Im going to post this here, although Im not sure how long this will stay up on Youtube, so if you want to watch it, do so soon. Whilst I think this documentary is fundamentally flawed in some ways which Ill explain, it also contains some quite fascinating history and insights which are rare for the BBC to delve into. Particularly regarding the role of Saudi Arabia and some of the complexities of the war in Afghanistan. This deeply disorientating and darkly depressing documentary explores the initial deal between the West and Saudi Arabia which exchanged oil for protection of the Saudi state, which resulted in the ability of Saudi Arabia to export its Wahhabi theology around the globe. Then, in the 1970s (in response to the Wests support for Israel) to raise the price of oil precipitating the collapse of manufacturing industry across Europe and North America, creating recession, social deprivation and unrest, the economic and political consequences of which are still very visible today. It also explores the other outcome of the establishing of this relationship - the creation of petrodollars and the power that this huge reserve of finance capital outside of sovereign control gave to the banks to shape and create social, political and economic policy, ultimately leading to the the collapse of the banking industry, and again, the impoverishment of the ordinary people who have been forced to pay for it. In Afghanistan, it details how the West in effect returned to power the very same warlords which the Taliban had removed, after their infighting had largely devastated Afghanistan after the end of the Soviet-Afghan war. It looks at the corruption of the new Afghan state, and how the role of western forces in propping up a corrupt government created local resentment and then painted all resistance to this corruption in very simplified terms, labelling anyone who opposed it as Taliban. At the same time, this created an opportunity for the actual Taliban to re-emerge and capitalise on the fundamental errors of western policy to regain renewed local support. It is that regard that the documentary becomes flawed. Interspersed with clips from Carry On films, it portrays western policy as haphazard and directionless, all the time responding to events which happen to it as unfortunate accidents or unforeseen consequences of well intentioned policies. I dont believe thats the case, and I think portraying the progression of the events in that way is a deliberate deception, an attempt to prevent too much introspection as to why it is that the West behaves this way. The answer is rather more simple, and fundamental. It is that the Wests policy is not driven by good intentions, the Wests policies are driven by short term special interests geared towards the acquisition of resources and access to markets. This has nothing to do with democracy or spreading goodwill and happiness to all men, its about profit. Its about corporate power, and the warlords who control our own societies, monopolise political power, and try to shape the world to their own advantage through state violence. This same theme runs through all of our foreign policy, wars and interventions, and through domestic policy, banking, credit and finance capital. To omit this glaringly obvious thread which ties all of these events together, leading to a depressing and mystified conclusion at the end of the film is a startling betrayal of reality, and an insult to the viewers intelligence... but there you go, thats the BBC for you. That said, this is quite a captivating film which presents some interesting information and analysis, and is well worth the two hours it takes to watch.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 12:14:36 +0000
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