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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
"Economic hit men,” John Perkins writes, “are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder.”
John Perkins should know—he was an economic hit man. His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the U.S.—from Indonesia to Panama—to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development, and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to U. S. corporations. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the control of the United States government, World Bank and other U.S.-dominated aid agencies that acted like loan sharks—dictating repayment terms and bullying foreign governments into submission.
This New York Times bestseller exposes international intrigue, corruption, and little-known government and corporate activities that have dire consequences for American democracy and the world. It is a compelling story that also offers hope and a vision for realizing the American dream of a just and compassionate world that will bring us greater security.
John Perkins should know—he was an economic hit man. His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the U.S.—from Indonesia to Panama—to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development, and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to U. S. corporations. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the control of the United States government, World Bank and other U.S.-dominated aid agencies that acted like loan sharks—dictating repayment terms and bullying foreign governments into submission.
This New York Times bestseller exposes international intrigue, corruption, and little-known government and corporate activities that have dire consequences for American democracy and the world. It is a compelling story that also offers hope and a vision for realizing the American dream of a just and compassionate world that will bring us greater security.
303 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
John Perkins
127 books1,137 followersJohn Perkins is an activist and author. As a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, Perkins says that he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinational corporations cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.
However, after several years struggling internally over the role he was playing in crippling foreign economies, he quit his consulting job. In the 1980s Perkins founded and directed a successful independent energy company, which he subsequently sold. Since then he has been heavily involved with non-profit organizations in Ecuador and around the world. He continues this work today, in addition to his writing.
His new book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, 3rd Edition: China’s EHM Strategy; Ways to Stop the Global Takeover, a follow-up to international best-seller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, will be released on February 28th, 2023.
However, after several years struggling internally over the role he was playing in crippling foreign economies, he quit his consulting job. In the 1980s Perkins founded and directed a successful independent energy company, which he subsequently sold. Since then he has been heavily involved with non-profit organizations in Ecuador and around the world. He continues this work today, in addition to his writing.
His new book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, 3rd Edition: China’s EHM Strategy; Ways to Stop the Global Takeover, a follow-up to international best-seller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, will be released on February 28th, 2023.
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August 21, 2008
At the end of Three Days of the Condor the guy who is not Robert Redford, the guy who is the evil CIA operative who has been trying to ‘bring him home’ throughout the film - which we have guessed is a euphuism for ‘take him out’ - is talking about why the CIA does bad, manipulative things in the world. He tells Redford that it is simple economics and anyway, what would Redford expect them to do? Redford says he should ask the American people first. The CIA man looks at Redford in the way so many people do when confronted with the naivety of the person they are talking to, but finally replies, “Ask them when there's no heat and they're cold. Ask them when their engines stop. Ask them when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. Want to know something? They won't want us to ask them. They'll want us to get it for them.”
The whole way through this most remarkable book I found myself thinking of that line and that last scene from Three Days of the Condor. This is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in quite a long time. It reads like a Le Carre novel or something by Graham Green, and yet it is autobiographical.
A young man becomes drawn into international finance and has the role of convincing third world countries (particularly the leaders of these countries) to take out loans that are so huge their countries will never be able to repay them. They do this so as to ensure that these countries become satellites orbiting the American Empire. His job was to make these countries compliant, dependent, and endlessly economically exploitable.
Perkins asserts that the economic hit men were potentially only phase one of what could become a three phase attack on the democratic rights and independence of foreign nations. If bribing the leaders of countries with massive loans they could never repay didn’t work, then the jackals were sent in to kill selected targets and to create mayhem that would ensure the ‘right’ people would be put into power. If this didn’t work, then US troops were sent in. He gives instance after instance of where this pattern was applied in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia over a period of about three decades. It would be hard to imagine someone from the US reading this book without a growing sense of shame. It is hard to read this book from anywhere in the first world without feelings of responsibility, disgust and self-loathing. He reminds us continually that our lavish and unsustainable life style is only possible by the exploitation unto death of large parts of the globe.
This is also a remarkably well written autobiography – if Noam Chomsky was to make up a character who walked the path of evil before converting and walking the path of righteousness, he’s have come up with someone pretty much like John Perkins. Perkins does not come out of this book a saint, but he does come out of it a bit of a hero – I think.
It surprises me more I can say that this book ever got published. I believe we live in times when global capitalism is so cocksure of its pre-eminence and unassailability that it doesn’t even bother to cover up its deeds. I think I preferred it when the rulers of the world at least pretended they were concerned we might overthrown them if we caught them at their cheating. I think I preferred it when they would lie to us, if for no better reason than purely out of shame. Now they don’t even bother to treat us to that level of respect. We have become completely contemptible. Where they can do whatever they like and then rub our noses in it and we will only shake our heads and complain about how powerless we are.
This really is a fascinating book, fascinating in the literal sense of having one’s attention stolen as we read. Like I said, this reads like a spy novel, but made even more compelling by it being true.
This book demands to be read.
The whole way through this most remarkable book I found myself thinking of that line and that last scene from Three Days of the Condor. This is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in quite a long time. It reads like a Le Carre novel or something by Graham Green, and yet it is autobiographical.
A young man becomes drawn into international finance and has the role of convincing third world countries (particularly the leaders of these countries) to take out loans that are so huge their countries will never be able to repay them. They do this so as to ensure that these countries become satellites orbiting the American Empire. His job was to make these countries compliant, dependent, and endlessly economically exploitable.
Perkins asserts that the economic hit men were potentially only phase one of what could become a three phase attack on the democratic rights and independence of foreign nations. If bribing the leaders of countries with massive loans they could never repay didn’t work, then the jackals were sent in to kill selected targets and to create mayhem that would ensure the ‘right’ people would be put into power. If this didn’t work, then US troops were sent in. He gives instance after instance of where this pattern was applied in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia over a period of about three decades. It would be hard to imagine someone from the US reading this book without a growing sense of shame. It is hard to read this book from anywhere in the first world without feelings of responsibility, disgust and self-loathing. He reminds us continually that our lavish and unsustainable life style is only possible by the exploitation unto death of large parts of the globe.
This is also a remarkably well written autobiography – if Noam Chomsky was to make up a character who walked the path of evil before converting and walking the path of righteousness, he’s have come up with someone pretty much like John Perkins. Perkins does not come out of this book a saint, but he does come out of it a bit of a hero – I think.
It surprises me more I can say that this book ever got published. I believe we live in times when global capitalism is so cocksure of its pre-eminence and unassailability that it doesn’t even bother to cover up its deeds. I think I preferred it when the rulers of the world at least pretended they were concerned we might overthrown them if we caught them at their cheating. I think I preferred it when they would lie to us, if for no better reason than purely out of shame. Now they don’t even bother to treat us to that level of respect. We have become completely contemptible. Where they can do whatever they like and then rub our noses in it and we will only shake our heads and complain about how powerless we are.
This really is a fascinating book, fascinating in the literal sense of having one’s attention stolen as we read. Like I said, this reads like a spy novel, but made even more compelling by it being true.
This book demands to be read.
November 22, 2007
Terrible. Here's the book in a nutshell. "I'm in <3rd world country> doing . I feel bad about this. I meet . He takes me to . I learn . I return to my out of touch american enclave and happen upon . He like a prophet." The process then repeats.
Anyway, I'm sure the ideas in this book will help some 19 year old get laid. and if you are that 19 year old then I can not recommend this book highly enough.
Anyway, I'm sure the ideas in this book will help some 19 year old get laid. and if you are that 19 year old then I can not recommend this book highly enough.
July 1, 2012
كتاب ممتاز وهو أحد الكتب المفضله لدي بلا جدال .. هو عبارة عن مذكرات قرصان إقتصادي دولي .. ويحكي الرجل تجربته مع هذه الوظيفة.
يتحدث الرجل عن أنه بينما لجأت القوى القديمة (بريطانيا وفرنسا) للإحتلال العسكري المكلف مادياً وبشرياً؛ نهجت الولايات المتحدة نهج مختلف تماماً وهو ما عرف بـ(سياسة الإحتواء الإقتصادي) والتي تتلخص في مبدأ بسيط جداً ألا وهو إستخدام الموئسسات الدولية مثل "البنك الدولي" في تقديم مساعدات إقتصادية وقروض إعمار لدول العالم الثالث مقابل أن تقوم الشركات الأمريكية بتنفيذ المشروعات الكبرى في الدولة المستدينة مثل محطات طاقة ومطارات وشبكات طرق وشبكات إتصالات؛ وفي الوقت الذي تستدين هذه الدول من البنك الدولي تكون فوائد القروض أكبر من قدرة هذه الدول على السداد ومن ثم تتراكم فوائد القروض وتعجز هذه الدول عن السداد.
هنا تتدخل الولايات المتحدة "لمساعدة" هذه الدول مقابل قواعد عسكرية أمريكية على أراضي هذه الدولة أو لتمرير قرارات معينه في مجلس الأمن أو القيام بإصلاحات إقتصادية داخلية معينه (خصخصة القطاع العام، الضريبة العقارية، الكويز، .. الخ) تساهم في زيادة الطين بللاً. بهذا يكون البنك الدولي فاز بفوائد القرض وفازت الشركات بأموال عقود الإعمار وفازت الولايات المتحدة بالسيطرة السياسية على الدولة المستدينة ولا يوجد خاسر في هذه اللعبة سوى المستدين. تكرر هذا الأمر في دول كثيرة جداً مما يطرح سؤالاً مهما؛ لماذا تستدين هذه الدول أصلاً؟؟
عملت سياسة الإنجليز (المستعمر القديم) على تنصيب ما يسمى بالواجهة المحلية في الحكم. هذه الواجهة تظل في الحكم مادامت محافظة على مصالح الاستعمار وعندما تفشل في الحفاظ عليه يتم التنكيل بها كما حدث مع (نورويجا في بنما؛ صدام حسين في العراق؛ مبارك في مصر) وبالتالي فموافقة صانعي القرار في الدول الصغرى على الاستدانة بقروض لن تحتاج اليها دولهم لن يصبح مشكلة كبيرة لأن هذه الواجهة المحلية تدين ببقائها في السلطة للولايات المتحدة؛ مما يعني أنها ستوافق على أي قرض ما دامت الولايات المتحدة أمرت به. وللعجب فبينما جلست لكتابة هذه السطور قرأت عن إحباط القوات الأمريكية لمحاولة إنقلاب القوات المسلحة القطرية على الواجهة المحلية "حمد بن جاسم" وذلك لأن الرجل يسير وفق المخطط الأمريكي الكبير بمنتهى الدقة ولا داعي لإستبداله الآن
للتدليل على نظرية الإحتواء الإقتصادي دعونا ننظر لبلد وقعت في براثن الإحتواء الإقتصادي بنفس الأسلوب .. في آواخر ستينات القرن الماضي تم إكتشاف إحتياطي كبير للنفط في "إندونيسيا" وفوراً أصدرت الإدارة الأمريكية الأوامر للشركات الأمريكية العملاقة بضرورة إحتواء إندونيسيا بأي ثمن حتى لا تقع في قبضة المعسكر الشيوعي بكل ما تملكه من إمكانيات نفطيه هائله.
توجه مسئولين من هذه الشركات لمقابلة صانعي القرار في إندونيسيا لتقديم عروض بتجديد شبكة الكهرباء وبناء محطات طاقة جديدة تساعد على بناء المزيد من المطارات والطرق والمصانع وإحداث نهضة إقتصادية في إندونيسيا وعرض المسئولين في هذه الشركات "التوسط" لدى البنك الدولي لتسهيل هذه القروض.
قامت الشركات الأمريكية بوضع توقعات أحمال طاقة عالية جداً تفوق حاجة إندونيسيا الفعلية؛ فالحقيقة أن أحمال الكهرباء التي كانت تكفي لم تكن تتعدي الـ 8% من قدرة الشبكة ولكن الشركات قدرت الأحمال المتوقعة بـ 20% حتى تزيد قيمة القرض ولم تمض أكثر من 5 سنوات شهدت فيها إندونيسيا طفرة بالفعل ولكن حين جاء ميعاد تحصيل الفوائد هرعت إندونيسيا لأمريكا طالبة العون. هنا قبلت أمريكا أن تساعد إندونيسا على التدخل لدى البنك الدولي لجدولة الديون في مقابل الحصول على عقد إحتكار للشركات الأمريكية للتنقيب عن البترول في الأراضي الإندونيسية.
وبهذا تم نقل مال القرض من خزانة البنك الدولي الى مصارف نيويورك و واشنطن وحصل البنك الدولي على الفوائد فيما حصلت الولايات المتحدة على البترول وفازت الشركات بأموال القرض التي ستصب مباشرة في خانة الإقتصاد الأمريكي. وهكذا تم نهب ثروات إندونيسيا على الرغم من أنه كان بلداً واعداً جداً ذو مستقبل مشرق.
وتستمر المأساة مع الجميع .. وفي الكتاب نمازج أكثر وقاحة منها مثلا تدخل عسكري مباشر في كل من بنما والعراق لتوريد عقود إعادة إعمار تساهم في رفع حالة الإقتصاد المتهاوي للولايات المتحدة
الكتاب مهم جدا .. إقرأوه بالله عليكم :)
يتحدث الرجل عن أنه بينما لجأت القوى القديمة (بريطانيا وفرنسا) للإحتلال العسكري المكلف مادياً وبشرياً؛ نهجت الولايات المتحدة نهج مختلف تماماً وهو ما عرف بـ(سياسة الإحتواء الإقتصادي) والتي تتلخص في مبدأ بسيط جداً ألا وهو إستخدام الموئسسات الدولية مثل "البنك الدولي" في تقديم مساعدات إقتصادية وقروض إعمار لدول العالم الثالث مقابل أن تقوم الشركات الأمريكية بتنفيذ المشروعات الكبرى في الدولة المستدينة مثل محطات طاقة ومطارات وشبكات طرق وشبكات إتصالات؛ وفي الوقت الذي تستدين هذه الدول من البنك الدولي تكون فوائد القروض أكبر من قدرة هذه الدول على السداد ومن ثم تتراكم فوائد القروض وتعجز هذه الدول عن السداد.
