Paper Tiger?

Faced with the occupation of Afghanistan, the colonization of Iraq, the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Haiti and the kidnap and forced expulsion of Aristide, and the triumphalist fascism of the Bush II White House, one could easily be lead to think that the New Amerikan Empire is an unstoppable juggernaut and that world domination is complete. But there is evidence that this may not be entirely true, and that what truth this position does hold may only be very short-term.

Amerika is facing the same problem the Roman Empire experienced; it's all well and good to have the most advanced, unstoppable killing machine the world has ever seen, but the cost of maintaining it simply overwhelms all other concerns. The breach of the New Orleans levees showed that the Bush regime neither cared about, nor was able to mobilize sufficient manpower to assist its own citizens. Amerika was compelled to accept help from outside its own borders to assist with the clean up and restoration of a city after a natural disaster.

True, this was not on the scale of the clean up of Indonesia after the tsunami, but Indonesia is a third-world country struggling with a violent secessionist movement and Amerika is supposed to be the most industrialized first-world country at the peak of its powers. Things are so bad in New Orleans that Hugo Chavez (the president of Venezuela) is pursuing a program of subsidising heating oil for the poor in the Amerikan south. I suspect that this is particularly galling for the Amerikan administration as they have already had Chavez overthrown once—but the Venezuelan military stayed onside with the democratically elected government and Chavez was re-installed as president, even calling and winning another election a few months after his ouster.

Events are spinning out of control for the Amerikan regime. Canada, quite possibly the most colonized democracy in the world and right on the Amerikan border, legalized same-sex marriages despite a major propaganda push by the Amerikan right. Focus on the Family, the mullahs of Denver, spent millions trying to mobilize enough support to stop the bill in the Canadian parliament, and failed. And although an Amerikan stalking-horse may be elected as the prime minister of Canada (Steven Harper—who got his start in the Reform Party which received funding and organizational expertise from the Amerikan right in the eighties), it looks as though he will only have a minority or slim majority to play with. Canadians, having been burned once by the Amerikan-dominated rule of the Mulroney Conservatives have no intention of giving another Amerikan sympathizer the keys to the kingdom.

In Colombia, the people have elected a native-born Colombian (a First Nations Colombian!) as president; a man dedicated to improving the lot of the poor and, more importantly, planning to legalize the production of coca. A little scary to think that Amerikan consumption of cocaine might be a problem best left handled in Amerika by Amerikans, rather than by the killing of Colombian peasants.

The biggest threat that Amerika faces these days is the steady push toward democracy by the peoples of the world. Despite its claims to the contrary, Amerika has, during the twentieth century, consistently opposed and overthrown emerging democracies around the world, preferring to install and support the most evil dictatorships in order to protect Amerikan corporate interests. The black humour of the situation is how those same corporations have systematically stripped Amerika and internationalized that wealth, and become stateless rather than Amerikan. The numbers show the progressive decline of economic mobility in Amerika over the last three to four decades, showing that the Amerikan Dream (anyone can become rich in Amerika! It's what you do, not who you are!) has been hollowed out, leaving only a thin, propaganda-supported shell.

But worse is the environmental over-reach evident in Amerika. Amerika cannot continue without empire, as their environmental load has exceeded the countries carrying capacity. Amerika cannot leave Iraq—without Iraq it has no control over oil. Saudi Arabia faces internal dissent and keeps funding those damned anti-Amerikan terrorists directly or indirectly, and besides, their biggest oil field has passed its peak production mark, so they aren't going to be much good for much longer. Venezuela (#3 supplier to Amerika) is in the hands of a Castro-friendly lunatic who is putting the needs of Venezuelans first (trading oil for doctors with Cuba). Canada (specifically Oilberta) is a known quantity, and is already fully exploited. Besides, although the Amerikan oil companies managed to break the back of Canada's National Energy Program once, there's no telling what those fag-loving B.C. Bud-smoking lunatics might try. They might even start thinking that they are a sovereign nation again!

But worse than the oil shortfall is the water shortfall. Amerika is rapidly running out of water and is looking north to satisfy its thirst. The Alberta government has been quietly pursuing a water diversion program for the last fifty years that would see water from Peace River north be diverted south into Amerika. The problem with that is that Calgary, a city of well over a million people, is looking to run out of water within a decade or two. The glaciers that supply the Bow River are less than 50% of the size they were even four decades ago. Studies at the University of Alberta indicate that the past century in Alberta has been the wettest in ten thousand years—and even while the wettest, Alberta has seen four droughts, including the Dirty Thirties. Without current levels of irrigation, Alberta south of Red Deer would be a barren wasteland, suitable only for rattlesnakes and prairie dogs (okay, that's all it's good for now, but there is a lot of industrial agriculture established there). It doesn't help that oil companies are removing millions of litres a year from the water cycle and dumping that water down old oil wells to force the remnants of oil to the surface. So the only way Amerika gets water out of Alberta is at the expense of Calgary....

Over in Ontario, the Great Lakes replenish themselves at the rate of about 1% per year. But already they are being drawn down at a rate greater than 1% per year, making current levels of usage unsustainable. In Manitoba, the water flows north, out of Amerika and into the Hudson Bay catchment area. The Great Thirst is coming to Amerika and a hell of a lot sooner than anyone wants to believe.