Book Review:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Submitted By:
Zia ud din Ahmed
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Reviewed
Have you ever wondered why LDCs (Low Developing Countries) are under the plague of impossible debts; why the U.S. is so powerful; why the so-called civilized world consumes most of the world resources; why terrorism today is so ubiquitous nationally and internationally? Are you intrigued? Do read John Perkins’, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (EHM).
The book raises concerns about environment, culture and civilization, assimilation and absorption of diversity, world peace, pollution, resources depletion, exploitation of humans by humans and a great deal more. Having been the part of all this, the writer is an authority on the subject.
The book tracks the life of John Perkins, from his frustrated childhood through the diversity of his life well into his present concerns of educating the people about the global empire which is gnawing at the very roots of civilization. The book grows from a personal life into a universal concern of humanity, an honest self-exposure of a personality who witnessed and has been the part of what the handful sophisticated criminals plan against the weaker humanity; leading it to a worst kind of barbarism humankind has ever witnessed. It is no less a story of a prophet gone astray on the simple delusion of happiness in the worldly prosperity.
The Essay on Underground Man Dinner World Life
Notes from Underground is the narrative of a slightly mad, extremely alienated recluse set in St. Petersburg in the mid 1800 s. The text is divided into two parts: in the first, the anonymous Underground Man describes his views of the world, society, and human nature, most of which stem from his inability to integrate himself into society; the second part describes events in the Underground Man's ...
Insightful as it is, it reflects the hideous backdrop of the glorious façade of the modern civilization, which is insidiously the deadliest of the enemies of humanity; in the very heart of the symbol of civilization—the U.S. Torn between his erstwhile evil life and that of universal co-existence all the time as an EHM, the writer is ultimately found struggling to rid simple humanity of the clutches of tyranny, deceit, assassinations; employed in wrenching out its vital forces for the modern global emperors. It is the self-portrait of the person who although like Macbeth and Seneca kept mounting the ladder of evil, retained a soul smoldering all the time for the predicament of the suffering, starving and exploited weaker humanity; the human rights, environment conservation, justice for all; including the Third and Second Worlds. It’s a book about the modern slavery.
John Perkins reveals, how he directly witnessed some of the internationally most turbulent events of recent history such as Saudi Arabian Money Laundering affair, the fall of the Shah of Iran, Jaime Roldos’ and Omar Torrijo’s death, Panama Canal ownership and the US invasion of Panama, the reality behind Iraq War; he should know all these for being what he has been: an EHM.
John Perkins has lived multiple lives: as an EHM indebting the oil-rich countries; a partner with MAIN; as a CEO of an energy company; as a writer of many books, as a teacher; promoting ecology and sustainability; and finally as a writer with a mission—a crusader who is fighting the anti-civilization forces; for the rights of such diverse peoples as Indonesians, Arabs, Iranians, Panamians, Columbians, Ecuadorians etc.
The global empire which remained a dream of many emperors throughout human history has finally been achieved in its most virulent form by the ‘Corporatocracy’, consisting in the most destructive coalition ever: between the U.S. Government, CIA, U.S. forces, different kinds of hit men, multinational companies, U.S. Corporations; Halliburton and Bechtel; etc., multinational aid organizations, and the world renowned monetary organizations. We can now tell that the earlier emperors could not build the global empire despite all their planning and villainous craft, because they did not have the advantages of modern warfare like communications, media, distorted and misleading statistics, especially designed fraudulent studies; deceit, debauchery and an utter disregard to the suffering humanity!
The Essay on Modern Civilization
Modern Civilization revolves around Technology and the end goal of Technology is to remove the dirt from under the fingernails of Man and make him cultured. In fact, showing a great bias towards city dwellers, the word “Civilization” itself is derived from the Latin word “Civitas” which denotes the townsman who is more refined than his country dwelling contemporaries. But Modern culture and ...
Mr. Perkins begins as well as concludes that the role of coincidences in our lives and human responses to them has the greatest role in shaping the destiny, ours and that of the planet. His first-hand experiences show him that many of the ideas disseminated by the world empire builders are malicious, aiming at indoctrinating the simple humanity and strengthening the empire. The author is convinced that as a civilization we are virtually at the verge of self-destruction.
‘A great civilization cannot be destroyed from without unless it has not destroyed itself from within’; Will Durant’s statement is so apt applied to the U.S. global empire. Terrorism and the ubiquitous U.S. hatred are but natural corollaries to such an empire.
In the light of the piercing insights contained in the book, many recent, current, and near-future events, including a large scale wave of political unrest in the most oil-rich countries of the Middle East, Gadhafi’s overthrow, etc. are now easier to understand.