هنا تتدخل الولايات المتحدة "لمساعدة" هذه الدول مقابل قواعد عسكرية أمريكية على أراضي هذه الدولة أو لتمرير قرارات معينه في مجلس الأمن أو القيام بإصلاحات إقتصادية داخلية معينه (خصخصة القطاع العام، الضريبة العقارية، الكويز، .. الخ) تساهم في زيادة الطين بللاً. بهذا يكون البنك الدولي فاز بفوائد القرض وفازت الشركات بأموال عقود الإعمار وفازت الولايات المتحدة بالسيطرة السياسية على الدولة المستدينة ولا يوجد خاسر في هذه اللعبة سوى المستدين. تكرر هذا الأمر في دول كثيرة جداً مما يطرح سؤالاً مهما؛ لماذا تستدين هذه الدول أصلاً؟؟
عملت سياسة الإنجليز (المستعمر القديم) على تنصيب ما يسمى بالواجهة المحلية في الحكم. هذه الواجهة تظل في الحكم مادامت محافظة على مصالح الاستعمار وعندما تفشل في الحفاظ عليه يتم التنكيل بها كما حدث مع (نورويجا في بنما؛ صدام حسين في العراق؛ مبارك في مصر) وبالتالي فموافقة صانعي القرار في الدول الصغرى على الاستدانة بقروض لن تحتاج اليها دولهم لن يصبح مشكلة كبيرة لأن هذه الواجهة المحلية تدين ببقائها في السلطة للولايات المتحدة؛ مما يعني أنها ستوافق على أي قرض ما دامت الولايات المتحدة أمرت به. وللعجب فبينما جلست لكتابة هذه السطور قرأت عن إحباط القوات الأمريكية لمحاولة إنقلاب القوات المسلحة القطرية على الواجهة المحلية "حمد بن جاسم" وذلك لأن الرجل يسير وفق المخطط الأمريكي الكبير بمنتهى الدقة ولا داعي لإستبداله الآن
للتدليل على نظرية الإحتواء الإقتصادي دعونا ننظر لبلد وقعت في براثن الإحتواء الإقتصادي بنفس الأسلوب .. في آواخر ستينات القرن الماضي تم إكتشاف إحتياطي كبير للنفط في "إندونيسيا" وفوراً أصدرت الإدارة الأمريكية الأوامر للشركات الأمريكية العملاقة بضرورة إحتواء إندونيسيا بأي ثمن حتى لا تقع في قبضة المعسكر الشيوعي بكل ما تملكه من إمكانيات نفطيه هائله.
توجه مسئولين من هذه الشركات لمقابلة صانعي القرار في إندونيسيا لتقديم عروض بتجديد شبكة الكهرباء وبناء محطات طاقة جديدة تساعد على بناء المزيد من المطارات والطرق والمصانع وإحداث نهضة إقتصادية في إندونيسيا وعرض المسئولين في هذه الشركات "التوسط" لدى البنك الدولي لتسهيل هذه القروض.
قامت الشركات الأمريكية بوضع توقعات أحمال طاقة عالية جداً تفوق حاجة إندونيسيا الفعلية؛ فالحقيقة أن أحمال الكهرباء التي كانت تكفي لم تكن تتعدي الـ 8% من قدرة الشبكة ولكن الشركات قدرت الأحمال المتوقعة بـ 20% حتى تزيد قيمة القرض ولم تمض أكثر من 5 سنوات شهدت فيها إندونيسيا طفرة بالفعل ولكن حين جاء ميعاد تحصيل الفوائد هرعت إندونيسيا لأمريكا طالبة العون. هنا قبلت أمريكا أن تساعد إندونيسا على التدخل لدى البنك الدولي لجدولة الديون في مقابل الحصول على عقد إحتكار للشركات الأمريكية للتنقيب عن البترول في الأراضي الإندونيسية.
وبهذا تم نقل مال القرض من خزانة البنك الدولي الى مصارف نيويورك و واشنطن وحصل البنك الدولي على الفوائد فيما حصلت الولايات المتحدة على البترول وفازت الشركات بأموال القرض التي ستصب مباشرة في خانة الإقتصاد الأمريكي. وهكذا تم نهب ثروات إندونيسيا على الرغم من أنه كان بلداً واعداً جداً ذو مستقبل مشرق.
وتستمر المأساة مع الجميع .. وفي الكتاب نمازج أكثر وقاحة منها مثلا تدخل عسكري مباشر في كل من بنما والعراق لتوريد عقود إعادة إعمار تساهم في رفع حالة الإقتصاد المتهاوي للولايات المتحدة
الكتاب مهم جدا .. إقرأوه بالله عليكم :)
June 24, 2017
My short review is this: 'Confessions' is a good introduction to the darker side of foreign policy and the effects of globalization.
My slightly longer explanation is this: Paradoxically, what makes the book more accessible is also what turns many people off to it. It takes a chunk of history about a particular topic, and describes it in largely narrative form. Much of this is due to the book being an 'account' of Perkins' career during that time. Admittedly, it becomes somewhat taxing at times to slog through Perkins attempt at literary description (I doubt I'd read a fiction novel from him). However, the book is still mostly content, and important content at that. The topic is mainly about how the altruism of globalization is a hoax, and how our government does some quite terrible things to maintain its interests.
I've heard many people complain about not being able to sympathize with the author, but I don't really think that's the point. If you're looking for a good fire-side read, this isn't it. Additionally, I'm amazed how many people have simply brushed the book off with an "I don't buy it". The book is meant as a spring-board, not a road-map. Agree or not, at least go out and do some research on the topic. To simply disagree with an idea because it's hard to swallow is a level of self-denial that keeps therapists in business.
So, ultimately, if you're new to the field of globalization and global politics, this is a good, radical, introduction (even though it may be counter to the view you hold right now, it's always good to know what the other side's argument is). If you're already well versed in the subject, you can probably skip this one. Read more Chomsky.
My slightly longer explanation is this: Paradoxically, what makes the book more accessible is also what turns many people off to it. It takes a chunk of history about a particular topic, and describes it in largely narrative form. Much of this is due to the book being an 'account' of Perkins' career during that time. Admittedly, it becomes somewhat taxing at times to slog through Perkins attempt at literary description (I doubt I'd read a fiction novel from him). However, the book is still mostly content, and important content at that. The topic is mainly about how the altruism of globalization is a hoax, and how our government does some quite terrible things to maintain its interests.
I've heard many people complain about not being able to sympathize with the author, but I don't really think that's the point. If you're looking for a good fire-side read, this isn't it. Additionally, I'm amazed how many people have simply brushed the book off with an "I don't buy it". The book is meant as a spring-board, not a road-map. Agree or not, at least go out and do some research on the topic. To simply disagree with an idea because it's hard to swallow is a level of self-denial that keeps therapists in business.
So, ultimately, if you're new to the field of globalization and global politics, this is a good, radical, introduction (even though it may be counter to the view you hold right now, it's always good to know what the other side's argument is). If you're already well versed in the subject, you can probably skip this one. Read more Chomsky.
September 9, 2007
Good message, important, but reads like fiction. If this guy wanted to have any serious impact he should have written something less sensational. Also, he's a jackass. He spent his whole life screwing over everybody, including his friends, and then he writes a book (for which he probably made lots of money and became famous) and we're supposed to believe this guy suddenly developed a conscience? I don't buy it.
October 24, 2008
This is a remarkable work, decades in the making. Perkins is the real deal, an economist who worked for international consortia to pillage the third world. The modus operandi was to perform economic analysis of target nations that indicated a rate of growth far in excess of any real possibility in order to justify offering those nations huge loans, loans they were never expected to be able to repay. The point of this was twofold. First, the money loaned would find its way right back into the pocket of American corporations, because it would be used for major construction projects, roads, dams, electrification projects. The economic benefits would never accrue as predicted, so the host country would be saddled with crushing debt and then be forced by entities like the IMF to slash and burn domestic social services in order to make interest payments. The benefits of the “development” would go to the elite of the host nations, at the expense of the lower classes. In fact, he offers data showing that poverty increased over the term of such foreign investment. Local elites were essentially bribed to go along, and they in turn acted as enforcers for the American elite that was pushing the product.
John Perkins began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. He managed rather well with this experience and was recruited by a corporate type into the MAIN corporation, the actor in most of the hit man activity. In fact the title was not a case of advocacy hyperbole. The people in this line of work actually refer to each other and themselves as Economic Hit Men, or EHM’s.
I learned several things in reading this. First was that conquest via excessive indebtedness was a conscious policy, with the short term profitability of development by Bechtel or equivalent being icing on the cake of overall domination.
I learned about SAMA, or the Saudi Arabia Money-Laundering Affair. Perkins talks about several of the leaders he came to know, Trujillo in Panama, Jaime Roldos in Ecuador, other leaders of less-than-presidential caliber.
P 15
My job…was to forecast the effects of investing billions of dollars in a country. Specifically, I would produce studies that projected economic growth twenty to twenty five years into the future and that evaluated the impacts of various projects. For example, if a decision was made to lend a country $1 billion to persuade its leaders not to align with the Soviet union, I would compare the benefits of investing that money in power plants with the benefits of investing in a new national railroad network or a telecommunications system. Or I might be told that the country was being offered the opportunity to receive a modern electric utility system, and it would be up to me to demonstrate that such a system would result in sufficient economic growth to justify the loan. The critical factor, in every case, was gross national product. The project that resulted in the highest average annual growth of GNP won. If only one project was under consideration, I would need to demonstrate that developing it would bring superior benefits to the GNP.
The unspoken aspect of every one of these projects was that they were intended to create large profits for the contractors, and to make a handful of wealthy and influential families in the receiving countries very happy, while assuring the long-term financial dependence and therefore political loyalty of governments around the world. The larger the loan, the better. The fact that the debt burden placed on a country would deprive its poorest citizens of health, education and other social services for decades to come was not taken into consideration.
P 16
…talked about the deceptive nature of GNP. For instance, the growth of GNP may result even when it profits only one person, such as an individual who owns a utility company, and even if the majority of the population is burdened with debt. The rich get richer and the poor grow poorer. Yet from a statistical standpoint, this is recorded as economic progress.
…Over the years, I’ve repeatedly heard comments like, “If they’re going to burn the U.S. flag and demonstrate against our embassy, why don’t we just get out of their damn country and let them wallow in their own poverty?”
People who say such things often hold diplomas certifying that they are well educated. However, these people have no clue that the main reason we establish embassies around the world is to serve our own interests, which during the last half of the twentieth century meant turning the American republic into a global empire. Despite credentials, such people are as uneducated as those eighteenth century colonists who believed that Indians fighting to defend their lands were servants of the devil.
P 17
[quoting his teacher Claudine] “We’re in a small, exclusive club,” she said. “We’re paid—well paid—to cheat countries around the globe out of billions of dollars. A large part of your job is to encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests. In the end, those leaders become ensnared in a web of debt that ensures their loyalty. We can draw on them whenever we desire—to satisfy our political, economic, or military needs. In turn, these leaders bolster their political position by bringing industrial parks, power plants, and airports to their people. Meanwhile, the owners of U.S. engineering and construction companies become very wealthy.
P 23
[The source of the Boogey man image appears to be Indonesia. Apparently there were pirates from a place called Bugi.] …the infamous Bugi pirates, who still sailed the seas of the archipelago, and who had so terrorized early European sailors that they returned home to warn their children, “Behave yourselves or the Bugimen will get you.”
P 49
..I knew enough history to know that suppliers who are exploited long enough will rebel. I had only to return to the American Revolution and Tom Paine for a model. I recalled that Britain justified its taxes by claiming that England was providing aid to the colonies in the form of military protection against the French and the Indians. The colonists had a very different interpretation.
What Paine offered to his countrymen in the brilliant Common Sense was the soul that my young Indonesian friends had referred to—an idea, a faith in the justice of a higher power, and a religion of freedom and equality that was diametrically opposed to the British monarchy and its elitist class systems. What Muslims offered was similar: faith in a higher power, and a belief that developed countries have no right to subjugate and exploit the rest of the world. Like colonial Minutemen, Muslims were threatening to fight for their rights, and like the British in the 1770s, we classified such actions as terrorism.
P 58
Panama was part of Columbia when the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, who directed construction f the Suez Canal, decided to build a canal through the Central American isthmus, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Beginning in 1881, the French undertook a mammoth effort that met with one catastrophe after another. Finally, in 1889, the project ended in financial disaster—but it had inspired a dream in Theodore Roosevelt. During the first years of the twentieth century, the United States demanded that Colombia sign a treaty turning the isthmus over to a North American consortium. Colombia refused.
In 1903, President Roosevelt sent in the U.S. warship Nashville. U.S. soldiers landed, seized and killed a popular local militia commander, and declared Panama an independent nation. A puppet government was installed and the first Canal Treaty was signed; it established an American zone on both sides of the future waterway, legalized U.S. military intervention, and gave Washington virtual control over this newly formed “independent” nation.
…the treaty was not signed by a single Panamanian.
P 72 – re Guatemala
United Fruit Company had been [Guatemala’s] equivalent to the Panama Canal. Founded in the late 1800s, United Fruit soon grew into one of the most powerful forces in Central America. During the early 1950s, reform candidate Jacobo Arbenz was elected president of Guatemala in an election hailed all over the hemisphere as a model of the democratic process. At the time, less than 3 percent pf Guatemalans owned 70 percent of the land. Arbenz promised to help the poor dig their way out of starvation, and after his election he implemented a comprehensive land reform program…United Fruit launched a major public relations campaign in the United States, aimed at convincing the American public and congress that Arbenz was part of a Russian plot and that Guatemala was a Soviet satellite. In 1954, the CIA orchestrated a coup. American pilots bombed Guatemala city and the democratically elected Arbenz was overthrown, replaced by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, a ruthless, right-wing dictator.
Thje new government owed everything to United Fruit. By way of thanks, the government reversed the land reform process, abolished taxes on the interest and dividends paid to foreign investors, eliminated the secret ballot, and jailed thousands of its critics. Anyone who dared to speak out against Castillo was persecuted.
[Torrijos then asks Perkins] “Do you know who owns United Fruit?”
“Zapata Oil, George Bush’s company—our UN ambassador.”
John Perkins began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. He managed rather well with this experience and was recruited by a corporate type into the MAIN corporation, the actor in most of the hit man activity. In fact the title was not a case of advocacy hyperbole. The people in this line of work actually refer to each other and themselves as Economic Hit Men, or EHM’s.
I learned several things in reading this. First was that conquest via excessive indebtedness was a conscious policy, with the short term profitability of development by Bechtel or equivalent being icing on the cake of overall domination.
I learned about SAMA, or the Saudi Arabia Money-Laundering Affair. Perkins talks about several of the leaders he came to know, Trujillo in Panama, Jaime Roldos in Ecuador, other leaders of less-than-presidential caliber.
P 15
My job…was to forecast the effects of investing billions of dollars in a country. Specifically, I would produce studies that projected economic growth twenty to twenty five years into the future and that evaluated the impacts of various projects. For example, if a decision was made to lend a country $1 billion to persuade its leaders not to align with the Soviet union, I would compare the benefits of investing that money in power plants with the benefits of investing in a new national railroad network or a telecommunications system. Or I might be told that the country was being offered the opportunity to receive a modern electric utility system, and it would be up to me to demonstrate that such a system would result in sufficient economic growth to justify the loan. The critical factor, in every case, was gross national product. The project that resulted in the highest average annual growth of GNP won. If only one project was under consideration, I would need to demonstrate that developing it would bring superior benefits to the GNP.
The unspoken aspect of every one of these projects was that they were intended to create large profits for the contractors, and to make a handful of wealthy and influential families in the receiving countries very happy, while assuring the long-term financial dependence and therefore political loyalty of governments around the world. The larger the loan, the better. The fact that the debt burden placed on a country would deprive its poorest citizens of health, education and other social services for decades to come was not taken into consideration.
P 16
…talked about the deceptive nature of GNP. For instance, the growth of GNP may result even when it profits only one person, such as an individual who owns a utility company, and even if the majority of the population is burdened with debt. The rich get richer and the poor grow poorer. Yet from a statistical standpoint, this is recorded as economic progress.
…Over the years, I’ve repeatedly heard comments like, “If they’re going to burn the U.S. flag and demonstrate against our embassy, why don’t we just get out of their damn country and let them wallow in their own poverty?”
People who say such things often hold diplomas certifying that they are well educated. However, these people have no clue that the main reason we establish embassies around the world is to serve our own interests, which during the last half of the twentieth century meant turning the American republic into a global empire. Despite credentials, such people are as uneducated as those eighteenth century colonists who believed that Indians fighting to defend their lands were servants of the devil.
