Debt Crisis in West is Just a ‘Prelude to War’ (Le Quotidien d’Oran, Algeria)

Have the United States and the West hit such a dead end in terms of economic policy that war, as a way of economic recovery, is inevitable? Columnist K. Selim of Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran warns his readers that given the dire economic state of the world and America’s huge military, it is time to prepare for a new world war.

For the Le Quotidien d’Oran, K. Selim writes in part:

The colossal debt of nations and bleak prospects for growth are creating a panic situation on financial markets around the world. A crash is not a figment of the imagination. The one in 1929 paved the way for the rise of fascism and the Second World War.

It is futile to expect a paradigm shift from the established order. Since the sub-prime crisis in 2008, there has been much talk of market regulation. The noble ideas that accompanied the latest international joint financial agreement have been quickly abandoned. The leaders of Western states, starting with the president of the United States, have failed to develop a clear and convincing way to discuss economic policy options, let alone take strong measures. Markets are stronger than states. It is they that are ultimately the masters – and they impose their own logic.

What we should fear is that war may become – as history attests – the last recourse of capitalism in crisis. “Common sense” might call for a significant reduction in the U.S. military budget as a path toward effective treatment of America’s gigantic debt. But the cynicism of short-term interests is little concerned with common sense. How can an empire in decline impose its views? The U.S. not only shows obvious signs of economic collapse, but also of genuine regression: the American dream no longer exists. The U.S. establishment, Democratic or Republican, is not prepared to cash in its last major comparative advantage – military supremacy.

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