|
|
|
|
|
|
Weapons for Latin America A never ending old story In the evaluation made by the U.S. Secretary of State of the great country's foreign relations, and of the meaning, for the U.S., of other parts of the world, Latin America occupied the fourth place, quite close to "even at a border line" the last. It is not a matter for the Latin American's acrimony, when we face this circumstance: these are the facts of reality "quite simple ones, then. The United States, is the great power, the superpower that the disappearance of the Cold War left as the sole leading actor of the world scene. There it is, and this "as Walter Lippmann called it" is the American century, a century witnessing the ascent and predominance of the United States in the contemporary scene; a brief century, as it has been called by certain historians who contend that it only began in 1914 and ended in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin wall. Latin American knows it has been the American century (North American). Only few are aware of it as Latin Americans who, in both world wars and subsequently gave a notorious contribution "by action or omission" to the fact that the United States should become the century's power. This contribution, probably, has had a price: and that price mat y be the fourth place it now holds in the State Department's strategic evaluation. We say it already: there is no room for acrimony, this is history, this is how it has been and will always be, even when the United States will no longer be the world's great power or the world's sole superpower. History is nothing but a carrousel, and everything, in history, is a matter of time. The idea of history a s a carrousel is not Arnold Toynbee's, nor Ranke's, nor Hegel's. It is a simple idea, almost a common place, but as all common place it claims full, absolute validity. After the evaluation of the different world zones and of the place corresponding to Latin America in the real scale of North American priorities, another fact comes to confirm this fourth place: the weapons sales. With this, two thesis are confirmed: first, that of history as a carrousel, and then, the other, that we only hold the fourth place. We say that there is no room for acrimony in this of the fourth place because perhaps we deserve it. Whether we deserve it or not, is a matter for discussion, for debate, for self-awareness "if the expression is still valid/ We have built history "that is our history, not any other" asserting that others should be blamed for our ills. Enough: the American century is ending and we are not going to recognize any merit in the great Northern country. There now is a discussion between the Pentagon and the State Department on the convenience of selling weapons "sophisticated ones" to Latin American countries. The Pentagon's argument is impeccable: there are no dictatorships in Latin America, democracy is established, it is already, thanks to the fall of the Berlin wall and of other walls, a stabilized democracy. Accordingly, peace "or democracy" are not jeopardized, and since "or democracy" are not threatened, weapons should be sold to so happy countries, so happy and civilized ones that they have gained the fourth place in strategic importance for the United States of America. If any one "having not had the privilege of living the American century" may be fool enough or have the temerity to ask: democracy for what if in democracy we have to do the same as all the world dictatorships have which is to buy weapons?, there should be no despair if no answers are found. It will be easy to explain that democracy has a price, that it cannot be just freedom and that there are some rules "those of the market" and that there are some war industries that survived the Cold War that cannot just be wounded up just like that, during the night. History is a carrousel, this was not discovered by Toynbee, nor by Rankee or Hegel. It was discovered by the U.S. weapon makers. Sales of weapons emerge from time to time: once, it was the red threat; now, at the closing of the American century, the reason is ingenuous: there is no longer threat, accordingly we may keep selling weapons to Latin Americans, it does not matter if their indebtedness becomes a factor of instability. The moral conclusion: if there is perversion in these business transaction, let us not look for it in others. As the great philosopher Mafalda "of the Argentine cartoon" said on a historic occasion: We have finally found the enemy: we are it. |
|
Copyright Venezuela Analitica |