Capitalism as an economic system takes no prisoners. Its brutal laws dictate that, when your opponent is down, you take full advantage of the opportunity to strengthen your own position, downgrading, or even killing your competitor’s business in the process. The philosophy behind this system is very simple "Every Man for Himself" and "May the Strongest Win". This manner of operating an economic system has inevitably resulted in a growing concentration of economic power in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

This method of running the world is fundamentally endorsed by all of the capitalist governments in all countries. Yes, there are differences of shade between them, as some clearly are more socially oriented than others, but none of them will challenge the fundamental principles of the system. And since social services are costly, countries with the fewest services will gain advantage over their competitors. Thus we see today an attack on the living standards of the working class in all the developed nations and an ever-greater concentration of wealth accumulating at the top.

It would be fair to lay the blame for this trend today at the foot of the United States of America, since all of the capitalist states participate in this process. Individual countries through economic unions and large free trade pacts strengthen their positions vis-à-vis the world competitors, thereby dividing the world into a handful of large competing regions. It hardy needs to be said that democracy is not enhanced by this process, as individual countries yield more and more of their powers to larger and often un-elected boards and commissions, who rule on the basis of what is in the best interest of the multinationals within their collective region, in order to keep them competitive with outside forces.

To enforce and strengthen this process even further, countries which are un-cooperative or outright oppose it are threatened with economic boycotts, sanctions, embargoes and even military intervention. In this process the USA, as the strongest nation and at the head of NATO, leads the wolf pack in the attack. Frequently its intelligence apparatus zero in on the local sensitivities within the country, stirring up discord and mistrust among its people, thereby forcing the government to react. These secretive actions are further re-enforced by the seeding of inaccurate, misleading and outright false information among the population, thereby further eroding the support and authority of the government. At the opportune moment, when the political climate is considered ripe, they strike, overthrow the government and replace it with a number of handpicked individuals, who dance to the capitalist tune like puppets on a string.

Large countries, which could form a threat to US hegemony of the world, like the Russian Federation, China, and ultimately even the European Union, will be threatened with division of their own territories as the battle for hegemony progresses. Carving them up into smaller units reduces the possibility of any of them becoming a serious challenge to the USA, something that the US has vowed to prevent.

A few examples – The former Soviet Union’s 15 Republics were broken up into 15 independent countries after the dissolution of the USSR. One by one of the new rulers of these countries, many of them are anything but democratic, have taken the bait (bribes might be a better word) of US dollars in so-called "aid", usually in exchange for US military presence on their territory. Multinational corporations are not far behind, with their greedy eyes focused on access to each nation’s resources. Out of these 15 separate countries in ex-USSR, only the Russian Federation with its huge land mass and rich resources and still in possession of a large weapons arsenal, could yet present a challenge to US hegemony, even though its erstwhile powers are reduced considerably. That is why one might expect in the coming years that friction and turmoil will be generated in the Russian Federation, in an effort to split the country into many independent pieces. The seemingly unsolvable problem in Chechnya for example, maybe just a forerunner of what is to come in this scenario.

The former Yugoslav Federation is another example. Unwilling to conform to the rules of the New World Order, and being located in the heart of Europe, it simply had to go. The Balkan region, which has a long and a very troubled history, succeeded after World War II in uniting a number of ethnic peoples into the Yugoslav Federation, which under its own form of socialism managed to live peacefully together for about 50 years. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the return to capitalism in most East European nations however, Yugoslavia was considered out of step with the rest of Europe and old feuds were re-awakened to ensure its break-up. In this case, military force was used to ensure its success.

A region to watch today is South America, which the USA attempts to bring under its umbrella through the Freed Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). However, some countries prefer a different trade pact, uniting just the South American nations, which are at a more equal level in their development. With the backing of the USA, the democratically elected government of Venezuela was already overthrown once, albeit this coup was reversed in two days. And there’s hardly any need to mention the Middle East, as the process of dividing and carving up the Arab world is presently on going for everyone to see.

China has the potential to become perhaps the greatest challenger to US hegemony. It’s own brand of "Chinese Socialism" now incorporates more and more capitalist methods, including the great inflow of multinationals and its own growing capitalist class, which is represented even in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China! In the long run, this does not bode well for China’s huge working class, as they will be subjected to the same pressures on wages and social services as the working peoples everywhere. Stirring up troubles to split China into smaller segments may be just a matter of time.

There is huge opposition to these developments in all corners of the world, as evidenced by the massive demonstrations at every international meeting of the world’s powerful leaders. But despite some delays and victories achieved in this manner, the process continues to role along. Many people who thought that the end if the Cold War and the bi-polar world that existed before the fall of the Soviet Union, would see great benefits for the common people, now are beginning to realize that the unipolar world led by the United States of America is bringing more harm than good. And for all the old rhetoric about the Soviet Union, and Ronald Reagan’s description of the USSR as the "evil empire", it is becoming evident day by day that such an empire is rapidly developing in the land if the former accuser, the USA!

As for the people in the former Soviet Union, while a few have made fortunes in the past ten years, most are worst off now than before the collapse of their country. And while it is understandable that they do not want to return to the former system as was practiced after 1953, they would be wise to reconstruct socialism on the existing remnants and start building anew. They were the pioneers of the first Socialist State in the world. Next time they could be the pioneers of the best Socialist State on this earth. They would do not only themselves, but all working people of the world a huge favour!