Threats and payoffs long kept the writer from confessing the part he played, in building the global empire, but then 9/11 happened, and ignoring the above, he unloaded his conscience. His daughter, Jessica, the horrifying actual statistics and the ugly scenario of the impact of modern global empire on the third world’s humanity finally prevailed upon him to write about it all.
It is a must-read book for the students and teachers of Economics, International Relations, History and Anthropology, Futurology; as well; for the general reader interested in human rights; to classify the book as a mere autobiography would detract from the real merits of the book. The book has a vast canvas of international socio-economic, geopolitical scenarios giving an insider’s insights, making the book an excellent reading for everyone. “The usurpers of the world resources are out there; beware!” is the message! The evil and mighty underworld with its bloody claws, the modern empire builders; with their aim of global colonization, is surreptitiously tearing down the civilization and taking over the world. If still the U.S. does not come to their senses, an alarming catastrophe awaits us all; and it is not far away.
The Term Paper on Internet made the world a Global Village
Gone are the days, when you had to wait for days or even hours to learn about news of some distant place an event taking place in one part of the world can be heard easily in the other. Perhaps, synchronization of such magnitude has really close-knitted this world together so much that it appears as a real single universal community comprising of different people. Thanks to technological ...
Mr. Perkins is not alone in discerning the implications of the present geo-economic situation brought about by the Empire; we see many U.S. reformers like Noam Chomsky, the movie director of Erin Brockovich, the co-creators of the famous documentary The Arrivals are also in line.
The book, however is not without hope; the writer believes that the U.S. in the first time in human history is in a position to rid humanity of all it problems and evils, with its unprecedented access to the world resources, fastest communications, wonder-technologies, superior army, and “by committing ourselves to navigating a course towards compassion, democracy and social justice for all”. The same Corporatocracy has the potential to achieve this miracle.
There is hardly any question which the writer leaves unanswered. The book is ideally organized: it chronologically narrates the life history of the writer. There is all the richness of narration; interspersed lively dialogues, descriptions, together with the elements of drama and simplicity of expression; all these make it an interesting reading recommending itself to every human being.
The reader might find the following insights of the writer intriguing:
“The objective of foreign aid is imperialism . . .”; “The loans ensure that today’s children and their grandchildren will be held hostages. They will have to allow our corporations to ravage their natural resources and will have to forgo education, health and other social services merely to pay us back.”; “The U.S. spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the UN estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitation services, and basic education to every person on the planet . . . ”; “Oil companies wantonly pump toxins into rain forest rivers, consciously killing people, animals and plants, and committing genocide among ancient cultures . . . ”; “ . . . and we wonder why terrorists attack us.”!
The Essay on Russian Empire Union World Political
1533-1584 The Russian Empire, covering over one-sixth of the world, is governed by the sovereignty of Czar Ivan the Terrible. The feudal system oppresses every man, woman and child as the Czar releases "Tax Collectors" to maintain support for the nobles in the land. Brigands and financial extortionists persecute any lower class citizen who refuses to help contribute to the Czar's regime. 1682-1725 ...
However, the book is not wholly convincing in the solution part (Epilogue); how, for instance, “read(ing) a book”, “exercise, meditate” downsizing the U.S. public’s consumption will assuage the greed of the empire builders. He acts as if the U.S. is the sole power playing this game.e.g. He ignores the Chinese influence in Panama. The book lacks testimonial evidence at some places e.g. no proof that CIA was involved in the killings of the leaders of Ecuador and Panama.
Again, addressing mainly the U.S. public, Mr. Perkins does not seem to believe that the rest of the world including the LDCs can and may have a very strong role in deterring the empire builders. He simply does not recommend anything as to what the exploited should do to expedite the fall of this global empire. Statements addressing the U.S. citizens like “It is within our power to transform ourselves, to change the paradigm.” reflect rather too nationalistic an approach, especially, when the world around has lost every hope in the U.S. The book, therefore, may appear; to some; deficient and limited in its appeal, in this context alone.
The contentions of the author are well-evidenced and properly referenced; the notes carry such authentic sources as Reports of UN, Time magazine, New York Times, Guardian, CNN, USA Today; websites like www.dreamchange.org; www.worldbank.org, www.wfp.org , and a host of other research books as Shadow Warrior: The CIA Hero of 100 Unknown Battles, , Henry’s The Blood Bankers, Pamela Martin’s Globalization of Contentious Politics, P.W. Singer’s Corporate Warrior, etc.; all corroborate John Perkin’s contentions.
