What Uncle Sam Really Wants by Chomsky

This essay seeks to review the book What Uncle Sam Really Wants by Chomsky. It will take into consideration the main themes that the author intended to pass to the readers. The book focuses on the exploitation of the developing countries by the developed countries. Therefore, this paper will identify the main areas that the author has identified in the book in regards of the rich nations being unjust to the poor nations.

The author writes on the issue of the free trade in the world, where he is of the view that the free trade can be said to be concerned with providing subsidies to corporations. He figures out that there is nobody in the government or the corporate world who gives the concept of free trade the seriousness it deserves. The government usually uses public funds to fund wasteful production through funding research as well as developments.

The book also focuses on US foreign policies, which in a way have played a key role in opposing nationalism as well as many rights in third world countries. He gives instances where US planners gave their view that the source of threat for US are those nationalistic regimes that tend to respond to the demands for improvement of the standard of living of their masses. The planners, thus, focus their efforts on the history in preventing ultranationalist regimes from getting into power, and they are lucky to get into power they remove these regimes from. Thus, those individuals that support private investment get into power, and they do everything possible so as to transfer the profits outside the country in question.

The author is of the view that US usually prefers usage of force rather than diplomacy when it comes to matter affecting third world countries. The author in his book gives instances of the violence that US has been creating in countries of Middle East, Asia and Central America. The book, therefore, opens the reader by letting him/her know the evils that US commits in the name of helping third world countries, while in reality, their efforts are aimed at protecting their economic and political interests.

 The book also talks about the issues regarding the war and peace in the world. The book criticizes the war in Iraq funded by US government. The US main aim was to exploit Iraq’s oil resources with a view that it was protecting Kuwait. This shows the economic exploitation being carried out by powerful countries in the name of bringing peace and stability in the world. In this way, the developed countries use war technique to exploit the developing countries’ resources. This book provides the reader with grounds for critical evaluation and analysis of the so said ‘peace efforts’ by USA in third world countries.

The book also talks about discriminatory policies used by West countries when it comes to matters of peace and war. They tend to rally together to prevent Arabs countries from developing nuclear plants. They usually give unjustifiable reasons that these countries will be involved in terrorism activities by developing nuclear weapons. It is interesting that it is not a big issue when Israel is engaged in development of nuclear weapons, because they are allies in exploiting poor countries. The book shows that USA and her allies are not sincere with their so called ‘peace missions’ in prevention of Arab countries from developing nuclear plants.

I completely agree with the author’s criticism of the so called world military and economic powers. It is clear that even today they seek to bring instability in developing countries with an aim of exploiting resources from these countries. This is evident in many African countries; we can take for example the recent case in Libya. If USA is sincere with its peace policies in the world, why have they not taken initiatives to bring peace and political stability in Somalia?

I agree with the author on the issue of free trade as well, since it is a plot of developed countries to exploit developing countries. It is evident that those governments in developing countries that do not support policies from these countries usually face instability. If critically analyzed, the source of instability can be traced back from USA or her allies. Thus, the author’s view of free trade as a means of being used to benefit developed countries at the expense of the third world countries is true.

If developed countries are truly after helping third world countries fight poverty and diseases, why do they have to put conditions for them? This fundamental question should be asked by advocates of international equality. It is unjust that Americans having committed many crimes against humanity in their Middle East war are left to walk free. I truly agree with the book that USA is an enemy of progress for developing countries.

This book is best for policy makers and political scientists who are involved in world politics. The book has adequately addressed the issues of exploitation of developing countries’ resources by developed countries. Therefore, the book is very insightful on crimes being committed to the developing countries. The book has also used a simple language that is understandable for an average reader.