Bush's election defeat sounds the death knell of Reaganism, which represented a rightward lurch by an imperialism in decline. Our bet is that his Democrat successor will have no more success in reversing the course of history. *
Angeles.
SALAH JABER
D
RESIDENT BUSH inherited the mantle of Ronald Reagan, whose vice-president he had been. When the former actor took the helm of state, the American empire was in profound crisis. Nothing had gone right for the imperial United
States; in the wake of the sharp blow to the prestige of the executive dealt by
Nixon's Watergate scandals, Jimmy Carter took office on the "Mr.
Clean" ticket to inaugurate a presidency that, in 1979, saw both the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua and the overthrow of the Shah of Iran by
Islamic fundamentalists. The same year saw the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
— Moscow's first military adventure outside its accepted sphere of influence since the
Second World War.
This was the background
7 A when Reagan took control, dressed as an anti-Communist crusader.
Drawing on his cinematic experience, he employed powerful Made in Hollywood images: cowboy, western, star wars, Evil
Empire. The "Great Communicator" knew how to give his fellow Americans the illusion of restored glory. He had no trouble getting re-elected. His second term came at the same time as the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire, the very objecti-
2:
ve in whose name he had come to power.
believes crowing.
~c
International Viewpoint # 239
November 23, 1992 by the interests of the famous "militaryindustrial complex" was certainly not the ultimate cause of the collapse of the Soviet empire, but it certainly speeded up its coming to fruition.
However, there was a less shiny side to the Reagan medal. Republican prodigality in arms spending did not only stretch Moscow to breaking point; it was also beyond the means of Washington. The Reagan administration saw the culmination of a mechanism at work since the Vietnam War whereby the US would get its imperialist partners to finance its wars, be they hot or cold.
Taking advantage of their privileged position as the keystone of the world capitalist market, the US ran up a colossal debt which, even in relative terms, would