During the nineteenth century, Britain and France perfected the technique of colonisation by instituting large-scale social engineering in the colonies. This process involved the creation of petty nawabs (la petit nabob), beholden to their foreign masters for their wealth, social status and power. This class emerged in all colonies, supporting foreign armies and their civil servants. These local recruits were the mainstay of a ruthless and cruel governing structure whose sole aim was to exploit human and natural resources of the colonies for the benefit of British or French economies.

When the United States of America replaced Britain and France as the most aggressive coloniser, an expansion and further refinement to this crude method invented the idea of a "Client State". This invention also became necessary because it had become impossible to rule distant lands in the manner of the nineteenth century Raj. Whatever the causes, this new invention is now the most desirable modus operandi of colonisation and the Unites States of America has shown remarkable ingenuity in fine-tuning this operation.

This fine-tuning has produced readily available blueprints for intervention in any part of the world where potential for exploitation exists. Bolivia’s so-called gas war is a prime example of the use of this methodology. Following the discovery of the second-largest gas reserves in South America in the southeastern province of Tarija in the mid-1990s, Britain, the United States and Spain began their aggression against the tiny republic that has seen 200 coups since its independence from Spain. To exploit the reserves, a consortium called Pacific LNG was formed by British, American and Spanish companies, a plan costing some $6 billion was drawn up to build a pipeline to the Pacific coast, where the gas would be processed and shipped to Mexico and the United States, especially to California, which is planning to bring gas-fired power plants on-line in coming years to reduce emissions.

A client government was already in place, headed by a US-educated President who had been installed through a pre-meditated process. Further loyalties were bought through bribes and promises. Soon, contracts were signed and it was agreed that the consortium would give Bolivia merely 18% of the future profits from the export of gas.

When the details of this secretive deal became known, the people of Bolivia rose in protest, seeing in this case a recurrence of many centuries of exploitation of Bolivia’s natural resources by foreigners. This was the beginning of the so-called "Gas War" in Bolivia. Beholden to US pressure, the International Monetary Fund’s structural adjustment programs, and their own petty interests, the rulers of the client state were thus pitched against their own people. In September 2003, after weeks of protests, Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (nicknamed Goni for his American ways), ordered his security troops to break the back of resistance against the sale of gas; the result was several massacres which drew international attention. Of course, the government was said to be involved in fighting terrorism and terrorists. During a ceremony on September 23, in which the US government gave the Bolivian government US$63 million in development aid, US ambassador Greenlee said that the security forces’ intervention in Warisata was justified.

Another notorious tale of exploitation through client states is the "colonisation" of water in the semi-arid region of Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1999, the World Bank recommended privatisation of Cochabamba’s municipal water supply company (SEMAPA) through a concession to International Water, a subsidiary of US company Bechtel. On October 1999, the Drinking Water and Sanitation Law was passed, ending government subsidies and allowing privatisation. In a city where the minimum wage is less than $100 a month, water bills rose to $20 a month, nearly the cost of feeding a family of five for two weeks. By April, there were large-scale protests. Citizens formed an alliance called "La Coordinara de Defense del Aqua y de la Vida" (The Coalition in Defense of Water and Life). In April 2000, the client government came to the rescue of Bechtel; activists were arrested, protestors were killed, and media was censored. But the people ultimately won, the government was forced to cancel its contract with Bechtel, which is now suing Bolivia for several million dollars.

Bechtel has now arrived in Iraq. In fact, Bechtel Group of San Francisco, once headed by George Shultz, was part of the process of establishing a client government in Iraq through invasion. Shultz was chairman of the fiercely pro-war "Committee for the Liberation of Iraq". In September 2003, Shultz wrote an op-ed article in the Washington Post under the headline "act now; the danger is immediate" to support the attack.

Within a month of the beginning of invasion of Iraq, Bechtel was awarded a $680 million contract to "rebuild" Iraq. While US planes were bombing out Iraq’s hospitals, bridges, and water-works, a small group of people led by George Shultz was planning to move in.

In this redrawn map of the colonization of other nations, the role of the client state is the same as that of the Petit Nawab of the nineteenth century. Just as the Nawab was beholden to his masters for his wealth and power, a client government exists merely because of the support it receives from its real masters. Just as the Nawab had no regard for the life and property of the poor and unprocessed, the client government has no regard for the life and property of its own people.

Of course, the new client states being established around the world have far more power than the Petty Nawabs of the nineteenth century who were merely aggrandised local thugs. These client states have been given a free rein in the name of fighting terrorism. They have been given arms, ammunition, and electronic gadgets to crush their own people. Whether it is water privatisation contracts in Bolivia, "reconstruction" contracts for Iraq, or the "war against terrorism" in the remote areas of Yemen, Pakistan, or Chechnya, further shackling of the world’s poor is taking place through the establishment of an economy of loot and violence with the cooperation of client states.

Against this current, a powerful global movement of the oppressed peoples around the world is also taking shape. In May 2003, the people of Bolivia sent an open letter to the people of Iraq to express solidarity. "Dear brothers and sisters of Iraq," the letter began, "we have watched carefully in recent weeks and months as you have suffered under the pains of war and its chaotic and unstable aftermath. Our hearts are with you and your families. We write to you now because we fear that you might be made victims of additional suffering at the hands of an evil corporation, Bechtel, which has been awarded a massive contract by the US government to rebuild infrastructure in your country. Bechtel is the same corporation which took over the public water system of our city Cochabamba three years ago."