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The Second Cold War: A First Panoramic View

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Abstract

The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Socialist block opened a political vacuum. And the deployment of the market economy, the exploitation of the immense oil and gas reserves and the construction of pipelines in the Caucasus region opened new opportunities for capitalist accumulation, that is, for the flow of capital from the western powers, particularly from the United States, to the non-capitalist economies of the newly independent countries. Soon President George H. W. Bush, his Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and the Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair, were pressing the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Äbişulı Nazarbayev (since 1991), to secure large oil and gas exploration contracts, which could potentially rival those in Iraq, for Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Halliburton, British Petroleum and the BG Group.

In the 1990s, the United States was living its imperial momentum. It began to act internationally as lonely, hegemonic superpower, the sole center of authority, force and economic and political decision-making, dictating neoliberalism, based on the Washington Consensus, as the path to economic development. By seeking greater multilateral commitments and emphasizing the interdependence of States in the globalization process, President Bill Clinton (1993–2001) of the Democratic Party maintained significant portions of the foreign policy agenda of his Republican predecessors, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, in the sense that he superimposed the concept of “world government”, i.e. the global governance under the leadership of the United States, over “national sovereignty”. This had been an increasing trend in American foreign policy since the end of the Second World War, and Democratic Senator J. William Fulbright explicitly stated in his book Old Myths and New Realities (1964): “Indeed, the concept of national sovereignty has become in our time a principle of international anarchy”, the most pervasive of the old myths “that blind to the realities of our time”.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Goldman (2011, pp. 246–259).

  2. 2.

    Ibid., p. 251.

  3. 3.

    Salisbury (1993, p. 453).

  4. 4.

    Ibid., p. 450.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., p. 450.

  6. 6.

    Ibid., p. 519.

  7. 7.

    The predecessor of George H. W. Bush as head of the USLO was Harriman David K. E. Bruce, who had worked for the OSS (the American intelligence service that preceded the CIA) during the Second World War. Diplomatic relations between the United States and China were only officially resumed in 1979, during the Carter administration.

  8. 8.

    Tarpley and Chaitkin (1992, pp. 517–521).

  9. 9.

    Kenneth Katzman, “Iraq: U.S. Regime Change Efforts and Post-Saddam Governance CRS Report for Congress”, CRS Report for Congress, Order Code RL31339, Updated October 22, 2004, Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC, The Library of Congress.

  10. 10.

    Kleveman (2003, p. 5).

  11. 11.

    Urban (1996, p. 163).

  12. 12.

    Baer (2002, pp. 171–173).

  13. 13.

    Cooley (2000, pp. 202–203).

  14. 14.

    Gerges (1999, pp. 73–75).

  15. 15.

    Samraoui (2003, pp. 88–89).

  16. 16.

    Souaïdia (2001, p. 277).

  17. 17.

    Ibid., p. 215. Salima Mellah, “The Algerian Islamist Movement between Autonomy and Manipulation”, Extracts from a report presented by the Justice Commission for Algeria at the 32nd Session of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights Violations in Algeria (1992–2004) 5–8 November 2004, May 2004.

  18. 18.

    Souaïdia (2001, pp. 320–321).

  19. 19.

    Ibid., p. 321.

  20. 20.

    Samraoui (2003, pp. 75–76).

  21. 21.

    Ibid., p. 77.

  22. 22.

    Maia (2012, p. 152).

  23. 23.

    War flared up in Somalia in 1991 between the forces of the then president Ali Mahdi Muhammad, supported by Islamic fundamentalists, and the clans loyal to General Maxamed Faarax Caydiid. To a significant extent, this war reflected the dispute over economic and commercial interests between two multinational companies: Sombana, a Dole Fresh Fruit supplier headquartered in the United States, and Somalfruit, a joint venture with capital from Italy (De Nadai Group), the Somali state and local growers, who fought over the control of the production and monthly export of 200,000 boxes of banana to Europe.

  24. 24.

    General Discretion in the Further Employment of Personnel of the United Nations Operation in Somalis, S.C. res 794, 47 U.N. SCOR at 63, U.N. Doc. S/RES/794 (1992), Peace Resource Center.

  25. 25.

    Mark Fineman, “The Oil Factor in Somalia: Four American petroleum giants had agreements with the African nation before its civil war began. They could reap big rewards if peace is restored”, Los Angeles Times, January 18, 1993.

  26. 26.

