From Volume 2, Issue Number 16 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Apr. 21, 2003

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

April 21-27, 1945

Within weeks of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, the long-awaited meeting for the establishment of the United Nations Organization convened in San Francisco, California. We turn our attention to this event, which occurred on April 25, in order to elaborate the principles which the anti-colonialist FDR intended to have enshrined in that institution, in contrast to what it eventually became. In light of the current drive toward world empire by the United States and Great Britain, in particular, the implementation of Roosevelt's idea is long overdue.

Most important, FDR viewed the creation of a permanent organization of sovereign nation-states, acting cooperatively for stated goals and discussing, as sovereign states, their joint policy, as an extension of that same type of cooperation that was the hallmark of the "United Nations," as the Allies in the war effort were known; to achieve that, there must be debate and agreement by these sovereign states on principles that would govern their relations, and on goals, as defined from these principles as the common objectives of humanity. In particular, he demanded that the new Bretton Woods Monetary Agreement (1944) be incorporated into the United Nations structure in order to link such institutions to the decolonization and economic development that he saw as the cornerstone of a real peace among nations, and to prevent the great power that these international monetary and banking institutions would necessarily have, from being usurped by a cabal of bankers, colonialists, and worse. On most of these issues, his policy was bitterly opposed by the British, and their allies within the U.S. establishment and FDR's own government.

That these things did not all happen was not FDR's fault or the result of a flaw in his vision. Those who have attempted to coopt the UN into becoming something else, as well as those who have slandered Roosevelt as a supporter of utopian world government, do harm to his true intent and to the truth itself.

The principles which President Roosevelt put forward as the basis for the postwar order were first laid out in the Atlantic Charter, which was issued as a joint statement by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and FDR, on Aug. 21, 1941. It was comprised of the following eight principles, "on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world."

"First their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;

"Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;

"Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live....

"Fourth, they will endeavor, with the respect of their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all states, great and small, victor or vanquished, or access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;

"Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement, and social security;

"Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want;

"Seventh, such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance;

"Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of force...." - The Shaping of the United Nations -

From this time forward, intensive discussions began over the question of what the shape of the postwar world would be. At the center of the battle was whether the British (and the French and other European colonial powers) would maintain power over their colonial possessions, and whether the two Asian allies of the Allied Powers, the Soviet Union and China, would be given equal status in whatever institution was set up to achieve this objective.

The following story, from a research paper produced by Roosevelt scholar Lonnie Wolfe, underscores just how dramatic the shift was, between Roosevelt's conception of decolonialization, enforced by a United Nations, committed to that prospect and to economic development, and that which ultimately came into being, under British direction.

"In March, 1945 secret military orders were prepared in Washington concerning the liberation of certain territories in Asia.

"American troops, at the direction of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, were to take control of all French possessions in Indochina, and to turn those possessions over to the United Nations for administration. Under no circumstances were the French to be allowed to reestablish their colonial rule.

"Similarly, units of the American Navy, backed by U.S. Marines, were to be ordered to steam into the harbor of Hong Kong and take control of the city. Hong Kong was then to be turned over to the Chinese government, who by secret agreement with the American President, was prepared to turn the city over to United Nations administration.

"These were to be two dramatic steps toward a goal of dismantling the British, French, and other colonial empires, in favor of the creation of system of economically viable, sovereign nation-states, whose sovereignty was ultimately guaranteed by the United States and its President.

"Meanwhile, in Washington, hundreds of economic planners were at work on proposals for global economic development projects, slated for all continents. In addition, preparation was well underway for a large 'shelf' of domestic development projects involving the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars for all types of public works and infrastructure. All of this was being undertaken at the direct order of the President of the United States.

"However, within a month that President was dead. The new President, Harry Truman, and his advisors voided the military orders. Instead, American troops were now ordered to stand aside, and allow the French to retake their colonial possessions, hoisting their imperial flag. When Hong Kong was retaken, it was by British frigates steaming into the harbor and British marines.

"The international development projects were scrapped, their plans classified and then buried, to gather dust in some archive."

The Fight Today

Shocking, right? In fact, the reversal of FDR's plan had deadly consequences, including the decades of wars in Indochina, and elsewhere. In effect, a new colonialism, carried out through UNO organizations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, has taken effect, and brought the world to the hideous systemic crisis it now faces.

Ironically, today, even the flawed concept of the United Nations, with its quasi-world government features, looks humane compared to the new imperialism of the Americans and the British. The aggression of the Anglo-Americans more and more resembles the crimes of the Nazis which the Allies had united to defeat, and the real American outlook of an FDR, or John Quincy Adams before him, is trampled in the dust.

A look back at FDR's perspective, which would condemn the imperial adventures of this Bush Administration unequivocally, gives us a benchmark for seeing how anomalous the current Hobbesian binge is, and for seeing the tradition which exists that could overcome it.

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