The Bubble of American Supremacy: by George Soros

[roughsatori]

from the Atlantic online: snip:


It is generally agreed that September 11, 2001, changed the course of history. But we must ask ourselves why that should be so. How could a single event, even one involving 3,000 civilian casualties, have such a far-reaching effect? The answer lies not so much in the event itself as in the way the United States, under the leadership of President George W. Bush, responded to it.

Admittedly, the terrorist attack was historic in its own right. Hijacking fully fueled airliners and using them as suicide bombs was an audacious idea, and its execution could not have been more spectacular. The destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center made a symbolic statement that reverberated around the world, and the fact that people could watch the event on their television sets endowed it with an emotional impact that no terrorist act had ever achieved before. The aim of terrorism is to terrorize, and the attack of September 11 fully accomplished this objective.

Even so, September 11 could not have changed the course of history to the extent that it has if President Bush had not responded to it the way he did. He declared war on terrorism, and under that guise implemented a radical foreign-policy agenda whose underlying principles predated the tragedy. Those principles can be summed up as follows: International relations are relations of power, not law; power prevails and law legitimizes what prevails. The United States is unquestionably the dominant power in the post-Cold War world; it is therefore in a position to impose its views, interests, and values. The world would benefit from adopting those values, because the American model has demonstrated its superiority. The Clinton and first Bush Administrations failed to use the full potential of American power. This must be corrected; the United States must find a way to assert its supremacy in the world.

This foreign policy is part of a comprehensive ideology customarily referred to as neoconservatism, though I prefer to describe it as a crude form of social Darwinism. I call it crude because it ignores the role of cooperation in the survival of the fittest, and puts all the emphasis on competition. In economic matters the competition is between firms; in international relations it is between states. In economic matters social Darwinism takes the form of market fundamentalism; in international relations it is now leading to the pursuit of American supremacy.
snip/more:http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/12/soros.htm

[JackSwift]

1. The pretend name is neo-conservatism

but it is classical fascism. Damn good writing Soros!

[roughsatori]

2. You are right about the writing: it is damn good

Not just the ideas, but the clarity of the prose.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. thanks incredible article

[enough]

4. Maybe they will listen to Soros?

This is remarkably good.

Snip>

The supremacist ideology of the Bush Administration stands in opposition to the principles of an open society, which recognize that people have different views and that nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth. The supremacist ideology postulates that just because we are stronger than others, we know better and have right on our side. The very first sentence of the September 2002 National Security Strategy (the President's annual laying out to Congress of the country's security objectives) reads, "The great struggles of the twentieth century between liberty and totalitarianism ended with a decisive victory for the forces of freedom—and a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise."

The assumptions behind this statement are false on two counts. First, there is no single sustainable model for national success. Second, the American model, which has indeed been successful, is not available to others, because our success depends greatly on our dominant position at the center of the global capitalist system, and we are not willing to yield it.

The Bush doctrine, first enunciated in a presidential speech at West Point in June of 2002, and incorporated into the National Security Strategy three months later, is built on two pillars: the United States will do everything in its power to maintain its unquestioned military supremacy; and the United States arrogates the right to pre-emptive action. In effect, the doctrine establishes two classes of sovereignty: the sovereignty of the United States, which takes precedence over international treaties and obligations; and the sovereignty of all other states, which is subject to the will of the United States. This is reminiscent of George Orwell's Animal Farm: all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

much more>

[roughsatori]

5. Thanks for pasting those paragraphs

I wanted to past the whole article but had to stick to the rules. I thought so much of it was important--and you picked some of the most salient lines.

[teryang]

6. Social darwinism is a throwback to the colonial period

It is the (anti) intellectual underpinning of fascism and totalitarianism. Rule by brute force abroad and disregard for human rights becomes rule by brute force and disregard for human rights at home.

The rapacious corrupt exploiters have become so enormously rich as a result of their continual schemes to defraud the public and the world that they are paranoid for their very survival. They manipulate the state and corporate communcations apparatus to present everyone but themselves as the threat to the common security. Continual war is continual wag while the police state is erected at home to protect their predatory acquisition of the nations resources and the systematic dismantling of the rule of law. They have created an economic and social imbalance domestically which is profoundly unsustainable without the prospect of continual war to justify the imposition of a police state. If there weren't an al Qaeda they would have to invent one. Oh, wait a minute, they did. If there wasn't a 911...

[roughsatori]

7. I just copied and emailed your post

to a friend. Thanks

[starroute]

8. Social Darwinism itself has been discredited

Everywhere from genetics to game theory, it's recently been shown that evolution does not operate on the basis of cut-throat competition, and that the unit of survival is the community and not the individual.

It's only the right-wingers politicians and corporatists, who grabbed onto Social Darwinism a long time ago, as a justification for their personal greed and ruthlessness, who haven't yet gotten the message that it isn't really the way things are.

Statements like this one by Soros give me hope that the rest of the country may yet wake up and realize they deserve leaders who support their own best impulses, rather than justifying their worst.

[mediaman007]

9. Their idea of "Free Market" should be discredited too...

Its interesting that they have to spend so much money on tax breaks for corporate interests (entitlements!), then they preach to the rest of the World that this is a Free Market economy.

[SemperEadem]

14. Heard this great quip last night on tlc

paraphrasing the young coroner: evolution isn't about getting to survival of the best or fittest--it's about getting close enough to successfully make babies.

