But in the affected countries many saw these actions as akin to the behaviour of a Mafia boss; others saw it as the pursuit of global geo-strategic hegemony. The great democracies were able to isolate the voices of their internal opponents and win the silent acquiescence of the majority by invoking material well-being. "We live OK don't we?" This was the standard retort to any questioning of the barbarity inflicted on the world by western military and economic dominance.

While a few hundred billionaires came to own more wealth than half of the world's population and corrupt rulers backed by the West plundered the wretched of the earth, the powerful impact of rising living standards silenced the dissent of the majority.

In the context of dictatorial plunder of the Middle East and North Africa by pro-U.S. rulers, Osama bin Laden provided a moral compass and heroic model for the Al-Qaeda network of terrorists. The movement was given a powerful boost by U.S. intervention in Afghanistan 2001 and Iraq in 2003.

But the decisive blow that undermined Al-Qaeda was delivered not by U.S. armies of occupation, but by the Arab youth and the urban poor in their revolts across the region since last December. These revolts did what Al-Qaeda was incapable of doing, raising the non-religious flag of revolutionary political and social change.

The killing of Osama bin Laden is a symbolic act that stimulates noisy, triumphant cheers, but simultaneously drowns out a rational assessment of the failure of the Afghan and Iraq wars and wider U.S. policy throughout the region. The continuing weakness of international capitalism means the moods of cheering crowds are not supplemented by the feel-good factor that silenced dissent in the past.

In this context, small chinks in the armour of the most powerful imperialist nation in history can acquire an explosive character. Over the next years, disillusioned and impoverished returning soldiers will be a significant factor shaping consciousness in the "Land of the Free". A volatile discontent with the falling living standards of the working class in the USA was revealed in recent mass protests in Wisconsin. The evidence of how U.S soldiers and workers are treated compared with the protection of bankers and corporate swindlers will lead to a profound shift in consciousness. There will be a realisation that the rulers of the United States are no more concerned about the rights of the majority inside their own country than for the rights of the poor in foreign lands.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/node_7084903.htm

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