded by TheRealNews Channel, May 26, 2015); Death of Freddie Gray on en.wikipedia;
Total hero: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says Snowden gave up his life to reveal NSA surveillance, on Russia Today RT, May 27, 2015;
The Salafi factor, on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Ahmed Al-Sayed, May 21, 2015: rising jihadist activities may push Israel and Hamas closer;
Russia & China won’t accept US hegemony, nuclear war our likely future – Reagan official, on Russia Today RT, May 18, 2015;
I have to work a lot harder in Russia than at NSA – Edward Snowden, on Russia Today RT, May 16, 2015;
Tout va s’effondrer. Alors … préparons la suite, dans Reporterre, le quotidien de l’écologie, antretien avec Pable Servigne, le 7 mai 2015.