The
United States fears Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) is
one more symptom of the neo-liberalism's terminal decline, says
Professor Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a
decades-long interest in international affairs.
Etler, a
professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California,
made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday while
commenting on recent statements of US President Barack Obama and
Secretary of State John Kerry.
On Tuesday,
Obama dismissed the global reaction to Brexit as hysteria. “I
would not overstate it. There has been a little bit of hysteria,
post-Brexit vote. As if somehow NATO is gone and the transatlantic
alliance is dissolving and every country is rushing off to its own
corner. That's not what's happening.”
Hours later,
Kerry has said that Brexit might never happen, calling the process of
leaving the EU complicated. "This is a very complicated
divorce," Kerry said on Tuesday, one day after he met with
British Prime Minister David Cameron.
“US
President Obama, as one would expect, is downplaying the significance
of Brexit, while his Secretary of State, John Kerry, has stated that
Brexit might never happen, calling the process of leaving the
European Union ‘complicated,'" Professor Etler said.
"In
attempting to downplay its significance both have inadvertently
highlighted the fact that Brexit is a watershed event in the
geo-political contention that has come to characterize the current
global situation,” he stated.
“In
fact Obama expressed its true significance when he said, ‘As if
somehow NATO is gone and the transatlantic alliance is dissolving and
every country is rushing off to its own corner. That's not what's
happening,’” he added.
“While
it is premature to characterize European affairs in such stark terms
his statement clearly articulates the fears Washington has as it
looks out at the fraying ‘Western’ alliance. The neo-liberal
Washington Consensus is being challenged on all fronts,” the
analyst noted.
In the US
insurgent presidential candidates on both the Left (Sanders) and the
Right (Trump) have waged vigorous campaigns that have resonated with
a large number of disaffected voters. When combined the strength of
the anti-establishment vote constitutes a majority of the electorate.
Popular
reaction against neo-liberalism
“It is
not only the US which is seeing an upsurge in popular reaction
against the neo-liberal status quo, popular support for Brexit, and
similar sentiments in other European nations, attests to burgeoning
discontent with the stagnant economies, and austerity measures that
have overwhelmed and impoverished many sectors of the continent.
Coupled with the refugee crisis triggered by US/NATO intervention in
the Middle East and North Africa, the ‘European Dream’
represented by the EU has become a nightmare,” Professor Etler
said.
“While
NATO has not yet ‘gone’ and the transatlantic alliance has not
yet ‘dissolved’ both are under more stress than at any time in
the past,” he stated.
“The
Washington consensus is also being challenged in other regions of the
world. In the Middle East the US and its Zionist/Wahhabist allies are
confronted with an anti-imperialist front backed by the military
might of a resurgent Russia which will no longer kowtow to
Washington, while in the Asian-Pacific region US hegemony is being
challenged by a rising China which refuses to be intimidated by
attempts to rein it in,” he said.
US losing
hegemonic control over world
“The
emergence of a Sino-Russian entente and the consolidation of an
Eurasian geo-political center of gravity is sending ripples across
the globe, spurred on by China's growing network of trade routes and
financial heft. The US is desperately trying to stem the tide, but to
no avail. Its trade initiatives in both the Pacific Rim (TPP) and the
transatlantic (TTIP) are now in limbo,” Professor Etler said.
“Its
attempt to isolate and cordon off Russia is failing, while its plans
to turn the tables against populist regimes in Latin America are
meeting with renewed resistance. Brexit is thus the latest blow to
the floundering neo-liberal Washington consensus. The unraveling of
the post-WW2/post Cold War status quo is inevitable,” he
pointed out.
“What
is emerging is a world based not on the ‘limited sovereignty’ of
US hegemonic control, but a world in which free, sovereign nations
work together to build a better world based on the principles of
peaceful co-existence, namely mutual respect for each other's
territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, mutual
non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and equality and
cooperation for mutual benefit and sustainable development,”
the academic concluded.
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