American Empire, Oil and Global domination (The American Empire Essay

American Empire, Oil and Global domination (The American Empire Project) - Essay Example However, every time America had a solid argument which it presented to the world and made it appear to everyone that America's involvement is imperative either for its own security and defense or for the betterment of this world as a whole, let alone the consideration for devastations it brings to the world and innocent people on whom the war either declared or undeclared is imposed. The question that is raised by the world is that is it necessary for America to harm others in order to maintain its peace and security, or behind such arguments US is nurturing and fostering the concept of maintaining the US power and dominance over the world by controlling the world oil reserves and influencing the major oil producing countries. This paper exposes the arguments presented by United States for its invasion in Iraq, highlights the concept of American Empire with a background to reasons behind the major wars it has participated in and finally envisions the real behind the scene reasons and causes for the Iraq invasion. According to Burbach, Roger and Jim Turbell "Concentrating on terrorism for electionprovided an opportunity to highlight Bush's War on Terror and the need for patriotic Americans to rally behind the flag to support their President.Unfortunately, Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist who had rained fear down on America on 9/11, could not be found. They needed to find a new terrorist to portray as evil incarnate. Saddam Hussein fitted the bill."1 Iraq war was not only about Saddam Hussein, it was much about oil and control over the Middle East region. Middle East is the heart of world oil production where exists huge oil and energy reserves that are imperative for United State's well-being. According to Kofi Annan the UN Secretary General, there were no justifications for the use of military action against the Iraq.2 Iraq was not at all a threat to the Unites State's national security. Infact, United States had plans to invade Iraq for oil reserves even several months before the attack of September 11. According to Sunday Herald, the United States promoted the use of military action against Iraq about five months before the September 11 attack in order to control its secured oil supply in future.3 United States had already realized its ever increasing demand and declining supply for oil and it had already planned to invade Iraq which was the second largest supplier of oil to the world, about which Everest said, "Overthrowing Saddam Hussein, creating a client state in Iraq, and opening up Iraq's economy are key components of a much larger, multi-faceted global agenda in which energy resources play a crucial role"4 The event provided United States a great chance to set its foot in countries having huge energy reserves that was the only way to control the world oil supply and reserve a continued secured supply of oil for itself all behind the mask of national security and self-defense. However, the United States has always denied that its invasion of Iraq was for the purpose of imperialism and global dominance by means of controlling Iraq's discovered and undiscovered precious oil reserves, yet it is evident to the world that the real agenda behind the Iraq invasion was Oil, not the issue of American national security. US PRETENCE FOR WAR ON IRAQ The US had many

From financial crisis to global recovery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

From financial crisis to global recovery - Essay Example Despite the global economic turmoil, the global FDI inflows rose significantly by 17 percent in 2011 in most of the economies to $ 1.5 trillion. The FDI flows increased in major economic groupings such as developing economies, transition economies and developed economies. Developing and transition economies recorded $ 755 Billion FDI inflows that were driven mainly by robust investments (Lapavitsas, 2012). FDI flows in Europe increased by 18 percent while the flows in the United States declined by 8 percent. Ireland experienced the largest FDI flows due to movements in debt and equity financial markets. The increase in FDI flows in Europe was mainly driven by cross-border corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, and stabilization of the economies (Ramamurti & Hashai, 2011). However, this trend was not even in all European countries since Greece and Germany experienced a decline while countries like France saw an increase in FDI flows. Developing counties accounted for most of the global FDI flows in the first half of 2011 (Shambaugh, 2012). The FDI inflows in developing countries were at $ 684 billion. The FDI flows in transition economies rose by 6 percent in 2011 to reach $ 92 billion. ... The Sub-Saharan African region witnessed $ 37 FDI inflows in 2011 (Shambaugh, 2012). The FDI outflows from Africa were 50 percent lower in 2011 and amounted to $ 3.5 billion and mainly came from Egypt and Libya. FDI outflows from the United States reached $ 397 billion in 2011 due to appreciation of Japanese Yen since Japan was the second largest investor in the US (Shambaugh, 2012). From the above graph of global FDI flows, it is evident that the recent financial crisis negatively affected the global FDI flows. The global FDIs flows are currently on the increasing trend (Breitfeld, 2010). US economy FDI flows and balance of payments The global financial crisis of 2007-2009 led to the decline of the US trade deficit due to slowdown in imports. The US exports increased by 16 percent from 2010 to $ 1,497 billion in 2011 due to increasing economic growth in the economy. The imports also increased by the same percentage during the same period to $ 2,236 billion (Richardson, 2011). Though the two increased at the same percentage, the net effect was an increase in the trade deficit by 15 percent or $ 93 billion. In 2009, the recession led to an 18 percent in US merchandise exports and 26 percent decline in imports (Richardson, 2011). The figures however reversed in 2010 when exports in merchandise increased by 21 percent while the imports increased by 23 percent. In 2011, the trade deficit in goods was $ 738 billion on the BOP but was still lower than the previous peak of $ 836 billion in 2006. The deficit on the current account which includes the trade plus investment income and any unilateral transfers grew from $ 442 billion in 2010 to $ 466 billion in 2011 thus leading to an increase in the current account deficit by $ 24 billion. The