petras-lahaine | Introduction: Wall Street and the Pentagon greeted
the onset of 2016 as a ‘banner year’, a glorious turning point in the
quest for malleable regimes willing to sell-off the most lucrative
economic resources, to sign off on onerous new debt to Wall Street and
to grant use of their strategic military bases to the Pentagon.
Brazil and Argentina, the most powerful and richest countries in
South America and the Philippines, Washington’s most strategic military
platform in Southeast Asia, were the objects of intense US political
operations in the run-up to 2016.
In each instance, Wall Street and the Pentagon secured smashing
successes leading to premature ejaculations over the ‘new golden era’ of
financial pillage and unfettered military adventures. Unfortunately,
the early ecstasy has turned to agony: Wall Street made easy entries and
even faster departures once the ‘honeymoon’ gave way to reality. ; The
political procurers persecuted center-left incumbents but, were soon to
have their turn facing prosecution. The political prostitutes, who had
decreed the sale of sovereignty, were replaced by nationalists who would
turn the bordello back into a sovereign nation state.
This essay outlines the rapid rise and dramatic demise of these
erstwhile ‘progeny’ of Wall Street and the Pentagon in Argentina and
Brazil, and then reviews Washington’s shock and awe as the newly elected
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte embraced new ties with China
while proclaiming, ‘We are no one’s ‘tuta’ (puppy dog)!’
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