icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
21 Dec, 2010 12:10

WikiLeaks exposed US as global bully undermining democracies – American author

WikiLeaks exposed US as global bully undermining democracies – American author

Revelations by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks have shown America's role in global affairs as one of a bully, best-selling US author and broadcaster Laura Flanders told RT.

“It has been very interesting in the WikiLeaks documents that have been released in the last few weeks. As we’ve seen the American power is not just in how many weapons this country has, but in the pressure it is able to bear on just about every embassy around the world to do its bidding,” she said. “A US arms race to become by far the most weaponized nation on earth is an asset when it comes to the State Department bullying other countries and undermining their democracy to get what they want. You’ve seen tremendous power come to the US but you’ve come to see, I think, the cost as our economy trembles.”Laura Flanders said that the leaks exposing Washington's hidden agenda have made Americans think the government and the media are not giving them the full story, and the people are unclear about who they can trust.“The populace is realizing that the government isn’t really working in their interest, it’s really not listening to them,” she said. “And not only is there information being withheld by the government, but the government is lying to the people, flat out to their face. We are getting a sense of that now, on both the economic front and the foreign policy front – and the question is when there will be a coherent response.”The author added that the nature of US democracy is such that President Obama has his hands being tied by the people who financially supported his presidential campaign. “We’ve got a very, very troubled democracy in the US where corporate influence is run amok,” Flanders said. “Barack Obama came to office on the back of a lot of campaign contributions, first and foremost from Wall Street. So, in some sense if he wants to get re-elected and keep friendly with those who brought him into office on the financial side – well, then he is going to be nervous about chomping down on the hand that feeds, he is going to be nervous about abandoning some of those folks whose contributions he took.”Flanders said that Barack Obama received more money from Wall Street than any other candidate when he was running for office.“I don’t see how we can keep having elections when anonymous sources that don’t even have to reveal who they are, are pouring billions of dollars as they did into this mid-term race – over four billion dollars, almost as much as we’ve spent on the presidential race in 2008 – into mid-term races where little Congress people who have never really had a fight for re-election suddenly find themselves up against a huge money machine that they couldn’t fight back,” she said.US democracy is not democracy – it’s something else, Flanders added.“You’ve got a troubled democracy, you’ve got people in trouble – I mean we’ve got an economy that was in crisis when he [Obama] came into office. It’s still in crisis – the only difference now is that we are being told that the recession is over. We are being told that the recovery is taking place. For most Americans it’s really not.”

Podcasts
0:00
23:13
0:00
25:0