ORGANISING to rebuild the inter-national economic system during World War II, 730 delegates from all 44 allied nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, also known as the Bretton Woods Conference, from July 1 to 22, 1944. They signed agreements to regulate the international monetary system. These established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which today is part of the World Bank Group.

The United States of America (US), which controlled two-thirds of the world’s gold, ensured that the Bretton Woods system rested on both gold and the US dollar. Soviet representatives attended the conference but later declined to sanction the final agreements, asserting that the institutions they had created were “branches of Wall Street”.

During the initial stage of Bretton Woods agreement the US produced half the manufactured good and held 67 per cent of the gold reserves, but today the US accounts for about 19 per cent of Gross World Product, while China accounts for about 16 per cent.

Although the US has the largest gold reserves in the world, it is not enough to peg its currency to the gold it has. The US dollar is not backed by gold as was agreed to by the Bretton Woods agreement. According to the International Monetary Fund, China has the world’s largest economy: China makes up 16.48 per cent of the world’s purchasing-power adjusted GDP (or US$17.632 trillion), and the US makes up just 16.28 per cent (or US$17.416 trillion). The US is a net importer and net borrower, so how much longer will the US dollar be the world global currency? If you have the largest debt in the world (US$17.4 trillion), which is 100% of your GDP, do you have the world most reliable currency? Seventy-one years ago it was the British Pound.

Global war

After September 11, 2001 the US declared its war on terrorism. The first time in recorded history a country declared war on a tactic. Since the US was the only world superpower, and has military presence in over a 150 countries, it was the declaration of the third world war. A series of wars was declared officially in Iraq and Afghanistan, and unofficially in countries in such as Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Syria, etc, with drones (automated weapons) strikes. Back then al-Qaeda was the main target; today its ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). According to the US, ISIS has members from of at least 88 countries fighting in Iraq and Syria, so it is a de facto world war — although not officially recognised as such. Using mainly the vehicle of NATO, the US has many nations engaged in its global war on terrorism. Some say it is a global war with non-State actors, while others says it is asymmetrical global war. It is a 21st century war with innovative tactic and weapons on both sides.

My view of the US war on terrorism is akin to its war on drugs; costly and ineffective. What is being done to prevent people from joining organisations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda? Killing insurgents has bred revenge and has consequentially induced others to join rather than intimidate the adversary to surrender.

In 1971, President Nixon declared the US’s war on drugs, and they have spent over US$1 trillion on this war; yet drugs-use has spread to most country and hundreds of thousands tons of illegal drugs continue to be smuggled into the US annually. Thousands of people have died and the world has seen the proliferation, instead of decrease, in response to the declared US war on drugs.

Since the US war on terrorism was declared, the US has spent over $5 trillion and counting. Terrorism has increased because there was no ISIS and al-Qaeda is still active globally. Thousands have died from more than 50 countries due to this global war on terrorism.

The results of war

In Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, he says when people no longer fear your power it is a sign that a greater power is coming. It seems to me a lot of countries are challenging the US (Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia, China, Cuba, Argentina, etc). Antigua and Barbuda won a case against the US in April 2005 at WTO, but the US has not compensated our Caribbean brother yet. We in Latin America and the Caribbean are locked into the US global hegemony. After the 1823 Monroe Doctrine we generally complied with the directives from Washington, whether out of persuasive inducement, fear, force, and duress or due to incentives. Jamaica has always been a global player and, at times, had policy contrary to what Washington wants. However, Jamaica is mainly US and Euro-centric in doing business. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are the future of geopolitics, and Jamaica will put itself in good stead by increasing the amount of business done with this bloc.

In my view, the parade will soon be over. We must start to prepare to survive and flourish in the global change that will involve the decline of the US as the world superpower within the century. We must not be diminished as an important world player. This natural order has happened to Egypt, Carthage, Greece, Rome, Spain, Britain, Russia, and preliminarily the US. We can either adapt or become a victim of the tidal wave of history.

Brian E Plummer is an educator for 21 years at both the secondary and tertiary levels. Comments to: brianplummer@yahoo.com