P 17
[quoting his teacher Claudine] “We’re in a small, exclusive club,” she said. “We’re paid—well paid—to cheat countries around the globe out of billions of dollars. A large part of your job is to encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests. In the end, those leaders become ensnared in a web of debt that ensures their loyalty. We can draw on them whenever we desire—to satisfy our political, economic, or military needs. In turn, these leaders bolster their political position by bringing industrial parks, power plants, and airports to their people. Meanwhile, the owners of U.S. engineering and construction companies become very wealthy.
P 23
[The source of the Boogey man image appears to be Indonesia. Apparently there were pirates from a place called Bugi.] …the infamous Bugi pirates, who still sailed the seas of the archipelago, and who had so terrorized early European sailors that they returned home to warn their children, “Behave yourselves or the Bugimen will get you.”
P 49
..I knew enough history to know that suppliers who are exploited long enough will rebel. I had only to return to the American Revolution and Tom Paine for a model. I recalled that Britain justified its taxes by claiming that England was providing aid to the colonies in the form of military protection against the French and the Indians. The colonists had a very different interpretation.
What Paine offered to his countrymen in the brilliant Common Sense was the soul that my young Indonesian friends had referred to—an idea, a faith in the justice of a higher power, and a religion of freedom and equality that was diametrically opposed to the British monarchy and its elitist class systems. What Muslims offered was similar: faith in a higher power, and a belief that developed countries have no right to subjugate and exploit the rest of the world. Like colonial Minutemen, Muslims were threatening to fight for their rights, and like the British in the 1770s, we classified such actions as terrorism.
P 58
Panama was part of Columbia when the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, who directed construction f the Suez Canal, decided to build a canal through the Central American isthmus, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Beginning in 1881, the French undertook a mammoth effort that met with one catastrophe after another. Finally, in 1889, the project ended in financial disaster—but it had inspired a dream in Theodore Roosevelt. During the first years of the twentieth century, the United States demanded that Colombia sign a treaty turning the isthmus over to a North American consortium. Colombia refused.
In 1903, President Roosevelt sent in the U.S. warship Nashville. U.S. soldiers landed, seized and killed a popular local militia commander, and declared Panama an independent nation. A puppet government was installed and the first Canal Treaty was signed; it established an American zone on both sides of the future waterway, legalized U.S. military intervention, and gave Washington virtual control over this newly formed “independent” nation.
…the treaty was not signed by a single Panamanian.
P 72 – re Guatemala
United Fruit Company had been [Guatemala’s] equivalent to the Panama Canal. Founded in the late 1800s, United Fruit soon grew into one of the most powerful forces in Central America. During the early 1950s, reform candidate Jacobo Arbenz was elected president of Guatemala in an election hailed all over the hemisphere as a model of the democratic process. At the time, less than 3 percent pf Guatemalans owned 70 percent of the land. Arbenz promised to help the poor dig their way out of starvation, and after his election he implemented a comprehensive land reform program…United Fruit launched a major public relations campaign in the United States, aimed at convincing the American public and congress that Arbenz was part of a Russian plot and that Guatemala was a Soviet satellite. In 1954, the CIA orchestrated a coup. American pilots bombed Guatemala city and the democratically elected Arbenz was overthrown, replaced by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, a ruthless, right-wing dictator.
Thje new government owed everything to United Fruit. By way of thanks, the government reversed the land reform process, abolished taxes on the interest and dividends paid to foreign investors, eliminated the secret ballot, and jailed thousands of its critics. Anyone who dared to speak out against Castillo was persecuted.
[Torrijos then asks Perkins] “Do you know who owns United Fruit?”
“Zapata Oil, George Bush’s company—our UN ambassador.”
September 17, 2023
أنت من أفريقيا، آسيا، أمريكا الجنوبية؟ إذن تعرضت أو تتعرض دولتك للاغتيال الاقتصادي على يد قراصنة الكوربوقراطية..
ما هي الكوربوقراطية؟
تعبير مجازي يطلق على المنظمة المشتركة للشركات الأمريكية الكبرى.. ومحاور الكوربوقراطية هي الشركات الكبرى، البنوك والمؤسسات المالية الدولية، الحكومات المتواطئة.
يبدأ الكتاب من المشهد الختامي جون بيركنز في زيارة للإكوادور في محاولة لمنع حدوث حرب ساهم قبل أكثر من ثلاثين عاما في إشعالها ويتذكر دوره في تيسير حدوث كل ذلك الدمار عندما يرى كيف تغيرت هذه الأرض عن حالتها قبل أن تدخلها شركات الهندسة والتعمير وشركات البترول الأمريكية وهذا ما دفعه لاتخاذ قرار تردد فيه وهو الاعتراف بما فعله..هذه صحوة ضمير قرصان اقتصادي.
كان جون بركنز أحد قراصنة الاقتصاد الكثيرين في الشركات الأمريكية الكبرى ومهمته هي اقناع الدول النامية والفقيرة(ولكنها تمتلك ثروات طبيعية كالمعادن والبترول) بمشاريع بنية تحتية وتوليد كهرباء تقوم به شركة أمريكية وبالطبع يحتاج هذا المشروع للاستدانة من احد المنظمات المالية الدولية الخاضعة للولايات الم��حدة وكلما زادت قيمة الدين كانت مهمة القرصان الاقتصادي أقرب إلى النجاح فالهدف ليس سداد هذا الدين وانما تعثر الدول عن السداد؛ وبذلك تخضع للشركات التي تبدأ بتخريب الغابات وتلويث الانهار وإشعال الحروب القبلية للتنقيب عن البترول، وضمان تأييد هذه الدولة للقرارات الأمريكية في الأمم المتحدة..
وفي كل الأحوال تخرج الأموال من الولايات المتحدة في صورة دين وتعود لها مرة أخرى إلى شركات التعمير والإنشاء هذه المرة وتظل الدول مدينة للبنك الدولي وتتراكم الفوائد وبذلك تخضع الإمبراطورية العالمية..
التجربة مع المملكة العربية السعودية كانت مختلفة فلم يكن مطروحا تعثرها في السداد فتغيرت الخطة لإنشاء مشروعات استهلاكية وإعادة إعمار البلد ليصبح مثل الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وضمان استمرار آل سعود في الحكم مقابل عدم تكرار حظر البترول الذي حدث في السبعينيات وتثبيت سعره نوعا ما، وعادت الأموال التي خسرتها أمريكا بأرقام مضاعفة.
هناك أكثر من طريقة لدفع حكومات هذه الدول للتواطؤ.. منها دعم الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية لاستمرارهم في السلطة وإزاحة خصومهم وأن تجعل الحاكم ثريًا وتثقل كاهل شعبه بالديون، وتكوين طبقة نخبة ثرية تدين بالولاء لمثيلاتها في أمريكا.. وإذا فشل قراصنة الاقتصاد يأتي دور "الثعالب" وهم رجال ال CIA وعندما يصل الأمر لهؤلاء فمصير الرئيس الذي عارض الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية هو الاغتيال كما حدث مع رولدوس في الإكوادور وعمر توريخوس في بنما..
في القسم الأول من الكتاب يتناول جون بركنز تجربته في دول مثل إندونيسيا،بنما، إيران، السعودية، كولومبيا والإكوادور كقرصان اقتصادي لشركة MAIN..
القسم الثاني هو تحليله لأحداث ومواقف مثل اغتيال عمر توريخوس وأحداث 11سبتمبر وغزو العراق وغيرها.
اعتراضي على جزئين فقط
• الذي تحدث فيه عن فترة حظر البترول في السبعينيات، تكلم بركنز عن سوريا ومصر يوم 6 اكتوبر 1973
"
كما لو أنهم افتعلوا حربًا مع إسرائيل المسالمة!!!really Perkins!
أمريكا ترسل مساعدات ب2,2 مليار دولار لإسرائيل.. عادي، لكن السعودية تحظر البترول عن أمريكا ازااي لأ طبعا.
• وعندما أدان قصف بوش المجرم للمدنين في بنما وبعدها ذكر غزوه للعراق لم يتحدث بركنز ولو في سطر واحد عن جرائم جنود الولايات المتحدة في العراق وانما اكتفى بأن بوش أرسل أبناء امريكا ليقتلوا في العراق..
وجون بركنز بالرغم من صغر سنه أثناء هذه الأحداث إلا أنه عاش تجارب كثيرة تحدث خلالها مع رؤساء و ومواطنين فقراء وشباب صغار من أندونيسيا وبنما وإيران.. كانت حياته حافلة، الكتاب ممتع ويستحق القراءة وبعد ما قرأت أكثر من 150 صفحة بدأت قراءة من الأول تاني لأني انشغلت برواية 1Q84..
Sun, Aug 22, 2021📚
ما هي الكوربوقراطية؟
تعبير مجازي يطلق على المنظمة المشتركة للشركات الأمريكية الكبرى.. ومحاور الكوربوقراطية هي الشركات الكبرى، البنوك والمؤسسات المالية الدولية، الحكومات المتواطئة.
يبدأ الكتاب من المشهد الختامي جون بيركنز في زيارة للإكوادور في محاولة لمنع حدوث حرب ساهم قبل أكثر من ثلاثين عاما في إشعالها ويتذكر دوره في تيسير حدوث كل ذلك الدمار عندما يرى كيف تغيرت هذه الأرض عن حالتها قبل أن تدخلها شركات الهندسة والتعمير وشركات البترول الأمريكية وهذا ما دفعه لاتخاذ قرار تردد فيه وهو الاعتراف بما فعله..هذه صحوة ضمير قرصان اقتصادي.
كان جون بركنز أحد قراصنة الاقتصاد الكثيرين في الشركات الأمريكية الكبرى ومهمته هي اقناع الدول النامية والفقيرة(ولكنها تمتلك ثروات طبيعية كالمعادن والبترول) بمشاريع بنية تحتية وتوليد كهرباء تقوم به شركة أمريكية وبالطبع يحتاج هذا المشروع للاستدانة من احد المنظمات المالية الدولية الخاضعة للولايات الم��حدة وكلما زادت قيمة الدين كانت مهمة القرصان الاقتصادي أقرب إلى النجاح فالهدف ليس سداد هذا الدين وانما تعثر الدول عن السداد؛ وبذلك تخضع للشركات التي تبدأ بتخريب الغابات وتلويث الانهار وإشعال الحروب القبلية للتنقيب عن البترول، وضمان تأييد هذه الدولة للقرارات الأمريكية في الأمم المتحدة..
وفي كل الأحوال تخرج الأموال من الولايات المتحدة في صورة دين وتعود لها مرة أخرى إلى شركات التعمير والإنشاء هذه المرة وتظل الدول مدينة للبنك الدولي وتتراكم الفوائد وبذلك تخضع الإمبراطورية العالمية..
التجربة مع المملكة العربية السعودية كانت مختلفة فلم يكن مطروحا تعثرها في السداد فتغيرت الخطة لإنشاء مشروعات استهلاكية وإعادة إعمار البلد ليصبح مثل الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وضمان استمرار آل سعود في الحكم مقابل عدم تكرار حظر البترول الذي حدث في السبعينيات وتثبيت سعره نوعا ما، وعادت الأموال التي خسرتها أمريكا بأرقام مضاعفة.
هناك أكثر من طريقة لدفع حكومات هذه الدول للتواطؤ.. منها دعم الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية لاستمرارهم في السلطة وإزاحة خصومهم وأن تجعل الحاكم ثريًا وتثقل كاهل شعبه بالديون، وتكوين طبقة نخبة ثرية تدين بالولاء لمثيلاتها في أمريكا.. وإذا فشل قراصنة الاقتصاد يأتي دور "الثعالب" وهم رجال ال CIA وعندما يصل الأمر لهؤلاء فمصير الرئيس الذي عارض الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية هو الاغتيال كما حدث مع رولدوس في الإكوادور وعمر توريخوس في بنما..
في القسم الأول من الكتاب يتناول جون بركنز تجربته في دول مثل إندونيسيا،بنما، إيران، السعودية، كولومبيا والإكوادور كقرصان اقتصادي لشركة MAIN..
القسم الثاني هو تحليله لأحداث ومواقف مثل اغتيال عمر توريخوس وأحداث 11سبتمبر وغزو العراق وغيرها.
صحيح إننا نشجب العبودية لكن إمبراطوريتنا الكونية تستعبد من البشر أكثر بكثير مما استعبد الرومان، ومن كل أشكال القوى الاستعمارية.
اعتراضي على جزئين فقط
• الذي تحدث فيه عن فترة حظر البترول في السبعينيات، تكلم بركنز عن سوريا ومصر يوم 6 اكتوبر 1973
"
يوم عيد الغفران أكبر العطلات قدسية عند اليهود أطلقت سوريا ومصر هجماتها المتزامنة على إسرائيل
كما لو أنهم افتعلوا حربًا مع إسرائيل المسالمة!!!really Perkins!
أمريكا ترسل مساعدات ب2,2 مليار دولار لإسرائيل.. عادي، لكن السعودية تحظر البترول عن أمريكا ازااي لأ طبعا.
• وعندما أدان قصف بوش المجرم للمدنين في بنما وبعدها ذكر غزوه للعراق لم يتحدث بركنز ولو في سطر واحد عن جرائم جنود الولايات المتحدة في العراق وانما اكتفى بأن بوش أرسل أبناء امريكا ليقتلوا في العراق..
وجون بركنز بالرغم من صغر سنه أثناء هذه الأحداث إلا أنه عاش تجارب كثيرة تحدث خلالها مع رؤساء و ومواطنين فقراء وشباب صغار من أندونيسيا وبنما وإيران.. كانت حياته حافلة، الكتاب ممتع ويستحق القراءة وبعد ما قرأت أكثر من 150 صفحة بدأت قراءة من الأول تاني لأني انشغلت برواية 1Q84..
Sun, Aug 22, 2021📚
February 20, 2015
من أهم الكتب في فهم النظام العالمي، وأسلوبه في السيطرة الاقتصادية على الأمم والشعوب.. وقد استعرض في هذا الكتاب ثلاثة أنماط
النمط الأول وهو التقليدي يسير على هذه الوتيرة:
1. الشركات تقدم دراسات اقتصادية مضللة بهدف إغراء البلدان النامية باقتراض مبالغ كبيرة لإقامة التنمية والتطوير والتحديث واستغلال الموارد، تعود هذه المبالغ على الشركات الأمريكية بالربح، ولا يتحقق المستوى المتوقع من العوائد، فتغرق البلدان في الديون وفوائدها فتبيع مواردها ومواقفها السياسية للشركات الأمريكية والأمريكان.
