BACK TO THE UNIPOLAR
That’s when they felt comfortable. They were in control and no one could doubt it. They had the history, the culture, the wealth… and they had the power. The unipolar power.
Imagine their dismay, after all those centuries of history, culture, wealth and near unlimited power… it all began to slip away. Bit by bit, here and there… like a photograph receding back in time, reversing its development. In shock they watched as the picture of their status, their preeminence, glory even, and above all, supreme dominance, began to fade. They must have felt they might soon disappear themselves…
The elites who have ruled our world from generation to generation didn’t take at all kindly to the loss of the great many perks they had enjoyed for so long. Great powers draw more power to them just as money tends to make money. You can squeeze the other guy out if he becomes any kind of danger to those perks of yours.
Your weapons are many, from your police, your military and of course, your media. Combine those with the political power you wield through the networks across all others you have built, nurtured and strengthened down the years, add the entitlement you feel you have to threaten, bribe and otherwise manipulate. Aren’t you the rightful rulers of the world? You are the ‘good guys’, aren’t you? Any who might reduce your status must be the ‘bad guys’, right?
What a come down it must have been then, just as you had brought down the rival power of the Soviet Union and were glorying in being not just unipolar power in the West, but unipolar power now of the entire globe… that it all began to go horribly wrong. This couldn’t be, right? To have this supremely wondrous moment you had worked so hard toward for fifty plus years suddenly wrenched away from you only a few years after this momentous achievement. This was surely devastating.
Those you consider your remarkably lowlife inferiors, were rising fast and the glorious moment was spoiled for you. All those dreams of total, global, hegemony with all that tremendous power, influence and dignity, not to mention the still heightened status or all those additional perks that beckoned just a hand’s reach away. All slip sliding away…
It simply couldn’t be. It was unthinkable. This could not be allowed to stand.
And then September 11th 2001 dawned. The ‘Pearl Harbour Moment’ had arrived to save the day. Now you had an eminently good reason to hit back hard, to weaken the foes that sought to bring you down, and while you were at it, eliminate the big guys that had nothing to do with 9/11 at the same time. Glory beckoned once more. Where there was previously the slough of despond now there was new hope.
Like a shining white crusader knight you would slay every single dragon and save every princess… and assume your rightful place as emperors of the world.
It all seemed so doable. Besides, there really wasn't any alternative. It HAD to be done. And you commanded the most powerful military the world had ever seen. What COULDN’T you do? You were up for this and you had everyone behind you cheering you on. What could be better? Simply make a list of all those men, women, groups and nations who were trying to escape your power and smite every last one of them.
Afghanistan
Iraq
Libya
Syria
Iran
Sudan
Yemen
Nicaragua
Venezuela
Cuba
Russia
China
And any in-between.
Who was going to stop you? In the western elite minds of the time the answer was no one.
It was decided there and then and the impulse is with us still. There is no other game in town. There is plan B. There is no reverse gear, no questioning of the goal, no doubt and no forgiveness for anyone seen to doubt. The faint of heart and all the Doubting Thomases were to be ousted from every corridor of power anywhere.
Only warriors were required now, burners of bridges, never builders. And of course zealots to the cause. All else was anathema and all else would be cauterized, surgically removed leaving only the hardened core dedicated forever to the cause.
We see the dedication every day that dawns. And we see the massive intolerance for those who deign to think, believe or state anything not corresponding to the “right” narratives, “right” agendas and the supreme mission The supreme mission to eliminate all opposition, to destroy all platforms that support that opposition and create the conditions where no possible opposition could ever again arise. Then they would have achieved their goal. They would feel safe and secure once more.
All would be well once more in their lofty world where their “ benign” control could be exerted without any sign of that irritating and dangerous thing, opposition. They would be back where they always “should” have been, in control, guiding the world on its path, ready always to smite any enemy that was foolish enough to raise its head. Back in power. Back to how things "should" be.
BACK TO THE UNIPOLAR.
Don’t forget Yugoslavia, one of the key turning points where NATO and the US broke all international law and norms becoming an ‘aggressor’ alliance outside of their own membership.
I know that this is now a truism — but shouldn’t we start also questioning this self-serving claim? — “you had brought down the rival power of the Soviet Union”. Perhaps this could be thought differently…..