In his review of The Shock Doctrine, Mark Engler writes,
Iraq has been subjected to every shock imaginable. But rather than producing a state of regression and acquiescence, the onslaught has provoked intense resistance. As deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage is quoted as saying, “The U.S. is dealing with an Iraqi population that is un-shocked and un-awed.” Beyond the ethical and political implications of the botched occupation, it is just plain bad capitalism: “Bremer was sent to Iraq to build a corporate utopia,” Klein writes; “instead, Iraq became a ghoulish dystopia where going to a simple business meeting could get you lynched, burned alive or beheaded.” The author is ambivalent about the lessons. On the one hand, the corporate contractors who fled Iraq en masse had already reaped billions from government contracts, and energy companies still have their eye on Iraq’s oil. On the other hand, the crisis model has been foiled in important ways.
What do you think Engler is saying about the limits of Klein's argument? What does this tell us about the state of American power in the world today?
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When I took this cluster Class, I thought it would be about "great American" history but not really. After watching the movies and reading the text books realize how America is self fish and try to dominate the others. America is like a empire.
ReplyDeleteAfter a series of shocks one becomes shock resistance and i think the same thing happen in Iraq and an unorganised community always result in outrage.In Iraq still people are dying everyday its a very good example of bad capitalism which i think America have never imagined.
ReplyDeleteBut undoubtedly America is the supreme power in the world today.Its huge and systematic miltary force makes it one.They are economically and politically very sound.And all these things make them one powerful nation.