    Ibid. See the figure of the Operation in: Operation Restore Hope—December 9, 1992 to May 4, 1993. http://www.globalsecurity.org/jhtml/jframe.html and http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/images/restore-hope-map.gif. Accessed 09.05.2015.

  27. 27.

    “The largest and most purposeful enterprise going on in Somalia at the present time is Conoco’s quest for oil (...) Conoco is investing in oil exploration in Somalia on a scale unmatched by its rivals, building roads and airstrips, chartering one of the national airline’s three planes full time, and sending seismic survey teams to the edge of [Somaliland National Movement]-controlled territory.” “Petroleum Exploration: Conoco Searches for Oil in Somalia”, Cable from US Embassy in Mogadishu to State Department Headquarters. March 21, 1990. Cable Number: Mogadishu 02844. Source: Freedom of Information Act release (2006-01-286) to Keith Yearman.

  28. 28.

    Elizabeth Chamberlain, “Operation Restore Truth—U.S. relations with Somalia”, Humanist, FindArticles.com, June 5, 2012.

  29. 29.

    The military commands were established by the United States with jurisdiction over continents and certain regions, dividing geographical responsibility: Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), Pacific Command (USPACOM), Central Command (USCENTCOM), European Command (USEUCOM), Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). Commands with functional responsibility: Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM).

  30. 30.

    The Soviet Union was made up of 15 republics: Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.

  31. 31.

    Powell (1992, p. 7). Draft Resolution—12 Cooperation for Security in the Hemisphere, Regional Contribution to Global Security—The General Assembly, recalling: Resolutions AG/RES. 1121 (XXX-091 and AG/RES. 1123 (XXI-091) for strengthening of peace and security in the hemisphere, and AG/RES. 1062 (XX090) against clandestine arms traffic.

  32. 32.

    Powell (1992, p. 7).

  33. 33.

    “Prevent the Reemergence of a New Rival”—The Making of the Cheney Regional Defense Strategy, 1991–1992—Declassified Studies from Cheney Pentagon Show Push for U.S. Military Predominance and a Strategy to “Prevent the Reemergence of a New Rival”—William Burr—National Security Archives. Ralph (2008, p. 257). Patrick E. Tyler, “U.S. Strategy Plan Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop A One-Superpower World. Pentagon’s Document Outlines Ways to Thwart Challenges to Primacy of America”, The New York Times, March 8, 1992. Jeffrey Steinberg, “LaRouche Demands Cheney’s Resignation”, Executive Intelligence Review, October 4, 2002.

  34. 34.

    “Army Special Operations Forces Unconventional Warfare”. Field Manual No. 3-05.130—Headquarters Department of the Army, Washington, DC, 30 September 2008—DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTION: Distribution authorized to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors only to protect technical or operational information from automatic dissemination under the International Exchange Program or by other means. This determination was made on 28 August 2008. Other requests for this document must be referred to Commander, United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, ATTN: AOJK-DTD-JA, Fort Bragg, NC 28310-9610, or by e-mail to JAComments@soc.mil. DESTRUCTION NOTICE: Destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document. FOREIGN DISCLOSURE RESTRICTION (FD 6): This publication has been reviewed by the product developers in coordination with the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School foreign disclosure authority. This product is releasable to students from foreign countries on a case-by-case basis only. Headquarters, Department of the Army. This publication is available at Army Knowledge Online (www.us.army.mil) and General Dennis J. Reimer Training and Doctrine—Digital Library at (www.train.army.mil).

  35. 35.

    Aitken (2009, p. 168, 202).

  36. 36.

    The American economist John Williamson was author of the Washington Consensus, a document that contained ten recommendations for economic reform, which represented a broad consensus in Washington between members of Congress, the administration and technocrats of international financial institutions, economic agencies of the American government, the Federal Reserve Board, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and think tanks. These recommendations, which focused on monetary stability and the full restoration of market laws, consisted in: (1) Fiscal discipline; (2) Changes in public spending priorities; (3) Tax reform; (4) Positive interest rates; (5) Exchange rates dictated by the market; (6) Trade liberalization; (7) End of restrictions to foreign investments; (8) Privatization of state enterprises; (9) Deregulation of economic activities; (10) Guarantee of property rights. Williamson, 1990, pp. 9–33.

  37. 37.

    See Bresser-Pereira (2009, p. 29).

  38. 38.

    Ibid., p. 38.

  39. 39.

    Fulbright (1964, p. 87 e 147).

  40. 40.

    Chetterjee (2009, p. 56).

  41. 41.