[enough]

10. kick for Saturday (nt)

[bemildred]

11. Nice.

The terrorist threat must be seen in proper perspective.
Terrorism is not new. It was an important factor in
nineteenth-century Russia, and it had a great influence on the
character of the czarist regime, enhancing the importance of
secret police and justifying authoritarianism. More recently
several European countries-Italy, Germany, Great Britain-had
to contend with terrorist gangs, and it took those countries a
decade or more to root them out. But those countries did not
live under the spell of terrorism during all that time. Granted,
using hijacked planes for suicide attacks is something new, and
so is the prospect of terrorists with weapons of mass
destruction. To come to terms with these threats will take some
adjustment; but the threats cannot be allowed to dominate our
existence. Exaggerating them will only make them worse. The
most powerful country on earth cannot afford to be consumed
by fear. To make the war on terrorism the centerpiece of our
national strategy is an abdication of our responsibility as the
leading nation in the world. Moreover, by allowing terrorism to
become our principal preoccupation, we are playing into the
terrorists' hands. They are setting our priorities.


There is a deeper point. It is becoming more and more difficult to
sustain regimes based on social injustice, the peasants know the
score and are better armed than they used to be, and there are a lot
more of them with a lot less to lose in the modern World.

[HereSince1628]

12. Excellent ... Kicking

[Petrodollar Warfare]

13. I commend George Soros for his clarity...

It is rare that in a time of national confusion and apathy, someone of George Soro's stature would speak with such clarity. I recommend that all of us send this url to others (including real conservatives) so they can begin to appreciate what is happening to the American Experiment.

I for one am *very thankful* for Soros and his understanding of patriotism. My opinion of him as a courageous voice of pragmatism and sanity has dramatically increased over the past few months, and I do hope his efforts in 2004 to remove the creeping fascism from our gov't will be successful. Indeed, I should send his "Open Society" organization a thank you letter.

[whirlygigspin]

15. good read, clear

this article is very enjoyable,
but with a clearly leftist bias, this author
Sorros can forget being hired by any mainstream news orgs.


ROLF

[0rganism]

17. You're kidding, right?

> Sorros can forget being hired by any mainstream news orgs.

George Soros is already a multi-billionaire. The question is, how many news orgs could he buy if he wanted to.

[ixion]

16. a great irony: self-described 'creationists' preaching social Darwinism

give the extreme hypocrisy of the neocon model, stuff like this never ceases to amaze me. These right-wing fundies will sit there and scream about creationism (think Scopes Monkey Trial) and then turn around and practice a form of Darwinism when it suits their greed, all the while talking about the Baby Jesus, who would find them all deplorable.

Really, the breadth of that hypocrisy is astounding.

[sablefish]

18. Soros sounds too good

I wonder what he and all of his hyper wealthy, super connected globalist buddies are really up to. He hangs around with the Rothschilds and Builda burger types.

[sablefish]

19. I like Soros and don't want to kill this thread

Soros is against the Neo Jocobians that have pushed this war on us.. Soros is against the policies of Israel in regards to the Palis.. and thinks that it is creating great tensions and anti-semiticism.. Soros makes big bucks puntureing bubbles of financial deceit..

I like Soros.. He sees things as they are.. and he sees the Bush administration, and their militarism as the biggest threat to mankind.

I'm a newbie and don't know if I can respond to my previous reply... I wanted to keep the thread alive.

[Petrodollar Warfare]

20. WOW, Soros just released a book on this subject too !!

I stopped by Barnes and Nobles today at lunch time to pick up a book I had ordered, and under the "Current Affairs" category I saw a little yellow book entitled "The Bubble of American Supremacy" by George Soros. The essay from this link is the opening essay...cool!

Well, I bought the book, and took an entended 1+ hr lunch break (opps) but the book was very hard to put down. Highly readable and relatively short. Even though Amazon's website says it will not be available until Dec 19th, I bought my copy today at a B&N. Highly recommended book, and if this book becomes a top seller, Bush and the neocons will be in trouble...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1586482173/qid%3D1069897535/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-9265988-7985565

Here's one interesting excerpt from page 176:

"It may be surmised from the closing remarks of the last chapter that I have become rather rabid in my political views. This is a novel experience for me. I used to be rather balanced between the two main parties, seeing some good and some bad in each and leaning only slightly towards the Democrats. Even today, I remain rather evenhanded by finding much to criticize in the leadership of the Democratic Party. Certainly I did not use to consider it a matter of life and death which party won the elections. I do now."

Yep, this book would make a great Christmas gift...

[bvar22]

21. More about Soros....the REAL DEAL!

George Soros is putting up $Millions of dollars sponsoring organizations with one purpose: The defeat of george bush* and the neocon machine.


David BRANCACCIO interviewed George Soros on Bill Moyers NOW on Sept. 12th 2003.

<clip>
"BRANCACCIO:So just last month, Soros put his money where his mouth is one more time. He gave $10 million to America Coming Together, a liberal coalition pledged to defeat the President in 2004."

<clip>
SOROS: The people currently in charge have forgotten the first principle of an open society, namely that we may be wrong and that there has to be free discussion. That it's possible to be opposed to the policies without being unpatriotic.

BRANCACCIO: And says Soros, the biggest obstacle to an open society is the Bush administration's philosophy that on both the domestic and international fronts, either you're with us or against us.

SOROS: You know, it's a distortion of what this country stands for.
<END>



The transcript of the interview is here:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript234_full.html




.