It is very hard to write an even-handed review in Taiwan of any book by John Pilger. Taiwan arguably relies heavily on the US for its continued existence, yet Pilger's controlling belief is that the US is the center of all evil, and (apart from its wicked ally the UK) the only real rogue state. In The New Rulers of the World, Pilger focuses mainly on three countries -- Indonesia, Iraq and his native Australia. But he does also offer an overview of global power politics from his own radical perspective in one chapter, "The Great Game."
He opens by comparing the modern state of world affairs with George Orwell's 1984. We are entering a state of permanent war, he claims, justified by the creation of a total enemy, and almost all the information we receive is government disinformation to back up that state of affairs. The reality, Pilger would say, is that the US is gearing up to rule the world, crush all freedom movements, and view all political situations from a single perspective -- whether or not they benefit US commercial interests. Britain is tagging along in the hope of a few crumbs from the rich man's table. The rest is icing on a cake that will break your jaw if you even try to bite it.
Pilger's background is in Australian labor activism, and he has, he claims, spent half a lifetime championing Aboriginal rights in his native country. A searing chapter in this book catalogues the abuses these people have suffered. What arguments might be deployed, then, to counter or qualify Pilger's claims?
First, that though it is true that all very powerful states tend to create empires, both to supply themselves with reliable sources of cheap materials and as compliant markets for their manufactured goods, this is not invariably to the client states' disadvantage. The modern British are undeniably proud to have once been part of the Roman Empire, for example. Furthermore, the benefits an advanced culture can bestow on a less developed one can be considerable. Rome ruled for its own gain, but it brought peace, law, education and an international perspective to many of its conquered peoples. Secondly, little notice is taken in this book of the evils attendant on the rule of powerful governments other than the US and the UK. The casualties of left-leaning administrations such as China, Cuba, North Korea and the former Soviet Union and its satellites don't get much space.
Perhaps Pilger would argue that these have already been over-publicized by the Western, capitalist media. Nonetheless, something in the way of a balance to Pilger's undeniably damning account would appear to be called for.
What appears as an interesting alternative to Pilger's crusading rhetoric, and his attendant black-and-white view of the world, is a realization that almost all power corrupts, and so do a great many schemes for money-making on a corporate scale. Workers are routinely exploited in many parts of the world, and by many different forms of business enterprise.
Furthermore, it's militarism in itself, rather than militarism
originating from one particular place, that's the enemy of us all. A definition of militarism is the control of government policy by the military for its own greater power and influence. This is a universal danger, and something that in the long run threatens everyone. It's not something confined, as Pilger would have it, to one particular power block.
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