Nhân dịp ở nhà quá lâu thì Lăng recommend cho mình quyển này. Nên giờ mình cũng muốn recommend cho mọi người. Quyển này thực sự rất đáng đọc, đọc xong hiểu ra cách Mỹ lôi kéo đồng minh để làm bá chủ thế giới ntn. Đọc xong mới ngẫm ra à thì ra tư tưởng đế quốc của họ đã có từ rất lâu rồi. Nếu thế giới là một xã hội thu nhỏ thì các nước lớn cũng như những người giàu. Họ hơn người thường một cái đầu, và cái đầu đó luôn có tham vọng, mưu mẹo khôn ngoan để dòng tiền luôn trở về nuôi béo chính họ. Đọc xong rồi ngẫm tiếp không biết đằng sau quan hệ ngoại giao và các khoản viện trợ của Mỹ, Nhật, Hàn cho Việt Nam cần đánh đổi những gì. Cái đó chẳng ai dám nói hay viết ra.

Đọc xong mà cảm thấy buồn cho tình cảnh của các nước nằm trong âm mưu của Mỹ, là các bậc thang xếp gọn để Mỹ bước lên đến đỉnh vinh quang: Panama, Ecuado, Venezuala, Iraq, Iran, Ả rập, (OPEC) Afghanistan.. và cả những nc nghèo như Indo, Việt Nam. Có lẽ là những người dân chứng kiến những gì Mỹ đã làm bây giờ đã k còn nữa, họ đã thuộc về một thế giới khác, những thế hệ tiếp theo sẽ k được kể những câu chuyện này (như mình hoàn toàn k ai giải thích cho) và đối với riêng Việt Nam thì chiến tranh đã qua rồi, kinh tế cũng khá hơn trước. Nhưng hiện tại hậu quả vẫn đang còn tồn tại ở nhiều nơi. Đọc xong mình ko thấy ghét Syria, Cuba, Iran hay các nước bị cấm vận nữa. Mình thấy thương những người dân sống ở đó nhiều hơn. Thực tế thì họ đã ko đc phép lựa chọn hoàn cảnh của mình.

Trùng hợp là mình cũng bắt đầu 1 công việc ở MUFG Bank trong mảng Scan sanctions. (FYI Cv nghe có vẻ nguy hiểm sang choảnh nhưng mình vẫn cảm thấy buồn nhiều lắm vì ko còn đc hoang dại thoải mái như trc, và mình vẫn ăn 1 mình và k nói chuyện với ai :) Công việc chính của mình là check các giao dịch có liên quan đến 5 nước bị cấm vận, xong mình kiểu vừa đọc quyển này vừa thấy tội họ. Chắc nói ra bị Sếp vs đồng nghiệp chửi cho mất. Nhưng thực tế là chính phủ của các nc đó cũng k được lựa chọn làm người tốt, còn những người dân thì quá vô tội.

Thôi thì vì mình cũng ko giàu, vì mình sinh ra từ một nước nghèo, nên sẽ học cách trân trọng những gì mình đang có vậy, sẽ bù đắp vật chất bằng tinh thần, tình cảm, văn chương, và nhìn vào những điều tốt đẹp. Đó cũng là một cách vui vẻ mà sống, đó là tạm quên đi năng lực vốn có và hoàn cảnh k thể nào thay đổi, vui vẻ chọn sống như một người bình thường. Còn những nước giàu như Mỹ thì dù có nhiều tiền họ cũng chẳng mấy vui vẻ khi hiểu được vì sao họ lại giàu. Trừ phi họ có thể quên đi. Việc sống ntn phụ thuộc vào lựa chọn mỗi người thôi.

Terrible. Here's the book in a nutshell. "I'm in <3rd world country> doing . I feel bad about this. I meet . He takes me to . I learn . I return to my out of touch american enclave and happen upon . He  like a prophet." The process then repeats.


Anyway, I'm sure the ideas in this book will help some 19 year old get laid. and if you are that 19 year old then I can not recommend this book highly enough.

I don't know why I keep reading books like this...I only get more and more depressed about the state of the world. Perkins' story is well told and it kept me interested throughout.

