It was common to warn business operators not to get entangled in politics, but that was then, when the old saying ‘business and politics don’t mix’ still had some currency. The clear intent to delineate the callings of the private sector from that of the public sphere i.e., the state and its prerogatives, meant tasks were visibly separated and division of labor was solidly institutionalized. The ascendance of the ideology of ‘neoliberalism’ in the late 1970s leveraged this ideal concept only to explicitly impose the desires of capital over many of the state’s jurisdictions. The cumulative result was an all rounded disappointment, to say the least. Inequalities, due to criminal accumulation by the politically connected; moral bankruptcy, because of the blind worshipping of the ‘money god’ and many others ills were brought about by unbridled capitalism or ‘neoliberalism.’ In general, the weakening of the state led to the corruption of the old capitalist model, ushering the now globally dominant version; namely, ‘crony capitalism’!
In those early days of primeval civilizations, it was the market that was the overwhelmingly dominant institution operating at the societal level. Naturally the family as an institution had precedence over the market, but ‘the family’ did not deal in public affairs (for the obvious reason), at least not directly. It was because of the preponderance of the market that the state, as an institution, was launched by all societies that were trying to ‘civilize’! As the inherent tendency of the market is to push for primitive, hence greedy accumulation, it had to be cut to size, so to speak. The state was set up as an institution to regulate the excesses of the market, hence was initially called the ‘anti-market’! For instance, public assets/the Commons, had to be protected from the vagaries of the market, including river basins, forage lands, etc. Collective actions also needed to be monitored to yield desired results, such as ‘hunting and gatherings’, etc. Probably the worst of the market excesses was and still remains, the proclivity to commodify all and sundry under the sky. Nature, including human life, was and still is not immune to the profit motive! Gradually this tendency became intolerable to society at large and laws/regulations against such intents/actions were instituted. As a result, indentured labor, slavery of all sorts, etc. were ultimately reined in (not completely abolished) to keep the peace and forge harmony within and between societies.
In the current era of ‘monopoly capital’, states are, to a large extent, under the control of big business or transnational capital, democratic rhetoric aside. The international organizations, intergovernmental or otherwise, are set up, first and foremost, to facilitate the expansion of monopoly capital at the expense of all other things. Therefore, the idea of ‘politics and business’ existing in a relatively separate spheres has become a complete farce. Moreover, as ‘monopoly capital’ systemically and instinctively excludes new ascending capital, (outside of its control) from entering the wide global market, it almost always invites confrontation. At times, it is more than willing to instigate wars across the globe to maintain its dominance. What we are witnessing in places like Middle East and North Africa is a situation where dominant capital tries to leverage (their) respective states to pave the way for intended criminal accumulation. A very vivid project of monopoly capital is displayed in the war that is being waged in Syria.
By now it is clear that we hardly subscribe to the various stupid narratives that flood the global airwaves ad infinitum. This is because we cannot afford to remain silent when the world burns! The global sheeple might not be aware of it all, but the cost of not knowing the hidden truth had and will continue to cost millions of lives across the planet! Plenty of ‘false flags’ have been used and more are being concocted as we speak (by transnational capital and the subjugated states) to justify the proposed obliteration of Syria and Iran! Remember how Libya was ‘saved’ from its own dictator by the humanitarian bombing of NATO? Just look at the systemically planned starvation of the Yemenis? There is no limit to the power of the worldly-god of greed humanity has put on a pedestal as its ultimate savior!