Quote Originally Posted by OngBonga View Post
Capitalism results in war, had you not noticed? Anyone who thinks we went to war with Iraq because Saddam had WMD's is more naive and deluded than I'll ever be.
If Saddam actually had WMD's the war wouldn't have happened. Iraq was defenseless after the first Gulf War and UN sanctions. It was a capital conquest pure and simple just like all wars and occupations. Americans always harp on about "free trade and democracy" whenever their government is constantly overthrowing, attempting to overthrow, or destabilising democratically elected governments overseas to advance US interests or of course supporting dictators. Such is capitalism.

The cynical use of the IMF and World Bank by the US to pry open new markets and force neo-liberal economic policies on foreign nations while not embracing the doctrine themselves provides a clear picture of what is really going on. It's a means of generating massive wealth for America and trying to keep poor countries economically dependant and subservient to the US.

This can be illustrated with an example. http://www1.american.edu/ted/haitirice.htm

A few excerpts:

Yet, in the almost 10 years that have passed, Haiti has also remained the least developed country in the Caribbean despite its openness to trade, critics of trade liberalization have been quick to point out. Following the adoption of these policies local production of rice in Haiti dropped dramatically.
Several Haitian and international NGOs have claimed that the US is guilty of dumping rice in Haiti. The US now dominates the rice market in Haiti. Most American rice exports are handled "by a single US corporation -- American Rice Inc. -- which has enjoyed an almost monopolistic position in Haiti."[14]
These patterns are the same where ever you look a good example being the US intervention in Latin America. Free markets and genuine democracy are a pipe dream. Big companies don't want fierce competition they want fat profits. The political and corporate elite don't want genuine democracy because the consequences of democracy would effect their position of privilege dramatically.