Like a lot of other political books I've read of late, this one is made even more relevant by the events that have occurred even in the short time since it was published. The book tells the tale of the American led imperialism around the world leading up to the events of 9/11 and even the subsequent invasion of Iraq. The sad part is the characters have barely changed in the past 30 years -- the same few idiots have manipulated world affairs and they are still doing it. Dick Cheney foremost among them. I'll tell you this, if you have any doubts that the Bechtels and Halliburtons of the world are in charge of everything - including American foreign policy -- this book will rid you of those doubts.

One bright spot is that Perkins ends the book with some advice on how we as real Americans can change things. I'm not optimistic that we can, but at least there are some things we can do short of revolution.

Anyway, interesting that I chose to read this on the heels of 1984. Power corrupts...

خانه از پای بست ویران است
خواجه در بندِ نقشِ ایوان است
به اسطوره های شر که می اندیشم، و وضعیت را که در ذهن مرور می کنم. گمانم می برد به لِویاتان! هیولایی که از ژرفای آب های تیره گون بیرون می آید و هر آن چیزی که نشان از زندگی دارد را در کام خود می کِشد و می کُشد. پس چنین است که این روزها که خبر قرارداد 25 ساله و همه جانبه ی حکومت چین با حکومت ایران را می خوانم-قرادادی که هیچ چیز از جزییاتش روشن و بازگو نشده است و حکومت چین برای نگاهبانی در اجرای آن گویی نیروهایی نظامی را هم از ارتشِ خودش به کار خواهد گرفت- و هنگامی که از میانِ فصل های کتاب می گذرم، بهتر درک می کنم آن چیزی را که دارد رخ می دهد و خوب تر می فهمم معنای چوب حراج به دارایی های کشور زدن را. بهتر می فهمم تاراج را وبهتر درک می کنم تن دادن به مال اندوزی و نفی شرافت زندگی را، و فقرِ بیشتر فقیران را و پروارتر شدنِ هر روزه ی تازه به دوران رسیدگان را. نبودِ آگاهی را که قدرت است و ایمان می آورم که امیدواریِ دروغین بزرگترین خیانت است دستِ کم به خویشتن و می دانم که هیچ معجزی در کار نخواهد بود تا آن زمان که هر نجات دهنده ای بیرون از آدمیانِ یک سرزمین باشد. روزهای امروز روشن ترین روزهاست برای روزهایی که نابینایی تمام را زیست خواهیم کرد و شگفتا از آنانی که هنوز پایبند مانده اند به دروغ... شگفتا

سیزدهم تیرداد 1399 خورشیدی

I don't normally read biographies however this one was different. The author is interesting as he is an economic hit man. I don't want to give too much away however this is a story of US policies abroad fueled by business interest of a select few. Typically for profit, typically for energy (oil) and major infrastructure construction. The author takes you on a journey from Panama to Indonesia to the middle east. You learn why we look the other way with anything involving Saudi Arabia. You learn about Iran, Iraq and the role the US played there. You learn about the jackals (CIA) and the role they play and when sometimes the military is called for unnecessary wars. It is a good book and will leave you questioning your country and your motives. Good book. Read it.

The scariest thing about this book is that if you read it having read nothing about the CIA or the overseas financial games the agency (and US corporations acting with CIA influence) has played around the world, it seems like frightening fiction written by a conspiratorial nutjob. If you read it having read a few books about the history of the CIA, you're twice as scared because you know it all may be true. Perkins writing is fitting for the topic, and reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman is very much like reading a sprawling Ludlum conspiracy thriller. Once again, a nonfiction book proves that reality is just as crazy as any writer's imagination... unless the whole thing never happened, and Perkins is still working for the CIA, this time as an Information Hitman. (In which case, don't be surprised.)

NC

2.5 stars. The subject matter is interesting enough, and the author ties together a couple of threads of history in an engaging way. Kinda basic “US rich and bad, poor country good” stuff. Definitely worth a read if you want to feel better about USAID getting cut. But this book is very seriously flawed. A huge portion of the book is written in quotes, from world leaders, in one on one conversations, that happened 30 years previously. It’s pretty clear he’s just putting words in people’s mouths to get to the point.

