I was referring to the innate interconnectedness between economics and war: As it has been throughout the ages, as long as conquest has been the ambition of imperial leaders.

We only need to look across the Torres Strait to Bougainville , (click for lyrics of Penelope Swales' ballad) to understand the cold logic of resource monopoly, (in this case of Rio Tinto) and the way it subjects people to such states of desperation, that they need to fight for in order to exist.

In this era, oil defines geopolitics, because the rusty cogs of the economy are still driven by old-fashioned fossil fuel engines. See Project Underground , and Future Energy

Specifically, it is the economic belief in the virtues of accumulation whilst minimising distribution; and the belief that it is desirable to be higher than, better than or more than other people, (and the reality that you can obtain more consumer goods with more money), that is writ large in the policies of countries.

The new age 'war on terror' is one with no frontiers: one that classifies all people as potential suspects (some more than others, on the basis of appearance and name). One organisation in the US, Students for an Orwellian Society, has embraced this brave new world.

(Recently, I heard Howard say on the news "That would just be Orwellian". I wish I taped that soundbite...)

The ongoing conflict in Palestine/Israel, has now been reframed as part of the war 'against terror',

The occupation also has the added dimension of corporate imperialism, with the establishment of free trade zones in the West Bank, according to my friend R.

See the incredible Canadian site From Occupied Palestine

The Military-Industrial Complex is becoming a lucrative growth industry in its own right. Huge Defense exhibitions are are filling up the diaries of Government Bureaucrats worldwide. The Victorian Police have just purchased Taser Guns as their latest new disabling weapons.

Australia is committing to being more closely involved with the US's Star Wars Missile Defense Shield "Full Spectrum Dominance" program, particularly with its base at Pine Gap, in Alice Springs, possibly the most strategically important US Base outside the US. ( See the Anti-Bases website for a long term campaign perspective)

Other Stuff: Modern Geopolitical History

Immanuel Wallerstein: Summary of his World System Theory, U.S. Weakness and the Struggle for Hegemony, Resource Page.