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Latin America and Asia Breaking Free of Washington's
Grip
By NOAM CHOMSKY
The prospect that Europe and Asia might
move towards greater independence has troubled US planners since
the second world war. The concerns have only risen as the "tripolar
order"--Europe, North America and Asia--has continued to
evolve.
Every day Latin America, too,
is becoming more independent. Now Asia and the Americas are strengthening
their ties while the reigning superpower, the odd man out, consumes
itself in misadventures in the Middle East.
Regional integration in Asia
and Latin America is a crucial and increasingly important issue
that, from Washington's perspective, betokens a defiant world
gone out of control. Energy, of course, remains a defining factor--the
object of contention--everywhere.
China, unlike Europe, refuses
to be intimidated by Washington, a primary reason for the fear
of China by US planners, which presents a dilemma: steps toward
confrontation are inhibited by US corporate reliance on China
as an export platform and growing market, as well as by China's
financial reserves--reported to be approaching Japan's in scale.
In January, Saudi Arabia's
King Abdullah visited Beijing, which is expected to lead to a
Sino-Saudi memorandum of understanding calling for "increased
cooperation and investment between the two countries in oil,
natural gas and investment", the Wall Street Journal reports.
Already much of Iran's oil
goes to China, and China is providing Iran with weapons that
both states presumably regard as deterrent to US designs. India
also has options. India may choose to be a US client, or it may
prefer to join the more independent Asian bloc that is taking
shape, with ever more ties to Middle East oil producers. Siddharth
Varadarjan, the deputy editor of the Hindu, observes that "if
the 21st century is to be an 'Asian century,' Asia's passivity
in the energy sector has to end".
The key is India-China cooperation.
In January, an agreement signed in Beijing "cleared the
way for India and China to collaborate not only in technology
but also in hydrocarbon exploration and production, a partnership
that could eventually alter fundamental equations in the world's
oil and natural gas sector", Varadarjan points out.
An additional step, already
being contemplated, is an Asian oil market trading in euros.
The impact on the international financial system and the balance
of global power could be significant. It should be no surprise
that President Bush paid a recent visit to try to keep India
in the fold, offering nuclear cooperation and other inducements
as a lure.
Meanwhile, in Latin America
left-centre governments prevail from Venezuela to Argentina.
The indigenous populations have become much more active and influential,
particularly in Bolivia and Ecuador, where they either want oil
and gas to be domestically controlled or, in some cases, oppose
production altogether.
Many indigenous people apparently
do not see any reason why their lives, societies and cultures
should be disrupted or destroyed so that New Yorkers can sit
in their SUVs in traffic gridlock.
Venezuela, the leading oil
exporter in the hemisphere, has forged probably the closest relations
with China of any Latin American country, and is planning to
sell increasing amounts of oil to China as part of its effort
to reduce dependence on the openly hostile US government.
Venezuela has joined Mercosur,
the South American customs union--a move described by Nestor
Kirchner, the Argentinian president, as "a milestone"
in the development of this trading bloc, and welcomed as a "new
chapter in our integration" by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,
the Brazilian president.
Venezuela, apart from supplying
Argentina with fuel oil, bought almost a third of Argentinian
debt issued in 2005, one element of a region-wide effort to free
the countries from the controls of the IMF after two decades
of disastrous conformity to the rules imposed by the US-dominated
international financial institutions.
Steps toward Southern Cone
[the southern states of South America] integration advanced further
in December with the election in Bolivia of Evo Morales, the
country's first indigenous president. Morales moved quickly to
reach a series of energy accords with Venezuela. The Financial
Times reported that these "are expected to underpin forthcoming
radical reforms to Bolivia's economy and energy sector"
with its huge gas reserves, second only to Venezuela's in South
America.
Cuba-Venezuela relations are
becoming ever closer, each relying on its comparative advantage.
Venezuela is providing low-cost oil, while in return Cuba organises
literacy and health programmes, sending thousands of highly skilled
professionals, teachers and doctors, who work in the poorest
and most neglected areas, as they do elsewhere in the third world.
Cuban medical assistance is
also being welcomed elsewhere. One of the most horrendous tragedies
of recent years was the earthquake in Pakistan last October.
Besides the huge death toll, unknown numbers of survivors have
to face brutal winter weather with little shelter, food or medical
assistance.
"Cuba has provided the
largest contingent of doctors and paramedics to Pakistan,"
paying all the costs (perhaps with Venezuelan funding), writes
John Cherian in India's Frontline magazine, citing Dawn,
a leading Pakistan daily.
President Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan expressed his "deep gratitude" to Fidel
Castro for the "spirit and compassion" of the Cuban
medical teams--reported to comprise more than 1,000 trained personnel,
44% of them women, who remained to work in remote mountain villages,
"living in tents in freezing weather and in an alien culture",
after western aid teams had been withdrawn.
Growing popular movements,
primarily in the south but with increasing participation in the
rich industrial countries, are serving as the bases for many
of these developments towards more independence and concern for
the needs of the great majority of the population.
CounterPunch
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