But the real problem with this book is that I am 75% sure that the author is a paranoid schizophrenic. He asserts that a deep state (CIA or NSA? Don’t remember) agent recruited him to be an economist for a World Bank type agency and then laid out the United States’ plan for global financial world domination. This deep state agent is also a beautiful woman and they make passionate love, and no one has ever met her, and then he tried to track her down and she disappears. And that is just the tip of the iceberg of the “sure ya did, pal” stuff. He also mentions that some nefarious deep state types tried to prevent him from publishing the book.

Clearly, the deep state was unsuccessful in persuading Berrett-Kohler’s Publishing to pull the book, and they also have no pull with The New York Times, who have featured it as a best-seller multiple times (he has re-released this book like four times in 16 years). The deep state also has no sway over Sting, front man of The Police and Oscar Nominee for his single “My Funny Friend and Me” on The Emperor’s New Groove soundtrack - Sting was generous enough to provide the first blurb on the back cover of this book about global economics.

Anyways I finished the original text of this book, and I don’t think I’m going to continue into the bonus content. There are another 10 chapters left in this book about China’s Economic Hitman Strategy that honestly look more interesting than the original book, but the first chapter is titled, “Was I Poisoned?” so I’m just finished with this guy.

This is garbage. Worse than that, I think this book is dangerous. First of all, I think Perkins is a total liar. I don’t doubt that there are people out there that make their living by betting against developing countries, and I don’t doubt that there are people who have an economic incentive for progressive third world leaders to fail. But I really doubt that the way these people ply their trade is by having beautiful blonds show young business guys (in this case, Perkins) the dark path by intellectually seducing them in Boston apartments while going around calling themselves hitmen. It really stretches the realm of the believable.

And no, just because no one has called him a liar doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth, it means that his argument is so insanely overdrawn that serious people in positions of power do not take him seriously.

Which leads me to my next point. This book is dangerous. Its dangerous because it feeds into the stupid left conspiracies that keep progressive economists impotent. There is a world wide conspiracy! They meet in dark rooms and plot our destruction! Nothing is that simple, folks, and until we give up on fairy tales and start looking at the global economy as it exists, meaning as a complicated world where many powerful people are at cross purposes and no few grand conspiracies ever come to fruition we are bound to lose.

My short review is this: 'Confessions' is a good introduction to the darker side of foreign policy and the effects of globalization.

My slightly longer explanation is this: Paradoxically, what makes the book more accessible is also what turns many people off to it. It takes a chunk of history about a particular topic, and describes it in largely narrative form. Much of this is due to the book being an 'account' of Perkins' career during that time. Admittedly, it becomes somewhat taxing at times to slog through Perkins attempt at literary description (I doubt I'd read a fiction novel from him). However, the book is still mostly content, and important content at that. The topic is mainly about how the altruism of globalization is a hoax, and how our government does some quite terrible things to maintain its interests.
I've heard many people complain about not being able to sympathize with the author, but I don't really think that's the point. If you're looking for a good fire-side read, this isn't it. Additionally, I'm amazed how many people have simply brushed the book off with an "I don't buy it". The book is meant as a spring-board, not a road-map. Agree or not, at least go out and do some research on the topic. To simply disagree with an idea because it's hard to swallow is a level of self-denial that keeps therapists in business.
So, ultimately, if you're new to the field of globalization and global politics, this is a good, radical, introduction (even though it may be counter to the view you hold right now, it's always good to know what the other side's argument is). If you're already well versed in the subject, you can probably skip this one. Read more Chomsky.

