From: Octavio Rojas Diaz (orojas@data.net.mx)
Date: Sat Mar 18 2000 - 17:26:25 MST
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
On 18/03/00, 07:32:12 a.m., "Zero Powers" <zero_powers@hotmail.com>
wrote regarding Re: American Imperialism?:
> Right, that is *not* imperialism. Imperialism is extending a nation's
> authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of
economic and
> political hegemony over other nations. The US is not doing this. We
are
> basically acting as the referee in the world's international wrestling
> matches, and enforcing the rules when we notice low blows. No, no one
> appointed us as the referee, but we're the biggest kid on the block
and have
> assumed the role of shot caller by default. Maybe its a good thing,
maybe
> its not. But it is definitely *not* imperialism.
> -Zero
I sincerely wish the U.S., was doing what you say, but unfortunately
the U.S. is still a very imperialist and interventionist country.
However please note, That this is because of the way the government
handles
international issues and I'm sure more Americans oppose to imperialism
and most
most of it's current foreign policies, than those who advocate them.
But unfortunately when you live in America, you don't get all the
information
about the things that happen in our regions of the world.
Speaking of my country (Mexico)
Although after the end of the usa/Mexico war when we lost more than
half our
territory the usa has never invaded or threatened us militarily,
they've forced
us to do what they think it's better using all sorts of resources or
excuses.
An example of this is the certification measure, here in Mexico every
time the
congress up there is deciding if we'll get or not certified. it
creates a lot of
tension and hurts our relations because it's an unilateral procedure
based on
U.S. Interests only and not ours, but they still implement it, because
it's
easier to use scape goats and pretend they are combating drug abuse by
being tough
on poor defenseless countries instead of looking wiser alternatives to
this senseless
drug war, and I could quote several other examples (operation
casablanca, etc.)
that the U.S. government does to force us their beliefs or systems.
And well to avoid unnecessary rants, I'll just say is not very fair
for a country to
use it's enormous military or economic power to force other countries
do things they
don't like, and that in my opinion is... imperialism, call it neo
imperialism if you want
but it still doesn't make it any less worse.
A lot of people in this world go to jail or suffer unnecesarily, just
because the American
government in their big brother approach. Think people, aren't mature
and rational enough
to know what they should and shouldn't use or do with their lifes, and
that everybody
needs to be protected against the "dangers" of drugs/communism/insert
your favorite excuse here.
However don't get the wrong message here, I know there are governments
who are or would be a lot worse
if they could, and that our corrupt government has as much fault as
the usa in all this, and
I'm 99% certain that if our government (knowing their habits) had the
power of the U.S. Would
be a lot worse... However, that is no excuse to overlook what the
American government likes to do
with other countries (or their own people sometimes) in the name of
justice and peace.
But being a bit more positive I think that with the arrival of the
Internet, globalization and
meme generators like this list, we'll see the end of imperialism as we
know it.
Any comments?
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