As Donald Trump settles into the Oval Office this week, say goodbye to the one-worlders of the Obama-Clinton years and say hello to a new era of the one-percenters. America’s oligarchs will profit handsomely from the administration’s infrastructure program, its reconfigured trade deals, and its accelerated emphasis on resource extraction.
Most politicians, journalists, and academic analysts describe the relations of China and the United States as one of hostile competition, especially in East Asia. I disagree. I believe that the top of both countries’ geopolitical agenda is reaching long-term accord with the other. The major bone of contention is which of the two prospective partners will be the top dog.
Rather than create opportunities for marginalized people, the 1996 Guatemalan Peace Accords favored a neoliberal philosophy that embraces foreign corporate investment and drives the dispossession of indigenous lands.
On December 8th 2016, the State of Washington's Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit against Monsanto for contaminating rivers, land, air, people and wildlife. 120 bodies of water in Washington were named as suffering from PCB contamination. This recklessness by Monsanto comes as no surprise and is a glimpse as what to expect if the Bayer Monsanto merger is completed.
How U.S. military engagement will proceed under the Trump administration remains to be seen. There is good reason to believe that Special Operations Command Africa will continue its border-busting missions across that continent. That, in turn, means that Africa is likely to remain crucial to America’s nameless global war on terror.
Donald Trump could be the first US president in decades to alienate both sides of Latin America’s political divide. Leaders from the region’s left and right initially welcomed his victory, with some on the right seeing him as a possible bulwark against the Pink Tide. Meanwhile, progressives initially expressed hope Trump would strike a less interventionist stance. Yet as Trump inches closer to the White House, both the left and right are increasingly bracing for disappointment.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019