Business interests increasingly in conflict with national interests
It’s all well and good that Ukraine wants to retain its independence, but business is business. The Western democracies may be divided on how best to deter Russia from taking over the Ukrainian east, but the multinational corporations of every nation seem to have come to consensus — effortlessly, automatically — on how best to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to Ukraine and rollback of democracy within Russia itself:
Ignore it. It’s no big deal. There is money to be made in Russia. Risking Putin’s wrath would diminish the earnings of all those shareholders whose interests chief executives love to invoke to justify their more morally nauseating policies.
Nostalgic neoconservatives, who call for sending troops to the Baltic states and armaments to Kiev, deride President Obama for his ostensible pusillanimity. But try to find a neocon condemnation of the global corporations that have leaned on European governments not to impose sanctions on Russia for fear that such actions would imperil their investments. They have stakes in cash cows such as Rosneft, the Russian state-owned energy company (in which BP has a 20 percent interest). They sell luxury autos and running shoes from Moscow to Vladivostok.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-conservatives-face-conflicting-corporate-and-national-interests/2014/05/07/c12a1640-d5f3-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html
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I don't see much separation at all anymore between government and business. Businesses even write our policies and law.
We go to war for business interests that don't necessarily have much to do with national interests. Multinationals benefit from creating an atmosphere of national pride and loyalty and yet themselves offer none in return.