كتاب ممتع يمكن إنهاؤه في أسبوع بمعدل 40 صفحة يومياً أو أكثر.
طبعا كما هو واضح، يتحدث "جون بركينز" في الكتاب عن أكثر من مجرد اعترافات، هو يسرد تاريخ منطقة الشرق الأوسط و أمريكا اللاتينية في السنوات الأخيرة بطريقته الخاصة، لأنها أحداث عايشها أو كان طرفاً في أحداثها.
يشرح كيف أن الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية تسعى منذ سنوات إلى التوسع والسيطرة على المناطق الإستراتيجية المهمة في العالم بمبرّرات كاذبة. فهي تارة تدّعي التدخل لإسقاط دكتاتور وتارة أخرى تدّعي التدخل لحماية أمنها من تهديد بلد ٱخر.
لكن الكتاب يرتكز حول مفهوم واحد هو "القرصان الاقتصادي" التي كانت مهنة سرّية وغير رسمية للكاتب نفسه.
تنص خطة الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية على اتباع 3 خطوات بالترتيب الٱتي :
1- القرصان الاقتصادي : يتم تدريبهم بطرق رسمية أو بطرق غير رسمية (الجزاء والعقاب) لكي يقوموا بدراسة فرص النمو الاقتصادي في دولة ما لأجل اقناعها بقبول ديون من المؤسسات الأمريكية لأجل تطوير البنى التحتية والمرافق وغيرها.. بحيث تعجز عن ردّ الديون للمؤسسات الأمريكية وهنا تجد نفسنا في قبضة الولايات المتحدة التي تطلب ثروات طبيعية ضماناً لاسترداد ديونها. القرصان يجب أن ينجح في هذه المهمة تماما كما حدث في السعودية مع ٱل سعود . إن لم ينجح يتم اللجوء للخطوة الثانية.
2- تدخّل الثعالب : مهمّتهم هي التدخل بعد فشل القراصنة، وهم أكثر عنفاً من القراصنة، حيث أنهم يلجؤون لاغتيال الأفراد الذين يقفون في وجههم بعد فشل سياسة الاغراق بالديون. أو يلجؤون لإثارة الرأي العام حولهم لإسقاطهم في ثورات ويضتون مكانهم دمى تخدم أمريكا (مثال : الشاه الذي حل محل مصدّق في إيران ). لكنهم قد يفشلون أحيانا .. تماما كما فشلوا في فنزويلا مع هوجو تشافيز وفي العراق مع صدام حسين .
3- الغزو العسكري : هو ٱخر حلّ بعد فشل القراصنة والثعالب. تلجأ أمريكا للغزو عسكريا وتتدخل بالعنف لتحصل على ما تريد وكل نذا تحت غطاء الدفاع عن الحقوق والحريات والديمقراطية . مثال: غزو العراق بعد غزوه للكويت. غزو بنما ..

ما يجعل أمريكا في نقطة قوة هو حصولها على امتياز الدولار الذي يعتبر العملة الأقوى في سوق العملات العالمية قبل منافسة اليورو وحتى بعدها. ما دامت أوراق الدولار تُطبع في أمريكا دون مقابل من الذهب أو من الاقتصاد الحقيقي، فإنها تسمح لنفسها بطبع المزيد كلما رغبت في اغراق دولة بالديون، وبالتالي تتأكد من أنها لن تعيدها وهنا تحتكر ثرواتها كضمانات وتبني شركاتها هناك لاستغلال الأفراد والموارد.
أمريكا أوهمت العالم أن نظامها الاقتصادي والسياسي هو الأفضل من بين جميع الأنظمة. في حين أنه مبني على بعض الأوهام الكبيرة.
هذا الكتاب سيجعلك تعيش في عقل وضمير واحد ممن ساهموا في اغراق العديد من البلاد بالديون وقدموا دراسات اقتصادية مضخّمة لأجل تبرير الديون و إغرائها.

ما يجب تذكره هنا أن أمريكا لا تهتم بحقوق الشعوب في الحياة أو الحرية .. ما يهمها هو شيء واحد: المصالح من بترول وثروات ودعم أيديولوجي .. ولأجل هذا الشيء تدوس أرواحاً . لذلك توقفوا عن تصديق مبرراتها الواهية حين ترغب في التدخل عسكريا في بلدانكم !

This book goes hand in hand with The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Recommended.

Lent to me by an acquaintance who seems unable or unwilling to listen to me when I explained that I have done PhD work in the area and was already quite familiar with the topics treated by this book. He appeared to be both surprised and irritated that I had learned nothing new from the book, except for the fact that the School of the Americas began in Panama rather than at Ft. Benning, and still seems unable to fathom that I have been advocating essentially the same things that the author lists in his sets of action items for over twenty years, now. Mansplaining...