2. من ينتبه إلى هذه الخدعة المضللة ويفشلها من الزعماء الوطنيين غير الفاسدين أو المهتمين حقا بمصلحة شعوبهم.. ترسل أمريكا من يغتاله أو تدبر عليه الانقلاب العسكري لتأتي بحكومة عميلة تنفذ النمط رقم 1
3. وإذا استطاع الرئيس إحاطة نفسه بسياج أمني قوي وضمن ولاء الجيش ففشلت عمليات الاغتيال والانقلابات، فحينئذ تأتي الجيوش لتبدأ عملية الاحتلال، وتسيطر الدول على موارد البلاد وأموالها من خلال عمليات إعادة الإعمار
النمط الثاني: هي الدول التي لا يمكن أن تقع تحت طائلة الديون لأن لديها مالا كثيرا مثل السعودية وإيران.. فحينئذ توضع الخطط -التي تعتمد بالأصل على فساد الحكام- على أساس ربط هذا التحديث بالشركات الأمريكية من خلال التوسع الكبير في بناء مدن ومصانع جديدة بكل ما تحتاجه من خبرات وأيادي عاملة وعقود صيانة وتشغيل وتأمين.. مما يوقع البلد في الأسر الفعلي للغرب والأمريكان ويصبغ عليهم الضبغة الغربية المخالفة لثقافتهم المحلية.
النمط الثالث: هو فتح هذه البلاد من ناحيتين؛ الأولى: كأسواق للاستهلاك وتصريف المنتجات، والأخرى: كمواطن للأيدي العاملة الرخيصة التي يمكن استعمالها في إنتاج معدلات قصوى في ظل أوضاع مزرية وبأقل قدر من التكاليف.. ثم لا بأس أن ترحل الشركات منها بعد أن تحلبها حتى النهاية فتكون قد استهلكت ��لموارد البشرية والطبيعية دون فائدة ولا عائد حقيقي على البلد النامي.
الكتاب حافل بالتفاصيل الأخرى.. يبدو كمحاولة توبة وتطهر صادقة من رجل ساهم في هذا الإجرام للنظام الرأسمالي العالمي..
والترجمة رائعة وافية ولذيذة لا بد أن نحيي أصحابها.
وأسلوب الكتاب سهل وشيق وهو مكتوب في صيغة قصة حياة ومصاغ بلغة أدبية وربط ممتع بين الفصول.
النمط الأول وهو التقليدي يسير على هذه الوتيرة:
1. الشركات تقدم دراسات اقتصادية مضللة بهدف إغراء البلدان النامية باقتراض مبالغ كبيرة لإقامة التنمية والتطوير والتحديث واستغلال الموارد، تعود هذه المبالغ على الشركات الأمريكية بالربح، ولا يتحقق المستوى المتوقع من العوائد، فتغرق البلدان في الديون وفوائدها فتبيع مواردها ومواقفها السياسية للشركات الأمريكية والأمريكان.
2. من ينتبه إلى هذه الخدعة المضللة ويفشلها من الزعماء الوطنيين غير الفاسدين أو المهتمين حقا بمصلحة شعوبهم.. ترسل أمريكا من يغتاله أو تدبر عليه الانقلاب العسكري لتأتي بحكومة عميلة تنفذ النمط رقم 1
3. وإذا استطاع الرئيس إحاطة نفسه بسياج أمني قوي وضمن ولاء الجيش ففشلت عمليات الاغتيال والانقلابات، فحينئذ تأتي الجيوش لتبدأ عملية الاحتلال، وتسيطر الدول على موارد البلاد وأموالها من خلال عمليات إعادة الإعمار
النمط الثاني: هي الدول التي لا يمكن أن تقع تحت طائلة الديون لأن لديها مالا كثيرا مثل السعودية وإيران.. فحينئذ توضع الخطط -التي تعتمد بالأصل على فساد الحكام- على أساس ربط هذا التحديث بالشركات الأمريكية من خلال التوسع الكبير في بناء مدن ومصانع جديدة بكل ما تحتاجه من خبرات وأيادي عاملة وعقود صيانة وتشغيل وتأمين.. مما يوقع البلد في الأسر الفعلي للغرب والأمريكان ويصبغ عليهم الضبغة الغربية المخالفة لثقافتهم المحلية.
النمط الثالث: هو فتح هذه البلاد من ناحيتين؛ الأولى: كأسواق للاستهلاك وتصريف المنتجات، والأخرى: كمواطن للأيدي العاملة الرخيصة التي يمكن استعمالها في إنتاج معدلات قصوى في ظل أوضاع مزرية وبأقل قدر من التكاليف.. ثم لا بأس أن ترحل الشركات منها بعد أن تحلبها حتى النهاية فتكون قد استهلكت ��لموارد البشرية والطبيعية دون فائدة ولا عائد حقيقي على البلد النامي.
الكتاب حافل بالتفاصيل الأخرى.. يبدو كمحاولة توبة وتطهر صادقة من رجل ساهم في هذا الإجرام للنظام الرأسمالي العالمي..
والترجمة رائعة وافية ولذيذة لا بد أن نحيي أصحابها.
وأسلوب الكتاب سهل وشيق وهو مكتوب في صيغة قصة حياة ومصاغ بلغة أدبية وربط ممتع بين الفصول.
May 25, 2007
Here's why a lot of people won't like this book: it's brutally honest, historically accurate, and it has a message.
Here's why a lot of people will like this book: see above.
Perkins story about himself is not for everyone; I'll tell you that right now. The biggest reasons are a) his constant dealings with historical leaders, politics, and world geography throughout the 60's, 70's, and 80's; and b) even though he translates many economic terms and explains what he's doing, how, where, when, and why, it could be confusing or overwhelming for the average reader. (This isn't a rip by any means, it's just the reality of the book -- I mean, look at the title. Let me put it this way: if I were to read a book about a guy who does C++ for a living, I'd be lost. Same idea.)
On the other hand, if you like history, politics, and economics, then this Bud's for you. Perkins does a great job with the tempo of his book, and really explains how other countries are in bed with big business here in America. (Personally, I found the part about The Saudi Arabia Money Laundering Affair exciting to read...chalk me up to "geek.")
I remember finishing the book, and declaring to Melis, "My God...I have to get a Hybrid."
If you like world affairs from the early 60's through present day, and you know and understand basic economics, then you should enjoy this book.
Here's why a lot of people will like this book: see above.
Perkins story about himself is not for everyone; I'll tell you that right now. The biggest reasons are a) his constant dealings with historical leaders, politics, and world geography throughout the 60's, 70's, and 80's; and b) even though he translates many economic terms and explains what he's doing, how, where, when, and why, it could be confusing or overwhelming for the average reader. (This isn't a rip by any means, it's just the reality of the book -- I mean, look at the title. Let me put it this way: if I were to read a book about a guy who does C++ for a living, I'd be lost. Same idea.)
On the other hand, if you like history, politics, and economics, then this Bud's for you. Perkins does a great job with the tempo of his book, and really explains how other countries are in bed with big business here in America. (Personally, I found the part about The Saudi Arabia Money Laundering Affair exciting to read...chalk me up to "geek.")
I remember finishing the book, and declaring to Melis, "My God...I have to get a Hybrid."
If you like world affairs from the early 60's through present day, and you know and understand basic economics, then you should enjoy this book.
November 8, 2007
This is garbage. Worse than that, I think this book is dangerous. First of all, I think Perkins is a total liar. I don’t doubt that there are people out there that make their living by betting against developing countries, and I don’t doubt that there are people who have an economic incentive for progressive third world leaders to fail. But I really doubt that the way these people ply their trade is by having beautiful blonds show young business guys (in this case, Perkins) the dark path by intellectually seducing them in Boston apartments while going around calling themselves hitmen. It really stretches the realm of the believable.
And no, just because no one has called him a liar doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth, it means that his argument is so insanely overdrawn that serious people in positions of power do not take him seriously.
Which leads me to my next point. This book is dangerous. Its dangerous because it feeds into the stupid left conspiracies that keep progressive economists impotent. There is a world wide conspiracy! They meet in dark rooms and plot our destruction! Nothing is that simple, folks, and until we give up on fairy tales and start looking at the global economy as it exists, meaning as a complicated world where many powerful people are at cross purposes and no few grand conspiracies ever come to fruition we are bound to lose.
And no, just because no one has called him a liar doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth, it means that his argument is so insanely overdrawn that serious people in positions of power do not take him seriously.
Which leads me to my next point. This book is dangerous. Its dangerous because it feeds into the stupid left conspiracies that keep progressive economists impotent. There is a world wide conspiracy! They meet in dark rooms and plot our destruction! Nothing is that simple, folks, and until we give up on fairy tales and start looking at the global economy as it exists, meaning as a complicated world where many powerful people are at cross purposes and no few grand conspiracies ever come to fruition we are bound to lose.
February 10, 2008
I'd had high expectations of this book and was very disappointed--mostly because I wasn't able to get past the fact that Perkins is a chauvinistic pig who I hated from the beginning til the end. He must have thought the fact that he later wrote a "confessional" about being a chauvinistic pig would make his readers forgive him or feel sorry for him, but that definitely wasn't the case for me. Also, he writes like a horny 10th grader--very poorly, and in the middle of discussing serious issues he feels the need to comment on the attractiveness of all the females in the room.
The book's saving grace is that the subject matter is interesting. It's about the many years Perkins spent working for a consulting firm (if I remember correctly), and his job was basically to approach the governments of poor countries and convince them to commit to building huge infrastructure projects that they couldn't afford, so they'd have to take out massive loans they wouldn't be able to pay. Essentially what he was doing was driving countries into debt for the benefit of the international banks and the US corporations that were funding the projects, and in this book he (kind of) explains how he and his cohorts were able to do it. Apparently there's some dispute about the author's credibility, but I found nothing unbelievable about it; I think it's probably an accurate representation of some of the ways poor countries get into debt.
The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because I found the topic very interesting and it's hard to find books written by people who actually participated in these activities. So, in spite of its significant flaws, I still feel it's worth reading. If it had been written by someone other than Perkins, it probably would've been great.
The book's saving grace is that the subject matter is interesting. It's about the many years Perkins spent working for a consulting firm (if I remember correctly), and his job was basically to approach the governments of poor countries and convince them to commit to building huge infrastructure projects that they couldn't afford, so they'd have to take out massive loans they wouldn't be able to pay. Essentially what he was doing was driving countries into debt for the benefit of the international banks and the US corporations that were funding the projects, and in this book he (kind of) explains how he and his cohorts were able to do it. Apparently there's some dispute about the author's credibility, but I found nothing unbelievable about it; I think it's probably an accurate representation of some of the ways poor countries get into debt.
The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because I found the topic very interesting and it's hard to find books written by people who actually participated in these activities. So, in spite of its significant flaws, I still feel it's worth reading. If it had been written by someone other than Perkins, it probably would've been great.
August 18, 2007
I don't know why I keep reading books like this...I only get more and more depressed about the state of the world. Perkins' story is well told and it kept me interested throughout.
Like a lot of other political books I've read of late, this one is made even more relevant by the events that have occurred even in the short time since it was published. The book tells the tale of the American led imperialism around the world leading up to the events of 9/11 and even the subsequent invasion of Iraq. The sad part is the characters have barely changed in the past 30 years -- the same few idiots have manipulated world affairs and they are still doing it. Dick Cheney foremost among them. I'll tell you this, if you have any doubts that the Bechtels and Halliburtons of the world are in charge of everything - including American foreign policy -- this book will rid you of those doubts.
One bright spot is that Perkins ends the book with some advice on how we as real Americans can change things. I'm not optimistic that we can, but at least there are some things we can do short of revolution.
Anyway, interesting that I chose to read this on the heels of 1984. Power corrupts...
Like a lot of other political books I've read of late, this one is made even more relevant by the events that have occurred even in the short time since it was published. The book tells the tale of the American led imperialism around the world leading up to the events of 9/11 and even the subsequent invasion of Iraq. The sad part is the characters have barely changed in the past 30 years -- the same few idiots have manipulated world affairs and they are still doing it. Dick Cheney foremost among them. I'll tell you this, if you have any doubts that the Bechtels and Halliburtons of the world are in charge of everything - including American foreign policy -- this book will rid you of those doubts.
One bright spot is that Perkins ends the book with some advice on how we as real Americans can change things. I'm not optimistic that we can, but at least there are some things we can do short of revolution.
Anyway, interesting that I chose to read this on the heels of 1984. Power corrupts...
March 30, 2022
كلب من ضمن عصابة دمرت دول كتيرة لمجرد أن العصابة دي شايفة أن بلدهم هي الي تستحق الأفضل والباقي مش مهم يعيشوا.
ولما الكلب اختلف معاهم طلع قال ملامح من الخطة الكبيرة الي منعرفش عنها الكتير.
واحد من ضمن فريق مسؤول عن منح قروض للدول، بطريقة تجعل القرض عبئًا كبيرًا على الدولة الممنوحة، فتخضع لأوامر أمريكا العاهرة.
القروض والمنح والمساعدات كانت لأنواع من الدول، الأول هي الدول الفقيرة التي لن تستطيع سداد تلك القروض، وبالتالي تستطيع الولايات المتحدة التحكم فيها من خلال عدم قدرتها على السداد.
النوع الثاني، الدول الغنية مثل إيران والسعودية، وهي قادرة على سداد تلك الديون، فكان يتم وضع القروض في هيئة مساعدات للنهوض والتطور بالمجتمع وبناء بنية تحتية متطورة، بأيدي وخبرات وصيانة أمريكية، وكان هذا مقابل تثبيت حكم الدول الحاكمة للدول، مقابل أموال البترول الضخمة التي ستدفع لشركات أمريكية للنهوض بالبنى التحية لتلك الدول، أو لعقد صفقات سلاح كبيرة تساعد الاقتصاد الأمريكي.
الكلب الي عمل الكتاب ده كان سبب - ولو صغيرًا - عن تدمير دول كتير على مدار 30 عامًا.
والمضحك أنه كل كام صفحة يقولك ضميري ومبعرفش انام، وحاسس اني بعمل حاجة غلط، وجو محن وتلزيق، وهو يداه مخضبتان بدماء الملايين، مع رصيد متضخم يحتوي على ملايين من الدولارات المنهوبة من الدول.
ملعون أبوك على ابو دولتك على أبو شعبك
ولما الكلب اختلف معاهم طلع قال ملامح من الخطة الكبيرة الي منعرفش عنها الكتير.
واحد من ضمن فريق مسؤول عن منح قروض للدول، بطريقة تجعل القرض عبئًا كبيرًا على الدولة الممنوحة، فتخضع لأوامر أمريكا العاهرة.
القروض والمنح والمساعدات كانت لأنواع من الدول، الأول هي الدول الفقيرة التي لن تستطيع سداد تلك القروض، وبالتالي تستطيع الولايات المتحدة التحكم فيها من خلال عدم قدرتها على السداد.
النوع الثاني، الدول الغنية مثل إيران والسعودية، وهي قادرة على سداد تلك الديون، فكان يتم وضع القروض في هيئة مساعدات للنهوض والتطور بالمجتمع وبناء بنية تحتية متطورة، بأيدي وخبرات وصيانة أمريكية، وكان هذا مقابل تثبيت حكم الدول الحاكمة للدول، مقابل أموال البترول الضخمة التي ستدفع لشركات أمريكية للنهوض بالبنى التحية لتلك الدول، أو لعقد صفقات سلاح كبيرة تساعد الاقتصاد الأمريكي.
الكلب الي عمل الكتاب ده كان سبب - ولو صغيرًا - عن تدمير دول كتير على مدار 30 عامًا.
والمضحك أنه كل كام صفحة يقولك ضميري ومبعرفش انام، وحاسس اني بعمل حاجة غلط، وجو محن وتلزيق، وهو يداه مخضبتان بدماء الملايين، مع رصيد متضخم يحتوي على ملايين من الدولارات المنهوبة من الدول.
