Thomas PM Barnett nails it with this piece on economic growth in Djibouti. Located on the Horn of Africa, the New York Times recently wrote about the country’s economic successes:
[Foreign investment] is pouring in, promising to turn this sleepy, sweltering mini-state, which right now does not even have a stoplight, into something of an African trade center.
It seems the small country is suddenly host to Indian gold miners, Icelandic geothermal experts, Turk hoteliers, Arab engineers, bankers from France and, perhaps most importantly, American military contractors.
Why all the progress?
Barnett:
Hmm. Maybe because the U.S. military now makes Djibouti, through its Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa presence at Camp Lemonier, an "outpost of relative stability in the Horn of Africa"?
[...]
The military-market nexus? You bet.
And no rounds fired in anger by CJTF-HOA in five years.
Perpetual war, my ass.
Choamskyites like to think that American power is a force for instability in the world. In fact, it's a source of stability and stability leads to progress. Read Barnett more often if you doubt that. If you don't, read Barnett for reaffirmation!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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5 comments:
Did you say Djibouti? White boy, please. Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you can do for Indian gold miners, Icelandic geothermal experts, Turkish hoteliers, Arab engineers, and French bankers?? Cyber, at least the Romans demanded tribute in their outposts of Empire. We're going f-----g broke dude, and I'm pretty sure American military contractors go more to the red side of the American ledger than the black one. SCOOBY
Scooby:
You hit the crux of the issue: does the global economy help America more than it hurts? I think it does. What's more, there's the security equation here.
Didjaeatyet, or whatever that place is, lies in one of the most strategically important places in the world because of oil shipments, which is also why we got skinned up in next door neighbor Somalia BTW. Just think, if those ungrateful Somali bastards hadn't dragged dead American boys through the streets, they too could have had French bankers and Turkish hoteliers. Cyber, this isn't just about the global economy, this is about the rest of the frikkin industrial world sittng back while Americans spend blood and treasure to keep the oil spigots open. Don't get me wrong, that's important, but let's be honest about that, and let's quit whoring up great words like democracy and freedom and every other lie we're telling ourselves anymore. Some of us non-Chomskyites ain't buying the bull anymore. SCOOBY
Scooby:
I'll be the first to agree that it's about more than simply promoting democracy. But I wish the other side would acknowledge that democracy, our desire to keep the global economy humming, and America's (and the broader free world) strategic interests are usually mutually interdependent.
The Athenian empire was an empire, but it was also an empire of and for liberty, predominately.
I think what scooby is saying is that American taxpayers could use some help from all our friends. I agree.
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