Aiding and abetting the Enemy
To remain in power, every dictatorship needs its Enemy. Without an omniscient, unquantifiable, and preferably undefeatable external threat, the average dictator will have trouble focusing his population's attention, which will naturally enough turn to poverty, illiteracy and the desire for better living standards. And the worse the population's local situation becomes, the more the dictator will amplify the threat.
For most of Asia, the Middle East and the Third World, America is the enemy of choice: its culture is everywhere, its military hardware is the best in the world (and can strike anywhere in the world), and its people built their country on freedom, the one thing dictators don't care for very much.
Now, however, western leaders are latching on and beginning to realize just how pliable a population can be when it has an enemy in its midst. Democracy, liberty and free speech can all be sidelined in the name of fighting the Enemy. Economic mismanagement, rising crime, corruption and society's other ills take a back seat; indeed, the very act of criticizing these things is seen as "unpatriotic", "not in the national interest", or any number of excuses a dictator will trot out to cling to power. In an atmosphere of unregulated fear, reasoned dispassionate debate is stifled, the dictator demands that he is right, that dissention is aiding the Enemy, and that we must all speak with one voice and act in one way-his-to defeat the Enemy. This state of affairs creates new imperatives and shifts the focus of economies. In this kind of environment, doing business comes in a poor second.
However, there is one industry that is doing very nicely indeed, thank you. Arms manufacturers are a reticent bunch in this world where brand recognition is everything. For example, when was the last time a James Bond film was brought to you in association with "Cluster Bombs R Us"?
And the best customers for arms manufacturers are dictators. Mineral rich states are happy to be supplied with the very latest weaponry with which to keep the locals in order. The US, UK and European arms manufacturers make fortunes annually supplying wealthy nation states that ensure their peoples remain in oppressed poverty.
One event in Poland that has not been reported too widely in the world's press was the 12th Polish Arms Fair, in Kielce. Carried only in passing by military publications, 250 exhibitors from 20 countries got together to show off numerous ways in which to mutilate the human frame. For these companies at least, the good times are definitely here, and wherever the Enemy happens to be and whatever form our leaders tell us it takes, those who met in Kielce have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
For most of Asia, the Middle East and the Third World, America is the enemy of choice: its culture is everywhere, its military hardware is the best in the world (and can strike anywhere in the world), and its people built their country on freedom, the one thing dictators don't care for very much.
Now, however, western leaders are latching on and beginning to realize just how pliable a population can be when it has an enemy in its midst. Democracy, liberty and free speech can all be sidelined in the name of fighting the Enemy. Economic mismanagement, rising crime, corruption and society's other ills take a back seat; indeed, the very act of criticizing these things is seen as "unpatriotic", "not in the national interest", or any number of excuses a dictator will trot out to cling to power. In an atmosphere of unregulated fear, reasoned dispassionate debate is stifled, the dictator demands that he is right, that dissention is aiding the Enemy, and that we must all speak with one voice and act in one way-his-to defeat the Enemy. This state of affairs creates new imperatives and shifts the focus of economies. In this kind of environment, doing business comes in a poor second.
However, there is one industry that is doing very nicely indeed, thank you. Arms manufacturers are a reticent bunch in this world where brand recognition is everything. For example, when was the last time a James Bond film was brought to you in association with "Cluster Bombs R Us"?
And the best customers for arms manufacturers are dictators. Mineral rich states are happy to be supplied with the very latest weaponry with which to keep the locals in order. The US, UK and European arms manufacturers make fortunes annually supplying wealthy nation states that ensure their peoples remain in oppressed poverty.
One event in Poland that has not been reported too widely in the world's press was the 12th Polish Arms Fair, in Kielce. Carried only in passing by military publications, 250 exhibitors from 20 countries got together to show off numerous ways in which to mutilate the human frame. For these companies at least, the good times are definitely here, and wherever the Enemy happens to be and whatever form our leaders tell us it takes, those who met in Kielce have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