ملعون أبوك على ابو دولتك على أبو شعبك
October 13, 2012
Ordinarily, I would not waste my time reading such claptrap, except that my colleagues are assigning this book to our students and my cousin graciously gave me a copy. As an act of respect to my cousin (and rebuke to my colleagues), I hereby offer my reactions to this grotesque excuse for a “memoir.”
I should acknowledge my own professional background first, so that those inclined to dismiss my criticisms may do so without further regard. In the late 1970s and throughout most of the 1980s, I was an international business analyst for a New York-based think tank, a major international oil company, and the sixth-largest bank in the United States. In particular, I assisted my employers in assessing the political risks associated with foreign direct investments and sovereign lending. In my decade long employment, I never heard anybody express sentiments like those claimed in this book. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act are stern realities for American businesspeople, who are no more likely than anybody else to commit their felonious intentions to paper or share them frankly with others, especially competitors.
I should also state that I was only able to read the first two chapters of this book before I could stomach it no more (see below). I was once before suckered into reading a wretched conspiracy tome by the taunt, “How can you claim it is wrong if you haven’t read it?” To that I now respond, “I’ll read your book if you will read one selected by me.” Curiously, I have had no takers.
Chapter 2 of the book, breathlessly entitled “In for Life,” demolishes the author’s credibility in ten brisk pages, both in terms of his personal integrity as well as his respect for the intelligence of his readers. In this chapter we first meet his femme fatale, “an attractive brunette” with “soft green eyes,” “Claudine Martin,” who corrupts the “naïve, intimidated, and bedazzled” hero of the tale with promises of being “well paid—well paid” in return for “cheating countries around the globe out of billions of dollars.” Foolishly presuming that he can rationalize his villainous behavior with “the old ‘working from inside’ justification,” Ms. Martin warns our penitent, ala la Cosa Nostra: “Don’t be foolish. Once you’re in, you can never get out. You must decide for yourself, before you get in any deeper.” Neither Ms. Marin nor our hero ever specifies the exact penalty for blabbing, but apparently it did not preclude authoring a bestselling tell-all confession with seeming impunity and without witness protection. O apostasy, where is thy sting?
Our redeemed narrator minces no words about his brief:
Elsewhere, our intrepid confessor seems to contradict himself about the ultimate beneficiaries of his corporate crimes and misdemeanors. He writes that his job was “to encourage world leaders to become a part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests,” while also asserting that “the empowerment of international corporations and of multinational corporations such as the World Bank and the IMF” were financed primarily by the “United States and our sister empire builders in Europe” (emphasis mine).So, which is it, an American imperium or a world condominium of great military and economic powers?
Case in point is the shocking—shocking!—revelation that British and American intelligence services helped overturn the government of Iran after the Iranians “nationalized all Iranian petroleum assets” in 1951. An “outraged England,” the principal owner of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., and its special ally, the United States, set their respective intelligence agencies to the task and brought down the government of Mohammad Mossadegh, reinstalling the Shah as the “unchallenged dictator” and presumably the defender of foreign business interests in the kingdom. Lost in this and the many other recitations of this well-known and –documented covert action is the fact that the Shah did not return the oil fields to their former British masters after the coup but kept them under the Iranian National Oil Co. instead, where they remain to this day. Measured by Perkins’ criteria, the coup against Mossadegh was a cruel failure for Britain. The Shah nonetheless managed to destroy the communist-led Tudeh Party and become the United States’ main arms buyer in the Persian Gulf region, suggesting at least the possibility that other motives were at play in addition to the disposition of Iran’s oil reserves.
Mr. Perkin’s tale is not the least bit credible but certainly corroboratory of the suspicions of those predisposed to believe him; others, not so much. Perhaps the most shocking fact is that otherwise sensible social scientists would include this confession in their syllabi. Sigh.
I should acknowledge my own professional background first, so that those inclined to dismiss my criticisms may do so without further regard. In the late 1970s and throughout most of the 1980s, I was an international business analyst for a New York-based think tank, a major international oil company, and the sixth-largest bank in the United States. In particular, I assisted my employers in assessing the political risks associated with foreign direct investments and sovereign lending. In my decade long employment, I never heard anybody express sentiments like those claimed in this book. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act are stern realities for American businesspeople, who are no more likely than anybody else to commit their felonious intentions to paper or share them frankly with others, especially competitors.
I should also state that I was only able to read the first two chapters of this book before I could stomach it no more (see below). I was once before suckered into reading a wretched conspiracy tome by the taunt, “How can you claim it is wrong if you haven’t read it?” To that I now respond, “I’ll read your book if you will read one selected by me.” Curiously, I have had no takers.
Chapter 2 of the book, breathlessly entitled “In for Life,” demolishes the author’s credibility in ten brisk pages, both in terms of his personal integrity as well as his respect for the intelligence of his readers. In this chapter we first meet his femme fatale, “an attractive brunette” with “soft green eyes,” “Claudine Martin,” who corrupts the “naïve, intimidated, and bedazzled” hero of the tale with promises of being “well paid—well paid” in return for “cheating countries around the globe out of billions of dollars.” Foolishly presuming that he can rationalize his villainous behavior with “the old ‘working from inside’ justification,” Ms. Martin warns our penitent, ala la Cosa Nostra: “Don’t be foolish. Once you’re in, you can never get out. You must decide for yourself, before you get in any deeper.” Neither Ms. Marin nor our hero ever specifies the exact penalty for blabbing, but apparently it did not preclude authoring a bestselling tell-all confession with seeming impunity and without witness protection. O apostasy, where is thy sting?
Our redeemed narrator minces no words about his brief:
I would work to bankrupt the countries that received [international loans] (after they had paid MAIN and the other U.S. contractors, of course) so that they would be forever beholden to their creditors, and so they would present easy targets when we needed favors, including military bases, UN votes, or access to oil and other natural resources.That the interests of the U.S. military-industrial-complex are identical to those of American international companies generally is asserted without benefit of factual or logical support and plenty of evidence to the contrary, notwithstanding. Mr. Perkins, on the other hand, draws the reader’s attention to banal and trivial details. For example, “Claudine and I openly discussed the deceptive nature of GNP.” Really? Is that why no economist or social scientist of any repute, much less businesspeople, rely on such data for policy- and decision-making? Or, the theft of poor countries’ wealth was “intended to create large profits for the contractors and to make a handful of wealthy and influential families in the receiving countries very happy…” Do tell. Surely it is common knowledge that private companies act in the financial interests of their owners, typically forsaking altruistic contributions toward non-owners, as a way of doing business. Stop the presses. And this: “the main reason we establish embassies around the world is to serve our own interests, which during the last half of the twentieth century meant turning the American republic into a global empire.” I do not know whose interests a nation’s foreign policy ought to serve other than its own; seeking imperial hegemony over other countries hardly sets the United States apart from other great powers. Similarly, our formerly faithless but now faithful informer reveals, “The rich get richer and the poor grow poorer.” Yawn.
Elsewhere, our intrepid confessor seems to contradict himself about the ultimate beneficiaries of his corporate crimes and misdemeanors. He writes that his job was “to encourage world leaders to become a part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests,” while also asserting that “the empowerment of international corporations and of multinational corporations such as the World Bank and the IMF” were financed primarily by the “United States and our sister empire builders in Europe” (emphasis mine).So, which is it, an American imperium or a world condominium of great military and economic powers?
Case in point is the shocking—shocking!—revelation that British and American intelligence services helped overturn the government of Iran after the Iranians “nationalized all Iranian petroleum assets” in 1951. An “outraged England,” the principal owner of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., and its special ally, the United States, set their respective intelligence agencies to the task and brought down the government of Mohammad Mossadegh, reinstalling the Shah as the “unchallenged dictator” and presumably the defender of foreign business interests in the kingdom. Lost in this and the many other recitations of this well-known and –documented covert action is the fact that the Shah did not return the oil fields to their former British masters after the coup but kept them under the Iranian National Oil Co. instead, where they remain to this day. Measured by Perkins’ criteria, the coup against Mossadegh was a cruel failure for Britain. The Shah nonetheless managed to destroy the communist-led Tudeh Party and become the United States’ main arms buyer in the Persian Gulf region, suggesting at least the possibility that other motives were at play in addition to the disposition of Iran’s oil reserves.
Mr. Perkin’s tale is not the least bit credible but certainly corroboratory of the suspicions of those predisposed to believe him; others, not so much. Perhaps the most shocking fact is that otherwise sensible social scientists would include this confession in their syllabi. Sigh.
June 6, 2012
من أكثر الكتب التي أحدثت لي صدمة في حياتي. هذا الكتاب يكشف عن الحقائق المخفية عن المساعدات التي تقدمها الامبراطوريات للدول الفقيرة. لقد فهمت تاريخ أندونيسيا وبنما ودول أمريكا اللاتينية وأصبحت أفهم لماذا يعيش البعض في فقر مدقع ويرتع آخرون في محيطات الثروة! في هذا الكتاب حقائق تجعلك تمسك برأسك من شدة الألم، وربما ينتهي بك المطاف وقد غيرت نظرتك للعالم من حولك، ووضعت أهدافا جديدة ونزعت أهدافا كثيرة كنت قد وضعتها سابقا.. ببساطة لأنك قد تتعرف إلى أمور أكثرأهمية للعمل من أجلها.
إن هذا الكتاب كان دفعة مهمة لي كي أقرر أن أجعل بحثي لمساق السنة الأخيرة عن موضوع حقيقة التنمية في الدول الفقيرة. ولم أندم!
إن هذا الكتاب كان دفعة مهمة لي كي أقرر أن أجعل بحثي لمساق السنة الأخيرة عن موضوع حقيقة التنمية في الدول الفقيرة. ولم أندم!
July 2, 2019
Really interesting perspective of US economic "development" abroad. It reads like a memoir, but it's mostly about the ways private US companies mess with other regimes. I wish everyone would read this book.
October 23, 2014
I don’t want to be overly negative, but Confessions of an Economic Hitman really irked me. I was only four or five pages into it before I got the overwhelming feeling of wading knee deep through bullshit. I think I might have been more tolerant if the book had been better written, but it wasn’t. It was cliched, used lame tropes, got treacly and scanned like bad spy fiction. The big problem with taking a bad John le Carre approach is that there were no stakes. “Oh no, he might expose the truth, but he’s got to go yachting…” It seems like the worst consequences he faced was boring consulting positions that paid way too much. “He’s such a rebel he’s willing to risk a comfortable sinecure!”
So, the first thing that tripped my bullshit detector is that he claimed he couldn’t get a publisher (which I believe b/c the prose was so bad) b/c of the content. This is a pretty incredible claim b/c here’s the book and if the powers that be wanted to suppress this book it would have been easy. They allegedly orchestrated the death of two Latin American presidents. If they can kill someone as high profile as Torrijos then how hard would it be to off a semi-nameless exec who goes yachting a lot. If what he’s saying is true, what is more likely from an assassination happy cabal trying to prevent the exposure of their secrets? His boat disappears at sea, no book written, maybe a page 5 obit in the local paper. Or, what he claims happens, he talks about what he’s writing but no one does anything for 15 years and then the CIA (or NSA but we’ll get into that) swings into action and discourages some publishers even though the revelation of these secrets could bring down the whole house of cards? And it’s this kind of dumb crap throughout that made this book totally unbelievable.
The next thing that really bugged me is that he takes on a fake “common man” persona and dumbs down stuff that doesn’t need to be dumbed down. He applies for the Peace Corps and is surprised to learn that Ecuador is in South America and not Africa? This guy had a first rate education (including prestigious prep schools and admission to an ivy league college) and he didn’t learn where Ecuador was? Later he’s in Panama during the 70’s, a time when latin America is on fire with revolutionary fervor, and he’s surprised to hear about refugees from Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, etc. Even though he keeps talking about how he always kept up with this area of the world b/c of his love of Ecuador? You couldn’t turn around in the 70s and 80s without hearing about unrest somewhere in Latin America and how the US or CIA was involved. Why would he cope this attitude? Passages like these felt condescending. I think the condescension gives a clue to the rest of the book. He has so little respect for the reader’s intelligence that he thinks he can pass off even the most unbelievable stories.
My biggest beef is that he makes these insinuations that he worked indirectly for the NSA, but he has no idea of what the NSA does. The NSA and CIA aren’t interchangeable organizations. The NSA is responsible for things like code breaking, communication monitoring and intercepts. The CIA is responsible for infiltration, and the type of subversion he’s talking about in this book. There’s tons of stuff available from the Church Committee that lays out exactly what kinds of illegal activities these two organizations were up to in the time period he’s talking about. He could have figured this out with about ten minutes of googling and some basic research. So, allegedly he’s working as an “EHS” for the NSA which doesn’t do anything like faking economic reports to score IMF money. That’s more along the lines of something the CIA would do. The
NSA do lots of terrible and illegal things, but before 9/11 they didn’t do stuff like this. So, he can’t get his basic intelligence agencies right. This was the point in the book where I almost put it down. I decided to struggle through the rest of it to find out why it was so popular, but it only got worse.
He does the common and racist cliche of “brown people are so wise and spiritual”. He talks about how much the people of the Amazon can teach us. He talks about how he’s the only person in his team to get to know the local Indonesians. He keeps bringing up how he likes to learn the local culture. But then there’s the problem with pretending he’s totally oblivious to what’s going on in the rest of South America when he’s in Panama. In Iran he tells a story about bedouins in Iran (Bedouins are Arab, not Persian.) and camel trails throughout the country (camels aren’t common in Iran, they’re mostly in the southwest corner that abuts Iraq and in the far east). If he knew the basics about these areas he wouldn’t lapse into these cliched tropes. Talk to a Persian, they’re least favorite thing in the world is to be confused with Arabs.
On top of all this he can’t even paint a coherent picture of the conspiracy he’s “exposing.” He claims the US can make all these loans to foreign countries b/c we have a fiat currency, but then immediately goes on to explain why having a fiat currency with a large outstanding debt is a danger. So, these genius created a master plan to loan money that will never be repaid by exposing the US to a debt crisis that will seriously harm, if not destroy, them in the future? This is the dumbest conspiracy ever.
And so we get to my biggest problem with this book. The CIA, the NSA, foreign development, and corporate corruption in the world governments, not just the US, is a serious problem. This kind of dumb conspiracy theory crap makes criticisms of these problems easy to dismiss as quackery. It also delays people from learning about the actual problems.
Do government contractors fluff their estimates and expenses and behave in all sorts of horrific and illegal ways? Yes, just look at Dynacorp’s child prostitution problems and KBR and Halliburton’s war profiteering. But it’s not a big conspiracy, that’s what you get for political contributions. Snowden has exposed the NSA’s data collection, lots of journalists are covering the drone war. These aren’t closely guarded secrets that have remained hidden for the past 50 years. There’s too much corporate influence in government. We have a lot of really bad foreign policy. Just look at how the TPP is being negotiated right now. It’s not a secret conspiracy. Almost all this stuff has been front page news for a while.
The problem isn’t a secret cabal. It’s getting elected officials to do anything about it. This guy didn’t help by misleading well intentioned people and making them sound like kooks.
