The end of the Cold War brought not a peace dividend. Rather, it unleashed a surfeit of greed and hubris.
With the fear of mutually assured destruction behind it, the United States unveiled a new doctrine: “full-spectrum global dominance”, militarily and economically.
Francis Fukayama’s vision of an "end to history" – of a world rallying to capitalism’s side – ignored the fact that capitalism isn’t just a neutral, disinterested idea that everyone can subscribe to on equal terms.
It has a physical form too. Giant corporations that seek monopolistic control over other countries’ resources. And a gargantuan war machine headquartered in the US, but with 800 bases around the globe, that is ready to crush those who stand in the way of ever-greater wealth accumulation by a tiny elite of billionaires.
There could be no end of history because capitalism’s billionaire stewards are never satiated. They are driven to constantly entrench and expand their control, to amass more wealth, to buy more influence in our pretend-democracies, to be more ruthless against anyone or anything that threatens their dominance.
Fukayama forgot that capitalism isn’t socialism. It doesn’t seek the best for everyone. It doesn’t want to share the wealth. It doesn’t prioritise dignity over profit. Its lifeblood is exploitation – of individuals and of entire peoples.
Fukuyama forgot that capitalism without constraints would produce resistance.
War and profit are intimately tied together. The billionaires cannot secure their profits without war, or the threat of it – whether it is against workers at home or against other nations abroad.
The “end of history” has brought not a unity of interests, and end to struggle, but ever greater polarisation between the haves and have-nots, between powerful nations and weak ones.
War drums sound ever more loudly across the globe. Ask Venezuelans, Cubans, Greenlanders, Ukrainians, Russians, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians how the “end of history” is working out for them.
Ask Europeans and Americans too, now permanently mired in the politics of austerity. Ever more workers have been forced into the gig economy, with zero-hours contracts. And that is before an AI “revolution” makes swathes of jobs redundant.
The ever-growing arrogance of the Epstein class, however, is catching up with it. A mood of unrest is beginning to find its voice, recognising that we are already deep in a class war.]
This is an extract from my latest article. Find the rest here: https://www.jonathan-cook.net/.../like-midas-our-rulers.../
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