Don't discount geopolitics

Regarding the article "Let's All Construct a New World Order," Sept. 27: Although the mention of "The Coming War With Japan," by George Friedman and Meredith LeBard prompted me to read the book myself, I cannot say I completely agree with the writer's analysis. While US foreign policy may not simply be the work of evil, nasty minds, it has often benefited from international political instability.As each state produces for a profit, while compensating its workers with only a minute fraction of the value of goods and services they produce, periodic crises of overproduction arise. Each state must dominate and/or conquer the markets of other states in order to rid itself of the resulting glut of goods. Given the current intensity of US imperialism on the world market and the rapid expansionism of industrial Japan, it is not at all outrageous to speculate on the possibility of a US-Japan war. The statement, "In fact, modern communications and the rapid internationalization of commerce have to some degree outdated old-fashioned geopolitics" conveniently ignores the imperialist history and ongoing record of the US. In a quest for cheap labor, raw materials, and profitable markets, the US has done whatever it deemed necessary, including manipulating the European balance of power and capriciously interfering in Latin America. Christopher I. Clement, Lauderhill, Fla.

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