So, the first thing that tripped my bullshit detector is that he claimed he couldn’t get a publisher (which I believe b/c the prose was so bad) b/c of the content. This is a pretty incredible claim b/c here’s the book and if the powers that be wanted to suppress this book it would have been easy. They allegedly orchestrated the death of two Latin American presidents. If they can kill someone as high profile as Torrijos then how hard would it be to off a semi-nameless exec who goes yachting a lot. If what he’s saying is true, what is more likely from an assassination happy cabal trying to prevent the exposure of their secrets? His boat disappears at sea, no book written, maybe a page 5 obit in the local paper. Or, what he claims happens, he talks about what he’s writing but no one does anything for 15 years and then the CIA (or NSA but we’ll get into that) swings into action and discourages some publishers even though the revelation of these secrets could bring down the whole house of cards? And it’s this kind of dumb crap throughout that made this book totally unbelievable.
The next thing that really bugged me is that he takes on a fake “common man” persona and dumbs down stuff that doesn’t need to be dumbed down. He applies for the Peace Corps and is surprised to learn that Ecuador is in South America and not Africa? This guy had a first rate education (including prestigious prep schools and admission to an ivy league college) and he didn’t learn where Ecuador was? Later he’s in Panama during the 70’s, a time when latin America is on fire with revolutionary fervor, and he’s surprised to hear about refugees from Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, etc. Even though he keeps talking about how he always kept up with this area of the world b/c of his love of Ecuador? You couldn’t turn around in the 70s and 80s without hearing about unrest somewhere in Latin America and how the US or CIA was involved. Why would he cope this attitude? Passages like these felt condescending. I think the condescension gives a clue to the rest of the book. He has so little respect for the reader’s intelligence that he thinks he can pass off even the most unbelievable stories.
My biggest beef is that he makes these insinuations that he worked indirectly for the NSA, but he has no idea of what the NSA does. The NSA and CIA aren’t interchangeable organizations. The NSA is responsible for things like code breaking, communication monitoring and intercepts. The CIA is responsible for infiltration, and the type of subversion he’s talking about in this book. There’s tons of stuff available from the Church Committee that lays out exactly what kinds of illegal activities these two organizations were up to in the time period he’s talking about. He could have figured this out with about ten minutes of googling and some basic research. So, allegedly he’s working as an “EHS” for the NSA which doesn’t do anything like faking economic reports to score IMF money. That’s more along the lines of something the CIA would do. The
NSA do lots of terrible and illegal things, but before 9/11 they didn’t do stuff like this. So, he can’t get his basic intelligence agencies right. This was the point in the book where I almost put it down. I decided to struggle through the rest of it to find out why it was so popular, but it only got worse.
He does the common and racist cliche of “brown people are so wise and spiritual”. He talks about how much the people of the Amazon can teach us. He talks about how he’s the only person in his team to get to know the local Indonesians. He keeps bringing up how he likes to learn the local culture. But then there’s the problem with pretending he’s totally oblivious to what’s going on in the rest of South America when he’s in Panama. In Iran he tells a story about bedouins in Iran (Bedouins are Arab, not Persian.) and camel trails throughout the country (camels aren’t common in Iran, they’re mostly in the southwest corner that abuts Iraq and in the far east). If he knew the basics about these areas he wouldn’t lapse into these cliched tropes. Talk to a Persian, they’re least favorite thing in the world is to be confused with Arabs.
On top of all this he can’t even paint a coherent picture of the conspiracy he’s “exposing.” He claims the US can make all these loans to foreign countries b/c we have a fiat currency, but then immediately goes on to explain why having a fiat currency with a large outstanding debt is a danger. So, these genius created a master plan to loan money that will never be repaid by exposing the US to a debt crisis that will seriously harm, if not destroy, them in the future? This is the dumbest conspiracy ever.
And so we get to my biggest problem with this book. The CIA, the NSA, foreign development, and corporate corruption in the world governments, not just the US, is a serious problem. This kind of dumb conspiracy theory crap makes criticisms of these problems easy to dismiss as quackery. It also delays people from learning about the actual problems.
Do government contractors fluff their estimates and expenses and behave in all sorts of horrific and illegal ways? Yes, just look at Dynacorp’s child prostitution problems and KBR and Halliburton’s war profiteering. But it’s not a big conspiracy, that’s what you get for political contributions. Snowden has exposed the NSA’s data collection, lots of journalists are covering the drone war. These aren’t closely guarded secrets that have remained hidden for the past 50 years. There’s too much corporate influence in government. We have a lot of really bad foreign policy. Just look at how the TPP is being negotiated right now. It’s not a secret conspiracy. Almost all this stuff has been front page news for a while.
The problem isn’t a secret cabal. It’s getting elected officials to do anything about it. This guy didn’t help by misleading well intentioned people and making them sound like kooks.
February 2, 2013
كنت متخوفة عند شروعي في قراءة هذا الكتاب والذي يبدو من اسمه اني سأواجه تعقيدات إحصائية لن أفهمها ولكن كان هذا عكس توقعاتي تماما . كان الكتاب سيرة ذاتية لما اطلقه على نفسه "إعترافات قرصان إقتصاد" فالكتاب لغته سلسة كحكاية يخبرنا فيها طبيعة عمله وكيف حققوا أهدافهم المنشودة في معظم بلدان العالم.
يعد تلخيص الفكرة الأساسية لعملية القرصنة تلك عن كيفية الإغتيال الإقتصادي للأمم خاصة دول العالم الثالث النامية بإقناع تلك الدول بالتعاون معها للنهوض بها لكي تلحق بركب التقدم عن طريق توقيع عقود مع شركات خاضعة للكربوقراطية _سأعرفها بعد قليل_ لتطوير البنية التحتية لتلك البلدان عن طريق شق طرق جديدة، وإنشاء محطات توليد الكهرباء، وبناء السدود وشبكات الإتصالات وغير ذلك. في حين يقوم هؤلاء القراصنة والذين يطلق عليهم "خبراء إقتصاديين" بتوقع معدلات تنمية إقتصادية مرتفعة _و بالطبع توقعات منافية للحقيقة_ مما يعمل على تورط تلك الدول بشكل أكبر عن طريق مد فترة عقود تلك الشركات، إنشاء مشاريع ضخمة بتكلفة باهظة وفي الأخير لا تحقق المعدلات المطلوبة مما يدفع تلك الدول في النهاية للإستدانة والعجز عن سداد الديون فتتدخل الدولة العظمى "الإمبراطورية" بفرض شروطها كـ بناء قواعد عسكرية ، السيطرة على موارد طبيعية ، إستغلال البترول وهكذا .. وتفرض سيطرتها على تلك البلدان التي تتبع لها في النهاية وتنفذ سياستها.
أما عن مصطلح "الكربوقراطية" فهي مجوعة الشركات الكبرى والبنوك والحكومات مجتمعة الذين يعملون على تحقيق حلم الإمبراطورية الأمريكية وفرض سيطرتها على العالم أجمع. فالكربوقراطية متورط فيها البنك الدولي، صندوق النقد، أسماء الشركات الكبرى التي نسمع عنها كـ"فورد" على سبيل المثال وممثلين الحكومة أنفسهم رؤساء الولايات المتحدة الواحد تلو الآخر كـ(كارتر،ريجان،جورج بوش) ويحكي الكاتب عن تجربته الرئيسية والتي بدأت من فترة السبعينيات إلى أواخر التسعينات إلا إنه ظل على اتصال وتحليل لمجريات الأمور بعدها..
يحكي عن تجربته في كل من (إندونسيا، الإكوادور، بنما، إيران، السعودية، العراق)
كل بلد ولها تجربتها المختلفة وموقفها من الرفض لإدراكها تلك الخدعة ورفضها للهيمنة الأمريكية الفجة أو القبول والإذعان وتنفيذ السياسة الأمريكية مقابل وعود بالحفاظ على حكمهم وتطوير دولتهم ..
كان يصل الأمر أحيانا للتصفية الجسدية في حالة الرفض كما حدث لرئيس بنما "عمر توريخوس" أو الإكوادور "رولدوس" .. وصل الحد بها لإستنزاف كل ما تجده أمامها من مص��در الطاقة والقوة لدرجة إنها لن يتبقى لها أخيراً إلا أن تلتهم نفسها !!
يصف الكاتب انهم كقراصنة إقتصاد استوعبوا دروس التاريخ فلن يقتحموا الدول بدروعهم وسيوفهم ولكنهم يرتدون نفس هيئة البلدان التي يتواجدون فيها ويمارسون أعمالهم بشكل طبيعي ويحاضرون في أعرق الجامعات
وقد كونوا صورة جيدة عن أنفسهم ولا يعدون ما يفعلونه خروج عن القانون حيث ان النظام في الأصل مبني على خدعة ويصف نفسه بأنه قانوني !!
يعد تلخيص الفكرة الأساسية لعملية القرصنة تلك عن كيفية الإغتيال الإقتصادي للأمم خاصة دول العالم الثالث النامية بإقناع تلك الدول بالتعاون معها للنهوض بها لكي تلحق بركب التقدم عن طريق توقيع عقود مع شركات خاضعة للكربوقراطية _سأعرفها بعد قليل_ لتطوير البنية التحتية لتلك البلدان عن طريق شق طرق جديدة، وإنشاء محطات توليد الكهرباء، وبناء السدود وشبكات الإتصالات وغير ذلك. في حين يقوم هؤلاء القراصنة والذين يطلق عليهم "خبراء إقتصاديين" بتوقع معدلات تنمية إقتصادية مرتفعة _و بالطبع توقعات منافية للحقيقة_ مما يعمل على تورط تلك الدول بشكل أكبر عن طريق مد فترة عقود تلك الشركات، إنشاء مشاريع ضخمة بتكلفة باهظة وفي الأخير لا تحقق المعدلات المطلوبة مما يدفع تلك الدول في النهاية للإستدانة والعجز عن سداد الديون فتتدخل الدولة العظمى "الإمبراطورية" بفرض شروطها كـ بناء قواعد عسكرية ، السيطرة على موارد طبيعية ، إستغلال البترول وهكذا .. وتفرض سيطرتها على تلك البلدان التي تتبع لها في النهاية وتنفذ سياستها.
أما عن مصطلح "الكربوقراطية" فهي مجوعة الشركات الكبرى والبنوك والحكومات مجتمعة الذين يعملون على تحقيق حلم الإمبراطورية الأمريكية وفرض سيطرتها على العالم أجمع. فالكربوقراطية متورط فيها البنك الدولي، صندوق النقد، أسماء الشركات الكبرى التي نسمع عنها كـ"فورد" على سبيل المثال وممثلين الحكومة أنفسهم رؤساء الولايات المتحدة الواحد تلو الآخر كـ(كارتر،ريجان،جورج بوش) ويحكي الكاتب عن تجربته الرئيسية والتي بدأت من فترة السبعينيات إلى أواخر التسعينات إلا إنه ظل على اتصال وتحليل لمجريات الأمور بعدها..
يحكي عن تجربته في كل من (إندونسيا، الإكوادور، بنما، إيران، السعودية، العراق)
كل بلد ولها تجربتها المختلفة وموقفها من الرفض لإدراكها تلك الخدعة ورفضها للهيمنة الأمريكية الفجة أو القبول والإذعان وتنفيذ السياسة الأمريكية مقابل وعود بالحفاظ على حكمهم وتطوير دولتهم ..
كان يصل الأمر أحيانا للتصفية الجسدية في حالة الرفض كما حدث لرئيس بنما "عمر توريخوس" أو الإكوادور "رولدوس" .. وصل الحد بها لإستنزاف كل ما تجده أمامها من مص��در الطاقة والقوة لدرجة إنها لن يتبقى لها أخيراً إلا أن تلتهم نفسها !!
يصف الكاتب انهم كقراصنة إقتصاد استوعبوا دروس التاريخ فلن يقتحموا الدول بدروعهم وسيوفهم ولكنهم يرتدون نفس هيئة البلدان التي يتواجدون فيها ويمارسون أعمالهم بشكل طبيعي ويحاضرون في أعرق الجامعات
وقد كونوا صورة جيدة عن أنفسهم ولا يعدون ما يفعلونه خروج عن القانون حيث ان النظام في الأصل مبني على خدعة ويصف نفسه بأنه قانوني !!
May 1, 2023
There are so many excellent reviews of this book, and its sequel on GR, that I won't add more of the same.
I've read this book so long ago, must be three years, but never listed it as 'read' on GR. Mind-boggling, since it is one of the most riveting non-fictional novelistic thriller reads ever.
I also read the sequel, New Confessions of an Economic Hitman , and did not add it to my GR Book shelves either. Perhaps I was reading too many books simultaneously or got tired of hunting down the genesis of all things wild and fabuliciously bad. :-) Besides, where other than GR will we share our thoughts on books like these. Nobody else will believe us anyway. Oy!
I am all for hiding our heads in the sand with our delightful Houdini-esque escapes into fiction, but sometimes we really need to come up for air and take on non-fictional books like these. Nonfiction is really my beat. I just love a good dollop of reality dished up by good researchers, journalists, scientists, and historians.
John Perkins, being THE economic hitman himself, exposed the capitalistic debt traps ruining desperate governments and economies around the world. He confessed before a similar strategy would later become known as China's Belt & Road Initiatives, which played the American corporatocracy, the World Bank, and the IMF at their own games. China is winning. Perhaps fewer people are getting murdered by the jackals in the process.
The jackals are those CIA operatives who murder leaders when they refuse to accept the plans. Precisely explained in the book. Who the leaders were and how the countries were affected when they refused the economic control of their assets and people.
Whether we want to know or not, this is our world today. And it got much worse since these books were published. At least Perkins left us with a better understanding of how it all happened/happens and how it affects us as the small plebs in the fight for survival. We cannot win.
Since China stole the American Deep State's ideas to conquer and rule, a vicious global war is raging for the final power grab and control of the world. Nowadays there are even new revelations of a globalist agenda, for those who acknowledge its existence. Was it George Bush senior who first spoke about 'a New World Order'? Then it got repeated by all US presidents, but nobody was listening.
Yanis Varoufakis: "When I read 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", I could not have known that, some years later, I would be on the receiving end of the type of 'economic hit' that Perkins so vividly narrated. This book resonates with my experience of the brutish methods and gross economic irrationality guiding powerful institutions in their bid to undermine democratic control over economic power. Perkins, once again, made a substantial contribution to a world that needs whistle-blowers to open its eyes to the true sources of political, social, and economic power."
Professor Varoufakis wrote a book Adults In The Room - My Battle With Europe's Deep Establishment about his experiences. His actions as the short-lived minister of Economic Affairs in Greece sparked Brexit, and then Trumpism. It all resulted in a global stir or exposé of global deep state affairs. It seems as though Perkins' book got Varoufakis rolling and perhaps Klaus Schwab in a little bit of hot water.
His other book, Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded & What We Need to Do to Remake Them relates the effects of these same methods applied to the American economy, as well as the devastating effect it had on the citizens of America.
Perkins has written several uplifting books too. I think I will read them as well. This author is worth a read.
Perkins' tales are corroborated by the former-CIA operative, John Stockwell, who wrote several books in this regard, including, The Praetorian Guard: THE U.S. ROLE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER ;
In Search Of Enemies: A CIA Story ;
Red Sunset (a novel).
This is straightforward history in no uncertain terms.
I've read this book so long ago, must be three years, but never listed it as 'read' on GR. Mind-boggling, since it is one of the most riveting non-fictional novelistic thriller reads ever.
