Looking at global
wealth, trade and work raises the question of who actually rules the world and
are progenitors of, or party or crucial to the real decisions that are made and
how they are implemented and by whom?
We are aware
that our Parliament and Civil Service is now at best a bit player in the great
scheme of things. There is the EU but
this as is the UK subject to a range of international bodies. When the chips are down in the great poker
games of power it is the world big boys who deal the cards.
Douglas
Carswell says re Cameron and Europe "But what about the businesses that
want Britain to stay? That's true: there's Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Bank
of America - the bankers who brought us
the last financial crisis, and are now trying to buy the
referendum. There's the super-rich elites David Cameron was trying so hard to
impress at Davos Are these really people who have Britain's
best interests at heart?"
Who are the
key players at this level? It is not as
though they are a secret cabal, it is that our main stream media does not give
them much if any attention. It notices
some of our leading figures and the celebrities, the footballers, the headline
grabbers and the exhibitionists but not the people who really matter.
One such
person is Peter Sutherland and there is a full Wikipedia article on him making
clear the extent of his interests and it is not difficult to understand his
involvement and influence. Ask Tony and
Cherie Blair for example. For more about
two aspects of his current work there are links:
I recall that
at the LSE there was once an Environmental group concerned with the impact of
population and the implications of the degradation of many of the Earth's
resources. Whether or not it was a
coincidence the group disbanded not long after his arrival. Moreover, the LSE seems to have narrowed its
perspectives in a number of ways that fit in with the Sutherland thinking.
There is his
role at the top of Goldman Sachs.
Looking at his time there, who else was dealing with it at the time,
what it was involved in etc. would take a very long post to cover. So what exactly is he?
He is one of
the Arch Priests of Globalisation, for him it is the inevitable future, it is
necessary and resistance is useless. As an
example migration means open doors, mass movements and the means to bring to an
end the narrow nationalisms of the past and the structures, cultures and ways
of life of recent centuries that impede global transformation.
He attended a
school run by the Society of Jesus in Dublin, one of the intellectual cutting
edges of Catholicism. How far he retains that faith is not known, but I recall
being told that once a Jesuit, always a Jesuit in the mental structure and
thinking.
I avoided the
Jesuits as a youngster, but did know the Dominicans. There are differences between the Orders and
debates in the past between them have sometimes been fiery, in the literal
sense. I have no doubt that in past
centuries I would have been toast.
He went onto
University College, Dublin, a decent place according to family members. Then he made a career in politics and business
and moved quickly up the ladder into an international career.
What of the
Sutherland name? Long before I knew of
him I had been looking for Sutherlands of the past, the family of a forebear in
the early 19th Century in Glasgow then Greenock but from Lybster, up in
Caithness.
Chasing names
at the Public Records Office prior to the National Archive, I studied the
Highland Fencible Corps, see Wikipedia, of the late 1790's.
A number of these
regiments were raised at a time of war to replace the regular army at home for
internal security and to deal with the added conflict in Ireland. Some of them were sent to Ireland to put down
rebellion and had Caithness recruits.
Among the
Fencibles were Catholics so Scottish Catholics were putting down rebellion in
Ireland to serve their King and Country.
I have a sneaking suspicion that if by wild chance Peter's forebear was
one of these; some of the Fencibles did not go home, it is not something on his
CV.
Similarly, if
the James Sutherland of Caithness who served on HMS Victory at the Battle of
Trafalgar was one of his that might not quite match his personal sense of
identity.
But to return
to globalisation and Goldman Sachs, if you wonder why some of the intractable
problems and massive changes taking place arise, you need to look no further
than Peter and his friends and allies.
But it is no
good praying for help.