Quite an interesting article.... Although I share the author's analysis of Europe's growing anti-Americanism, I obviously disagree with his value judgement on it.
First, the author is dodging a key factor in this IMF-boss nomination rift, namely the Asian countries. Remember that in 1997, in the depths of the so-called Asian flu, Malaysia PM Mahatir Muhamad threw out the idea of an Asian IMF, that is a financial supervisory body exclusively run by, and dedicated to, Asian technocrats.... Obviously, as I wrote it in my Free Trade is Squeezing you thread (*), at that time, Mahatir was the bˆte noire of the Davos Elite and nobody in the financial community would have bet a penny on Malaysia's prompt recovery....
Thailand, Malysia, Indonesia, even South Korea, all the once awesome Asian tigers and would-be economic juggernauts of the XXIst century, were derided as "pushy gooks".... Just remember how then IMF boss Michel Camdessus was touring Asia, from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta, to Hong Kong, to Seoul, to Tokyo, grinning broadly at Asian heads of state who were grudgingly listening to their banker of last resort.
Camdessus's orgasmic voluptuousness was glaring as it merely was a feeling shared by most Western chancelleries and openly boasted by the media: those famous Asian values were no match for the Anglo-Saxons' free-for-all capitalism and misjudging the libertarian gospel was to cost Asia a decade of economic growth.... Vice Pres. Gore, currency swindler Soros, and IMF Chief Camdessus were successively casting their reprimands on Asian leaders like a teacher dispensing candies to repentant dunces.
The author notices that Europe accounts for 37% of IMF voting rights. Such a high stake in a key international body might reflect Europe's economic clout from 1945 onwards but the U.S. establishment is forward-looking: taking into account demographic trends (aging Europe vs. booming Asia) and Asia's rapid recovery from the 1997 slump, global finance can no longer be managed as a "whitey turf" --hence the US haggling over the IMF. Simply put, the US is sending a "roger" signal to Asia. The nomination of Stanley Fischer is probably the best middle-of-the-road option since it might be premature for a Japanese to head the IMF. Europeans have demonstrated that they're partial to protectionism whereas Americans unquestionably are freemarket-bashers....
As for an "American Conquest" of Europe, I think such statements are preposterous. I think like Ranjan Gupta ($) that Europe has not yet developed an alternative to the US's benevolent hegemony, viz. the so-called globalization. Globalization is essentially a financial and cultural process through which all countries other than the US somehow got equalized --including Europe's. However, the counterpart of this cultural levelling is America's own openness to other cultures. Europe's own experience of worldwide hegemony is historically known as "Colonialism".
Contrary to the American globalization, (neo)colonialism is not about equalizing alien cultures, races, musics (jazz,...), and religions. For one thing, colonialism denies colonies competition with metropolitan Europe (France, Belgium, Spain,...) on an equal footing. For that matter, the Metropolis/Colony couple is a central tenet of the colonialist paradigm: it means division of labor and racial segregation between the colonial metropolis and the subjugated colonies. To illustrate this rather theoretical analysis, I shall cite MSFT founder Bill Gates visiting Bangalore: "India will be a computer superpower in the XXIst century" --that's a quote for Globalization. Now, as a quote for Neocolonialism, suffice it to refer to Belgium's Foreign Minister Louis Michel in his inaugural memorandum outlining Belgium's foreign policy --quoting from memory: "more African (scholarship) students should be allowed in Belgium..." Understood that they are granted return tickets only. There's no way for Europe to welcome a white-collar workforce from India, China, (North) Africa,... Sure, plenty of asylum seekers will be allowed in --that is, basically, unskilled workers. Meanwhile, computer geeks from India, engineers from China/Taiwan, and even professionals from the Arab world, will skip Europe and head for America....
(*) Message 12989741
($) Message 12774655
(to be continued)
Gus. |