I also read the sequel, New Confessions of an Economic Hitman , and did not add it to my GR Book shelves either. Perhaps I was reading too many books simultaneously or got tired of hunting down the genesis of all things wild and fabuliciously bad. :-) Besides, where other than GR will we share our thoughts on books like these. Nobody else will believe us anyway. Oy!
I am all for hiding our heads in the sand with our delightful Houdini-esque escapes into fiction, but sometimes we really need to come up for air and take on non-fictional books like these. Nonfiction is really my beat. I just love a good dollop of reality dished up by good researchers, journalists, scientists, and historians.
John Perkins, being THE economic hitman himself, exposed the capitalistic debt traps ruining desperate governments and economies around the world. He confessed before a similar strategy would later become known as China's Belt & Road Initiatives, which played the American corporatocracy, the World Bank, and the IMF at their own games. China is winning. Perhaps fewer people are getting murdered by the jackals in the process.
The jackals are those CIA operatives who murder leaders when they refuse to accept the plans. Precisely explained in the book. Who the leaders were and how the countries were affected when they refused the economic control of their assets and people.
Whether we want to know or not, this is our world today. And it got much worse since these books were published. At least Perkins left us with a better understanding of how it all happened/happens and how it affects us as the small plebs in the fight for survival. We cannot win.
Since China stole the American Deep State's ideas to conquer and rule, a vicious global war is raging for the final power grab and control of the world. Nowadays there are even new revelations of a globalist agenda, for those who acknowledge its existence. Was it George Bush senior who first spoke about 'a New World Order'? Then it got repeated by all US presidents, but nobody was listening.
Yanis Varoufakis: "When I read 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", I could not have known that, some years later, I would be on the receiving end of the type of 'economic hit' that Perkins so vividly narrated. This book resonates with my experience of the brutish methods and gross economic irrationality guiding powerful institutions in their bid to undermine democratic control over economic power. Perkins, once again, made a substantial contribution to a world that needs whistle-blowers to open its eyes to the true sources of political, social, and economic power."
Professor Varoufakis wrote a book Adults In The Room - My Battle With Europe's Deep Establishment about his experiences. His actions as the short-lived minister of Economic Affairs in Greece sparked Brexit, and then Trumpism. It all resulted in a global stir or exposé of global deep state affairs. It seems as though Perkins' book got Varoufakis rolling and perhaps Klaus Schwab in a little bit of hot water.
His other book, Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded & What We Need to Do to Remake Them relates the effects of these same methods applied to the American economy, as well as the devastating effect it had on the citizens of America.
Perkins has written several uplifting books too. I think I will read them as well. This author is worth a read.
Perkins' tales are corroborated by the former-CIA operative, John Stockwell, who wrote several books in this regard, including, The Praetorian Guard: THE U.S. ROLE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER ;
In Search Of Enemies: A CIA Story ;
Red Sunset (a novel).
This is straightforward history in no uncertain terms.
January 26, 2016
مذكرات خبير اقتصادي , او قرصان اقتصادي يروي فيها حقائق عن ارتباط الولايات المتحدة الامريكية بالانقلابات والحروب التي حدثت في النصف الثاني من القرن العشرين , ابتداءا من الامريكيتن وصولاً الى الشرق الاوسط في ايران والسعودية واخيراً العراق .
مما لا يخفى على احد ارتباط القوى العظمى العالمية بالارهاب , من ناحية التمويل و غض النظر عن تحركاتهم بل واستخدامهم كوسيلة للضغط و تصفية حساباتهم الدولية . من يرفض الاعتقاد بنظرية المؤامرة لا يقل سذاجة عن من يؤمن بها ايماناً اعمى , المؤامرات تحاك لاننا نيام و متخلفين و متفرقين , وهذة حقيقة لا يمكن انكارها .
لا اعلم مدى مصداقية بيكنز و ان كان له دور مهم فيما حدث كما حاول ان يبين في الكتاب , او انه يبالغ و يحاول رسم هاله من العظمة حوله لكن بكل الاحوال هو انسان سيء , ندمه كان على الصعيد النفسي فقط , اغتنى و اسس شركته و الف كتباً يربح منها الملايين بسبب عمله القذر , وهاهو يحقق شهرة و ارباح اكثر بعد نشره لهذا الكتاب .
ان كان خطراً حقيقياً و ما رواه يشكل تهديد لأمريكا او اي طرف آخر لـكان اُغتيل منذ سنين و ما ترك طليقاً يوزع الاتهامات بعد فوات الاوان .
لكن لابد من الاشارة الى اهمية الكتاب لنا كعرب لندرك حقيقة ما يدور حولنا ,ونتوقف عن قتل بعضنا البعض و تراشق الاتهامات و الانخراط في المليشيات و الجماعات المتطرفة تحت مسميات دينية و سياسية . نحن كالدمى منذ سنين و اوضاعنا تسوء سنة بعد اخرى فهل من يقظة ؟
" ان احداث حياتك المتعاقبة و اختياراتك فيها استجابة لتلك الاحداث , و هو ما وصل بك الى هذه النقطة .."
مما لا يخفى على احد ارتباط القوى العظمى العالمية بالارهاب , من ناحية التمويل و غض النظر عن تحركاتهم بل واستخدامهم كوسيلة للضغط و تصفية حساباتهم الدولية . من يرفض الاعتقاد بنظرية المؤامرة لا يقل سذاجة عن من يؤمن بها ايماناً اعمى , المؤامرات تحاك لاننا نيام و متخلفين و متفرقين , وهذة حقيقة لا يمكن انكارها .
لا اعلم مدى مصداقية بيكنز و ان كان له دور مهم فيما حدث كما حاول ان يبين في الكتاب , او انه يبالغ و يحاول رسم هاله من العظمة حوله لكن بكل الاحوال هو انسان سيء , ندمه كان على الصعيد النفسي فقط , اغتنى و اسس شركته و الف كتباً يربح منها الملايين بسبب عمله القذر , وهاهو يحقق شهرة و ارباح اكثر بعد نشره لهذا الكتاب .
ان كان خطراً حقيقياً و ما رواه يشكل تهديد لأمريكا او اي طرف آخر لـكان اُغتيل منذ سنين و ما ترك طليقاً يوزع الاتهامات بعد فوات الاوان .
لكن لابد من الاشارة الى اهمية الكتاب لنا كعرب لندرك حقيقة ما يدور حولنا ,ونتوقف عن قتل بعضنا البعض و تراشق الاتهامات و الانخراط في المليشيات و الجماعات المتطرفة تحت مسميات دينية و سياسية . نحن كالدمى منذ سنين و اوضاعنا تسوء سنة بعد اخرى فهل من يقظة ؟
" ان احداث حياتك المتعاقبة و اختياراتك فيها استجابة لتلك الاحداث , و هو ما وصل بك الى هذه النقطة .."
October 1, 2015
الاغتيال الاقتصادي للأمم
هل تستخدم الدول الكبرى قوتها الاقتصادية والسياسية والعسكرية ورجال مخابراتها في تحطيم الدول التي تخرج عن فلكها؟ بالطبع وشواهد هذا كثيرة وخاصة لو ركزنا على الدور الأمريكي في أمريكا الجنوبية وفيتنام والعراق وإيران، حروب قذرة ومتواصلة لا تخفى على أحد، ما يحاول جون بيركنز فعله في هذا الكتاب وبطريقة غير مقنعة هو وضع نفسه في خضم هذه الحروب القذرة بالادعاء بأنه كان قرصان اقتصادي، يتسلل للدول ليكبلها بالديون وليرهنها للإرادة والقوة الأمريكية، وفي كل مكان هناك من يثق به ويقرر أن يبوح له بالأسرار، تذكرت وأنا اقرأ الكتاب سخرية غازي القصيبي من هيكل عندما تساءل كيف يتأتي لهيكل إجراء الحوار الأخير مع كل زعيم راحل؟ هل كانت تصله توصية من ملك الموت؟ عموما الكتاب جيد لعشاق نظرية المؤامرة.
هل تستخدم الدول الكبرى قوتها الاقتصادية والسياسية والعسكرية ورجال مخابراتها في تحطيم الدول التي تخرج عن فلكها؟ بالطبع وشواهد هذا كثيرة وخاصة لو ركزنا على الدور الأمريكي في أمريكا الجنوبية وفيتنام والعراق وإيران، حروب قذرة ومتواصلة لا تخفى على أحد، ما يحاول جون بيركنز فعله في هذا الكتاب وبطريقة غير مقنعة هو وضع نفسه في خضم هذه الحروب القذرة بالادعاء بأنه كان قرصان اقتصادي، يتسلل للدول ليكبلها بالديون وليرهنها للإرادة والقوة الأمريكية، وفي كل مكان هناك من يثق به ويقرر أن يبوح له بالأسرار، تذكرت وأنا اقرأ الكتاب سخرية غازي القصيبي من هيكل عندما تساءل كيف يتأتي لهيكل إجراء الحوار الأخير مع كل زعيم راحل؟ هل كانت تصله توصية من ملك الموت؟ عموما الكتاب جيد لعشاق نظرية المؤامرة.
September 10, 2018
For having a better future, everybody should read this book!
June 8, 2023
إنّها بداية جَيّدة للدُخول إلى عالم السِياسة و الإقتِصاد...
جون بيركنز أعطانا نَظره عامة على ما يَدور حَولُنا من أحداث سياسيّة و إقتصاديّة و في نَفس الوقت فَتَحَ لَنا المَجال لِكَي نعرِف و نَعي ما هِيَ اللّعبه الإقتِصادِية الّتي تَدور حَولنا، رُبّما الوَقت و الأحداث و التجارُب الّتي تَحدّث عنها الكاتِب قد مَضَت و أصبَحَت مِن التاريخ ولكن اللّعبة هِيَ نفسُها لا تَتَغَيّر بل الوسائِل و الأساليب هِيَ فقت الّتي تَتَجَدّد مع مرور الزَمن لِكَي تَتَناسَب مع الوقت الحاضِر...
جون بيركنزهُوَ وسيلة لِكي تصِل هذه الإمبراطورِيات الى مُبتَغاها فإذا ذهَب هنالكِ جون غَيرُه الكثير و وسائِل كَثيرة يَستطيعون إتِّباعُها الكوربوقراطيون للوصول إلى مُبتَغاهُم كيفَ يَستَطيعون تَحويل أي دولة الى مَجموعة بيادِق يَتَحكّمون بِها...
و نَعود و نَقول هؤلاء العَمالِقة إستَطاعوا الوُصول إلى العَظمة الّتي هُم فيها بِسَبب مَجموعة أفراد فاسِدة مِن عامة الشَعب بِسبب النُفوس الدَنيئة الّتي تَذِل نفسها مِن أجل المال و يبيع وَطَنُه من أجل المال رُبّما لَم يَكُن يَعرِف إلى أين سوفَ تَصِل النَتيجة ولكن في لَحظَتِها لم يُفكّر إلّا في نَفسِه...
الصَحوة المُتأخِّرة لَن تُعيد الماضي ولاكن بإستِطاعَتِها أن تُغَيِّر المُستَقبَل...
كما وضّحَ لنا جون بيركنز هؤلاء العَمالِقة لا تَستَطيع مُحاربَتَهُم باليَد أو السِّلاح ولاكِن تَستطيع محارَبَتَهَم و ذلُّهم بالإقتِصاد.
تصَوّر مُعادَلة صغيره لو دولة كامِلة قاطًعَت سِلعة مُعيّنة تُنتِجُها إحدى هذه العَمالِقة..أُنظُر ماذا سَوف يَحدُث بِها و كَيفَ سَوف تَتوسّل لِكي تَكُف هذه المُقاطعة .
جون بيركنز أعطانا نَظره عامة على ما يَدور حَولُنا من أحداث سياسيّة و إقتصاديّة و في نَفس الوقت فَتَحَ لَنا المَجال لِكَي نعرِف و نَعي ما هِيَ اللّعبه الإقتِصادِية الّتي تَدور حَولنا، رُبّما الوَقت و الأحداث و التجارُب الّتي تَحدّث عنها الكاتِب قد مَضَت و أصبَحَت مِن التاريخ ولكن اللّعبة هِيَ نفسُها لا تَتَغَيّر بل الوسائِل و الأساليب هِيَ فقت الّتي تَتَجَدّد مع مرور الزَمن لِكَي تَتَناسَب مع الوقت الحاضِر...
جون بيركنزهُوَ وسيلة لِكي تصِل هذه الإمبراطورِيات الى مُبتَغاها فإذا ذهَب هنالكِ جون غَيرُه الكثير و وسائِل كَثيرة يَستطيعون إتِّباعُها الكوربوقراطيون للوصول إلى مُبتَغاهُم كيفَ يَستَطيعون تَحويل أي دولة الى مَجموعة بيادِق يَتَحكّمون بِها...
و نَعود و نَقول هؤلاء العَمالِقة إستَطاعوا الوُصول إلى العَظمة الّتي هُم فيها بِسَبب مَجموعة أفراد فاسِدة مِن عامة الشَعب بِسبب النُفوس الدَنيئة الّتي تَذِل نفسها مِن أجل المال و يبيع وَطَنُه من أجل المال رُبّما لَم يَكُن يَعرِف إلى أين سوفَ تَصِل النَتيجة ولكن في لَحظَتِها لم يُفكّر إلّا في نَفسِه...
الصَحوة المُتأخِّرة لَن تُعيد الماضي ولاكن بإستِطاعَتِها أن تُغَيِّر المُستَقبَل...
كما وضّحَ لنا جون بيركنز هؤلاء العَمالِقة لا تَستَطيع مُحاربَتَهُم باليَد أو السِّلاح ولاكِن تَستطيع محارَبَتَهَم و ذلُّهم بالإقتِصاد.
تصَوّر مُعادَلة صغيره لو دولة كامِلة قاطًعَت سِلعة مُعيّنة تُنتِجُها إحدى هذه العَمالِقة..أُنظُر ماذا سَوف يَحدُث بِها و كَيفَ سَوف تَتوسّل لِكي تَكُف هذه المُقاطعة .
August 18, 2011
This book got 5 stars because it is highly disturbing and everyone especially Americans should read this book. Perkins writes his true story of what he did when he was an economic hit man. The basic gist is that he went to other countries promising the growth of their economy if they contracted engineers and workers from the States to install infrastructures such as electricity and running water. It looks like a great idea to the government because they are "helping" their people by creating a better economy. In the long run, the rich get richer (the very few rich of course.) and the poor get poorer (lots of poor people.) As well, the country becomes indebted to the companies that helped install the infrastructures and are at the United States' mercy. Perkins didn't work for the government but essentially did. Most people know at this point that the US government is tied so closely to big business.
There are things that Perkins did that are disgusting and totally unethical and finally his guilty conscience got to him so he wrote the book. Good thing because it is an eye opener and brings some light to one of the many reasons other countries are not to fond of the US. He gives us some tips and some things we can do to combat the mess he has made. One of the actions is stop giving big business our business. I think most people know that big businesses are pretty evil for the most part. The worst thing we can do is just sit idly by and continue living in ignorance. Worse yet, sitting idly by with the knowledge that is out there.
Read the book. Be disgusted. Erase your ignorance. Do something.
There are things that Perkins did that are disgusting and totally unethical and finally his guilty conscience got to him so he wrote the book. Good thing because it is an eye opener and brings some light to one of the many reasons other countries are not to fond of the US. He gives us some tips and some things we can do to combat the mess he has made. One of the actions is stop giving big business our business. I think most people know that big businesses are pretty evil for the most part. The worst thing we can do is just sit idly by and continue living in ignorance. Worse yet, sitting idly by with the knowledge that is out there.