    Chesterman and Lehnardt (2007, p. 99).

  42. 42.

    Klein (2007, p. 291).

  43. 43.

    Peter Dale Scott, “The Real Grand Chessboard and the Profiteers of War”, Global Research, August 11, 2009.

  44. 44.

    The Private Military Contractors relived the Grandes Compagnies, the mercenary companies mobilized during the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), especially by Philippe De Bourgogne, Jean II and Charles V of France, and the Condottieri, hired by the city-states and the Papacy between 1350 and 1530.

  45. 45.

    Scahill (2007, pp. XVIII–XXVII).

  46. 46.

    Ibid., p. XVI.

  47. 47.

    Klein (2007, p. 292).

  48. 48.

    The White House—Office of the Press Secretary—Fact Sheet—Counter-Terrorism—The White House’s Position on Terrorism—State Fair Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, April 23, 1995.

  49. 49.

    Roger Cohen, “Yeltsin Opposes Expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe”, The New York Times, October 2, 1993.

  50. 50.

    Richard C. Paddock, “Yeltsin Sees Deal on Expansion of NATO Diplomacy: Russian president says he still opposes spread of alliance but is committed to resolving dispute during meeting with Clinton in Helsinki next month”, Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1997.

  51. 51.

    George Friedman, “Georgia and Kosovo: A Single Intertwined Crisis”, Stratfor, August 25, 2008.

  52. 52.

    Roger Cohen, “Who Really Brought Down Milosevic?”, The New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2000. Vejvoda (2009, pp. 307–316). “After its success, Serbia’s Otpor would continue receiving funds from the West and become a ‘CIA-coup college’ of sorts, under the name CANVAS, or ‘Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies’. It appears that after the Egyptian April 6 Youth Movement finished attending the US State Department funded confab in New York City in 2008, it would make a trip to visit CANVAS in 2009. From there, it took CANVAS’s ‘curriculum’ and apparently their logo, and began assembling a US-funded mob in Egypt. Amongst CANVAS’s current ‘partners’ are the Albert Einstein Institution, Freedom House, and the International Republican Institute (IRI). The IRI includes amongst its board of directors John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Brent Scowcroft. When John McCain says ‘We should have seen this coming,’ in regards to the unrest in Egypt, he obviously isn’t talking about himself since he helped make it happen.” Tony Cartalucci, “CIA Coup-College”, Land Destroyer Report, February 19, 2011.

  53. 53.

    Roger Cohen, “Who Really Brought Down Milosevic?”, The New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2000.

  54. 54.

    Statement by Paul B. McCarthy National Endowment for Democracy to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 2172 Rayburn House Office Building December 10, 1998, “How the U.S. has Created a Corrupt Opposition in Serbia”.

  55. 55.

    Roger Cohen, “Who Really Brought Down Milosevic?”, The New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2000.

  56. 56.

    The International Republican Institute: http://www.iri.org/

  57. 57.

    Rich McClear, Suzi McClear e Peter Graves, “U.S. Media Assistance Programs in Serbia—July 1997–June 2002”, PPC Evaluation Working Paper No. 10, Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, PN-ACT-553, November 2003.

  58. 58.

    Abel Polese and Donnacha Ó Beacháin, “The Color Revolution Virus and Authoritarian Antidotes Political Protest and Regime Counterattacks Regime in Post-Communist spaces,” Academia.edu.

  59. 59.

    Richard Poe, “George Soros and America’s Coming Election Crisis (Part 1)”, FreeRepublic.com , July 16, 2004.

  60. 60.

    “A New Covenant for American Security”, Remarks by Governor Bill Clinton to Students at Georgetown University in 1991, December 12, 1991. William J. Clinton Presidential Center.

  61. 61.

    Ibid.

  62. 62.

    President Lyndon B. Johnson declared on January 20, 1965: “Terrific dangers and troubles we once called ‘foreign’ now live among us. If American lives must end, and American treasure be spilled in countries that we barely know, then that is the price that change has demanded for conviction and of our enduring government.” The President’s Inaugural Address, January 20, 1965.

  63. 63.

    Aaron Levitt, “Africa: The Next Great Energy Growth Story—Often ignored continent just waiting to break out”, Investor Place, February 23, 2012.

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  1. Emeritus professor for History, University of Brasília, St. Leon-Rot, Germany

    Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira

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Moniz Bandeira, L.A. (2017). The Second Cold War: A First Panoramic View. In: The Second Cold War. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54888-3_2

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