Irak und 'the coming Dark Age'
Geschrieben von Andreas am 10. September 2003 14:31:43:
Als Antwort auf: USA verlieren im Irak wie UdSSR in Afghanistan geschrieben von Zwobbel am 10. September 2003 12:58:55:
Ich finde den Vergleich interessant. Widdowson hat sich bereits vor dem Irakfeldzug seine Spekulationen darüber geäussert, inwiefern die USA in der Lage sein würden, Ruhe und Ordnung im Irak wiederherzustellen. Ich finde seine Aussagen sehr lesenswert. Ein Wort, das Widdowson zur Zeit immer häufiger gebraucht ist der von Paul Kennedy geprägte Begriff vom "imperial overstretch".
http://www.darkage.fsnet.co.uk/Iraq.htm
The Iraq conflict is a test of how far we are progressing towards the coming dark age.
The question is to what extent the western hegemon (the United States) can still shape the world in its own image and thereby stop the Iraqi regime shaping the world in its image.
e.g. We will have weapons of mass destruction but you may not. No, Kuwait must remain an independent country and you are not allowed to take control of it.
The fact that this conflict is taking place at all is already a sign of the weakening of western hegemony (the dark age syndrome of disintegration).
A hundred years ago, the west used to lay down the law in this region. British officials drew up its borders, decided what kind of government it should have and who would be its king. It did all this while tying up only a fraction of its armed forces, and no one questioned its authority to do so.
Today, despite Iraq's obvious weakness, the US seems unable simply to go in with a small force and sort things out with the minimum of fuss. It is taking a huge military operation and much messing around with the United Nations, while emerging as a major geopolitical crisis.
Will the US restore peace and order to Iraq, turning it into a stable democracy and reliable member of the western axis -- as it did with Japan and Germany after the Second World War? If so, US power is still something to be reckoned with, and the dark age is still quite a way away.
Or will the US leave Iraq in anarchy, as happened in Somalia and seems to be happening in Afghanistan? If so, the world will have slipped a little bit further towards the dark age. The tide of chaos will be continuing to rise and it can be expected that it will eventually engulf even the most powerful nations.
The essential point of the Iraq conflict is for the United States to maintain the differentials of power and wealth that allow it to force its will on other nations and enjoy a share of the earth's resources far out of proportion to its population size. There is nothing wrong with that, in the sense that it has been the aim of all great powers throughout history.