Read the book. Be disgusted. Erase your ignorance. Do something.
July 20, 2012
كتاب من الكتب الكاشفة. خِطر خِطر يعني :D ..
الكتاب بيثبت نموذج مُعين و هو أن :
1 - فيه بني آدم بيبقى مطلوب منه يعمل دراسة اقتصادية عن بلد مُعين بُناء على رغبات مجموعة من المُستثمرين و أصحاب الشركات المالتيناشيونال..
2- تقوم بعض الجهات المانحة - صندوق النقد و البنك الدولي .. إلخ - بإقراض هذه الدول بناء على هذه الدراسات إللي غالباً بتطلع خادعة ..
فالدولة تبقى واخده قرض بمليار جنية على أساس أن العائد من الإستثمار هيبقى حوالي مليار و نص مثلاً بعد عشرين سنة ، تطلع الدراسات أكتر كتير من المتوقع و تعجّز الدولة عن سداد الديون المُستحقّة ..
3- تتعثّر الدولة عن سدا�� ديونها .. فتبدأ بقى تُذعن للدول و المؤسسات الدائنة .. عن طريق إمرار صفقات اقتصادية ، بيع أراضي ، تجارة سلاح ، تصويتات في الأمم المتحدة .. و هكذا
4- تبدأ المؤسسات الكُبرى في هذا الخط من الإستعمار و الإذلال الإقتصادي للدول و بناء مُجتمعات داخل كل دولة ، المجتمعات دي هي النُخبة الإستعمارية .. إللي بتبقى أكتر ناس مُنتفعة من التبعية دي
دا النموذج التجريدي .. النموذج دا إتطبّق بقى بشكل عام في جواتيمالا و بنما و الإكوادور و إيران و فنزويلا و بلاد كتير ..
الفكرة أن الوقوف أمام هذا النوع من الإستعمار مش هيمُر مرور الكرام .. لأ ..
هيطلع الصف التاني من الجنود إللي شغالين تحت الكوربوقراطية * .. إللي هما رجال المخابرات إللي بيتم الإستعانة بيهم لتنفيذ إغتيالات لأمرار مشروعاتهم ..
و لو فشل الخط الدفاعي التاني دا .. يتم عمل حملة إعلامية ضخمة ضد الدولة دي و رموزها و يتم عمل غطاء إعلامي و أخلاقي لحرب من أجل الإسعمار ..
كتاب مهم و قيّم جدا .. لو عرفت تقراه و تجيب منه 10 نسخ توزّعهم على صحابك هدية .. ما تترددش ..
November 23, 2021
This is the way the world works.
I had this book recommended to me by A LOT of people and I’m glad I finally got around to it because it is a jaw-dropping first person account of how the US has covertly destabilized other nations for decades in a form of neoimperialism. John Perkins was a man who grew up in a privileged state, yet always feeling under the class that his parents desired. Through mostly happenstance, he found himself in the position in his 30s to be the lead “economist” for a company in the 1970s called Main (now gone). He was literally told he would be an “Economic Hitman” or EHM and his job was blatantly described to him: go to a developing country and set them up to be a US puppet state.
The way Perkins achieved this was by dreaming up an economic plan and forecasting good fortune for a foerign country, getting them to agree to infrastructure building. He knowingly knew that the funds would come from an American bank (or world bank, IMF) and that only an American company would be contracted to build the infrastructure plan. So dollars would never flow into the foreign country. From there, the intent was to burden the country with a subprime loan, knowing full well that they would not have the economic windfall promised. The country would then be trapped with debt and become a puppet state of the American corporatocracy. There is clearly state and corporate collusion going but with no paper trail. This has happened in sooooo many countries: Ecuador, Panama, Indonesia, Chile, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq so many others that this would review would never end if I kept listing them.
Perkins then explains what happens to countries that don’t fall victim to the debt trap. The “Jackals” are then sent in—the CIA which covertly ousts usually the democratically elected leader and supplants them with a puppet dictator setting up a crony capitalism system. If the country is still recalcitrant to the CIA, the US just sends in the military to get rid of the leader by violence and war.
This is what imperialism looks like today.
I found the book to be highly engaging because the author is speaking from his own experiences and has tons of insider knowledge about the economic world order that most people aren’t even aware of. Yet with the personal accounts, there is no doubt unwitting embellishments that likely come along with a book like this. At any rate, I found this to be an extremely worthwhile read. But be careful, it’s one of those books that could upend your world view and change your life.
Other similar books I'd recommend:
The Jakarta Method
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
How to Hide and Empire
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I had this book recommended to me by A LOT of people and I’m glad I finally got around to it because it is a jaw-dropping first person account of how the US has covertly destabilized other nations for decades in a form of neoimperialism. John Perkins was a man who grew up in a privileged state, yet always feeling under the class that his parents desired. Through mostly happenstance, he found himself in the position in his 30s to be the lead “economist” for a company in the 1970s called Main (now gone). He was literally told he would be an “Economic Hitman” or EHM and his job was blatantly described to him: go to a developing country and set them up to be a US puppet state.
The way Perkins achieved this was by dreaming up an economic plan and forecasting good fortune for a foerign country, getting them to agree to infrastructure building. He knowingly knew that the funds would come from an American bank (or world bank, IMF) and that only an American company would be contracted to build the infrastructure plan. So dollars would never flow into the foreign country. From there, the intent was to burden the country with a subprime loan, knowing full well that they would not have the economic windfall promised. The country would then be trapped with debt and become a puppet state of the American corporatocracy. There is clearly state and corporate collusion going but with no paper trail. This has happened in sooooo many countries: Ecuador, Panama, Indonesia, Chile, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq so many others that this would review would never end if I kept listing them.
Perkins then explains what happens to countries that don’t fall victim to the debt trap. The “Jackals” are then sent in—the CIA which covertly ousts usually the democratically elected leader and supplants them with a puppet dictator setting up a crony capitalism system. If the country is still recalcitrant to the CIA, the US just sends in the military to get rid of the leader by violence and war.
This is what imperialism looks like today.
I found the book to be highly engaging because the author is speaking from his own experiences and has tons of insider knowledge about the economic world order that most people aren’t even aware of. Yet with the personal accounts, there is no doubt unwitting embellishments that likely come along with a book like this. At any rate, I found this to be an extremely worthwhile read. But be careful, it’s one of those books that could upend your world view and change your life.
Other similar books I'd recommend:
The Jakarta Method
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
How to Hide and Empire
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
July 3, 2020
خانه از پای بست ویران است
خواجه در بندِ نقشِ ایوان است
به اسطوره های شر که می اندیشم، و وضعیت را که در ذهن مرور می کنم. گمانم می برد به لِویاتان! هیولایی که از ژرفای آب های تیره گون بیرون می آید و هر آن چیزی که نشان از زندگی دارد را در کام خود می کِشد و می کُشد. پس چنین است که این روزها که خبر قرارداد 25 ساله �� همه جانبه ی حکومت چین با حکومت ایران را می خوانم-قرادادی که هیچ چیز از جزییاتش روشن و بازگو نشده است و حکومت چین برای نگاهبانی در اجرای آن گویی نیروهایی نظامی را هم از ارتشِ خودش به کار خواهد گرفت- و هنگامی که از میانِ فصل های کتاب می گذرم، بهتر درک می کنم آن چیزی را که دارد رخ می دهد و خوب تر می فهمم معنای چوب حراج به دارایی های کشور زدن را. بهتر می فهمم تاراج را وبهتر درک می کنم تن دادن به مال اندوزی و نفی شرافت زندگی را، و فقرِ بیشتر فقیران را و پروارتر شدنِ هر روزه ی تازه به دوران رسیدگان را. نبودِ آگاهی را که قدرت است و ایمان می آورم که امیدواریِ دروغین بزرگترین خیانت است دستِ کم به خویشتن و می دانم که هیچ معجزی در کار نخواهد بود تا آن زمان که هر نجات دهنده ای بیرون از آدمیانِ یک سرزمین باشد. روزهای امروز روشن ترین روزهاست برای روزهایی که نابینایی تمام را زیست خواهیم کرد و شگفتا از آنانی که هنوز پایبند مانده اند به دروغ... شگفتا
سیزدهم تیرداد 1399 خورشیدی
خواجه در بندِ نقشِ ایوان است
به اسطوره های شر که می اندیشم، و وضعیت را که در ذهن مرور می کنم. گمانم می برد به لِویاتان! هیولایی که از ژرفای آب های تیره گون بیرون می آید و هر آن چیزی که نشان از زندگی دارد را در کام خود می کِشد و می کُشد. پس چنین است که این روزها که خبر قرارداد 25 ساله �� همه جانبه ی حکومت چین با حکومت ایران را می خوانم-قرادادی که هیچ چیز از جزییاتش روشن و بازگو نشده است و حکومت چین برای نگاهبانی در اجرای آن گویی نیروهایی نظامی را هم از ارتشِ خودش به کار خواهد گرفت- و هنگامی که از میانِ فصل های کتاب می گذرم، بهتر درک می کنم آن چیزی را که دارد رخ می دهد و خوب تر می فهمم معنای چوب حراج به دارایی های کشور زدن را. بهتر می فهمم تاراج را وبهتر درک می کنم تن دادن به مال اندوزی و نفی شرافت زندگی را، و فقرِ بیشتر فقیران را و پروارتر شدنِ هر روزه ی تازه به دوران رسیدگان را. نبودِ آگاهی را که قدرت است و ایمان می آورم که امیدواریِ دروغین بزرگترین خیانت است دستِ کم به خویشتن و می دانم که هیچ معجزی در کار نخواهد بود تا آن زمان که هر نجات دهنده ای بیرون از آدمیانِ یک سرزمین باشد. روزهای امروز روشن ترین روزهاست برای روزهایی که نابینایی تمام را زیست خواهیم کرد و شگفتا از آنانی که هنوز پایبند مانده اند به دروغ... شگفتا
سیزدهم تیرداد 1399 خورشیدی
September 17, 2007
The scariest thing about this book is that if you read it having read nothing about the CIA or the overseas financial games the agency (and US corporations acting with CIA influence) has played around the world, it seems like frightening fiction written by a conspiratorial nutjob. If you read it having read a few books about the history of the CIA, you're twice as scared because you know it all may be true. Perkins writing is fitting for the topic, and reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman is very much like reading a sprawling Ludlum conspiracy thriller. Once again, a nonfiction book proves that reality is just as crazy as any writer's imagination... unless the whole thing never happened, and Perkins is still working for the CIA, this time as an Information Hitman. (In which case, don't be surprised.)
NC
NC
August 15, 2021
আমরা সবাই কমবেশী Hitman শব্দটির সাথে পরিচিত। হত্যাশিল্পী যাকে বলা হয়। কিন্তু Economic Hitman শব্দটি নতুন। এর বাংলা কোনো পারিভাষিক জানা নেই আমার। এ সম্পর্কিত কোনো কিছু জানতে চাইলে পড়তে পারেন 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' নামক বইটি। একটি রাষ্ট্রকে কিভাবে অর্থনীতিকভাবে পরনির্ভরশীল বানানো যায় তা সত্য এবং বাস্তব ঘটনার মাধ্যমে বর্ণনা করা হয়েছে।
লেখক নিজেই এই পেশায় জড়িত ছিলেন বলে অত্যন্ত সাবলীল ভাষায় ব্যাখ্যা দিয়েছেন।পাঠকের মধ্যে যারা conspiracy theory নিয়ে আগ্রহী তাদের জন্য এটি সোনার খনি। এটির মাধ্যমে world political control এর ব্যপারগুলোও জড়িত পাবেন। আসলে দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধের পরে পৃথিবীর অধিকাংশ রাষ্ট্রই বুঝতে পারে যে যুদ্ধ পৃথিবী নিয়ন্ত্রণ করার সবচে expensive way. তখন থেকেই মূলত পশ্চিমা রাষ্ট্রগুলা এ পদ্ধতি অবলম্বন করে নিজেদেরকে নিয়ন্ত্রকের আসনে বসিয়ে নেয়। এখন তোহ চীন এ পথের অগ্রগণ্য।
পড়ে দেখতে পারেন। আশা করি ভাল লাগবে।
লেখক নিজেই এই পেশায় জড়িত ছিলেন বলে অত্যন্ত সাবলীল ভাষায় ব্যাখ্যা দিয়েছেন।পাঠকের মধ্যে যারা conspiracy theory নিয়ে আগ্রহী তাদের জন্য এটি সোনার খনি। এটির মাধ্যমে world political control এর ব্যপারগুলোও জড়িত পাবেন। আসলে দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধের পরে পৃথিবীর অধিকাংশ রাষ্ট্রই বুঝতে পারে যে যুদ্ধ পৃথিবী নিয়ন্ত্রণ করার সবচে expensive way. তখন থেকেই মূলত পশ্চিমা রাষ্ট্রগুলা এ পদ্ধতি অবলম্বন করে নিজেদেরকে নিয়ন্ত্রকের আসনে বসিয়ে নেয়। এখন তোহ চীন এ পথের অগ্রগণ্য।
পড়ে দেখতে পারেন। আশা করি ভাল লাগবে।
November 4, 2012
The author of this book, John M. Perkins (not the same person as the Christian anti-racism activist), devoted the early part of his career to the planned exploitation of Third World economies on behalf of the interests of corporations, primarily American. He represents himself as one of many and his activities as being wholesale. Now, presumably repentent, he has become an advocate of traditional cultures worldwide.
Reading his story has reminded me of a young friend I have. Recently returned from a year's "service" in Afghanistan, I've pumped him for information of what it was like to be part of the U.S. military presence there. That didn't sound very interesting at all--his work being primarily to inventory munitions, but his attitude about what he was doing was. When asked what he thought we were doing there he said we were fighting the 9/ll terrorists. He had no idea that the purported highjackers were mostly Saudis, nor that Osama bin Laden wasn't an Afghani. Coming from a viewer of Fox television, this degree of ignorance would be appalling enough, but this guy had just spent a year there with hundreds of other volunteer soldiers. Presumably the subjects of 9/11 or of their mission would have come up in conversation. Does this imply that most of them are so woefully ignorant of what they're doing and why they are doing it?
People like my friend--for he is a very nice fellow--and Mr. Perkins, one of them simply misinformed, the other oh-so-clever, and what they do to others trouble me deeply.
Reading his story has reminded me of a young friend I have. Recently returned from a year's "service" in Afghanistan, I've pumped him for information of what it was like to be part of the U.S. military presence there. That didn't sound very interesting at all--his work being primarily to inventory munitions, but his attitude about what he was doing was. When asked what he thought we were doing there he said we were fighting the 9/ll terrorists. He had no idea that the purported highjackers were mostly Saudis, nor that Osama bin Laden wasn't an Afghani. Coming from a viewer of Fox television, this degree of ignorance would be appalling enough, but this guy had just spent a year there with hundreds of other volunteer soldiers. Presumably the subjects of 9/11 or of their mission would have come up in conversation. Does this imply that most of them are so woefully ignorant of what they're doing and why they are doing it?
People like my friend--for he is a very nice fellow--and Mr. Perkins, one of them simply misinformed, the other oh-so-clever, and what they do to others trouble me deeply.
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