The election triumph of Barack Obama and the return of power to the Democrats was a cause for a split second of relief, but not elation.

What the world learned is that it will not be subjected to a McCain-Palin presidency, which certainly would have ushered in horrors, violence, and insanity that likely would have dwarfed those of Bush-Cheney.

But the arrival of Obama as the new imperial figurehead of the Anglo-American empire is not a victory of, or for, the people. It will not signify a dramatic upheaval, in any way, and by no means is any sort of revolution at hand.

Nor is Obama�s ascendancy about �you.� It is about �them.�

This election was a necessary rotation of management, scripted at the highest levels of the Anglo-American elite.

The shifting of the deck chairs

The empire -- bloated, sickened, and on the verge of systemic collapse from eight years of sucking on its own Bush-Cheney poisons -- is retrenching for its own survival.

Eight years of Bush-Cheney delivered unprecedented power, control and trillions in loot. But in the end, the bottom-line results proved insufficient. Bush-Cheney did not make good on their promise to conquer the Middle East, secure all of the energy, and maintain American primacy. Their hubris and reckless arrogance has proven to be too big an international public relations nightmare to cover up.

Although the Republicans did steal millions of votes, as predicted and tracked by Bradblog, Black Box Voting, and Greg Palast. It became clear, as election night unfolded, that Obama would be permitted a win, encoded on Republican voting technology, and beamed across a corporate media that had already begun to favor Obama and the Democrats months earlier.

The �change� that a Barack Obama presidency will bring to America and the world will be one of style, not substance: a return to the centrist corporate globalism of the Clinton and Carter eras, complete with regurgitated Democratic Party elites from those administrations, and new neoliberal politicians touting similar ideologies.

Obama�s coming wars

As noted by Mike Ruppert and other seasoned observers, Obama is no savior, but the momentary pause offered by the imperial shift at the top has some value. It buys humanity some time. Time to prepare to face the worsening decline that Obama himself will oversee.

The velvet gloves will be slipped back over the iron fists, but the fists will still be wielded aggressively. Within months, the global conquest that Bush-Cheney started will resume under the vastly more convincing and adored Obama, who has consistently stated his intention to intensify the war in Afghanistan, and �kill �terrorists�� across the Middle East.

Many expect Obama to prove �how tough he is� immediately upon entering the White House, for political reasons.

Obama is also perfectly positioned to introduce wars justified by popular humanitarian pretexts, such as in Darfur and other energy-rich geography in Africa.

As written in the biting and definitive indictment of the Obama foreign policy promise by Michel Chossudovsky, The Democrats endorse the �Global War on Terrorism�: Obama �goes after� Osama, there will be no change of direction under Obama:

�9/11 constitutes for Obama the main justification for waging a humanitarian war in the Middle East and Central Asia. In this regard, his position does not differ from that of the Bush administration.

�Withdraw from Iraq, but remain in Afghanistan. Confront Iran, challenge Russia . . . Apart from the rhetoric of �bringing the troops home� from war torn Iraq, which may or may not be carried out, what distinguishes the Democrats from the Republicans?

�A more articulate, knowledgeable and charismatic president?

�A more dignified and diplomatic approach to US foreign policy?

�An opportunity to the US ruling elite to �present a different face to the world that could revive illusions to its democratic pretensions, not only internationally but within the United States as well.� . . .

�A spurious and counterfeit �humanitarian� approach to Empire, which serves to mask the truth and gain popular support.

�A less reckless Commander in Chief, who has an understanding of geopolitics and is capable of taking foreign policy decisions. A more carefully thought out military agenda than that experienced during the Bush administration? But no substantive shift in direction.

�A means to quelling mounting dissent and opposition to the ruling corporate establishment by providing the illusion that the Democrats constitute a Real Alternative.

�A means to sustaining the illusion that African-Americans can move up the social ladder in America and that their fundamental rights are being upheld.

�A means to undermining real progressive movements by further embedding civil society organizations, trade unions and grass roots organizations, not to mention �Leftist� intellectuals into the realm of the Democratic Party.

�A distraction from the extensive war crimes committed under successive US administrations.

�A �human face� to war and globalization?�

Obama will not only maintain the bipartisan Washington consensus �war on terrorism� deception, he will improve upon it. As a pacifying force, he will perpetuate the cover-up, and retrieve the �squandered opportunity� presented by the false-flag operation of 9/11: a world united behind imperial war.

March of the elites

The true nature of Obama�s administration will be evident the moment Obama introduces members of his transition team and cabinet.

Legions of corrupt elites -- legendary war criminals, think tank assets and intelligence/security advisors -- guided the campaigns of Obama, Clinton and the Republican candidates.

Which of these same figures will now run Obama�s CIA, his Department of Homeland Security (which he will not dismantle), his National Security Council and his Defense Department?

What Wall Street elites and former investment bank CEOs will be tapped to oversee the Treasury? Who will be the ambassador to the United Nations?

Which Republicans will Obama �reach across the aisle� to bring in? How many �Bushies�?

How many members of the conservative Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) will be given free reign?

How many members of the Council on Foreign Relations, how many Bilderbergers, will run the show?

They�re still here

Lost in the election noise, and clouded by Obama euphoria, is the fact that Bush and Cheney have nearly two months left in power. More than ample time to commit some final atrocities and crimes.

As tracked by Mike Ruppert, Catherine Austin Fitts and others, trillions of dollars are being systematically sucked, and suckered, out of the financial system. The global financial meltdown, along with other forms of destruction and cover-up, is the Bush-Cheney machine�s scorched-earth farewell.

And it is not over yet. Will any bombs go off before Obama takes office? Who will George W. Bush pardon on his way out?

A call for sobriety and vigilance

The style shift from Bush-Cheney neofascism to �classic� neoliberalism under Obama may feel like �change.� It is not.

The reality of the continuing global crisis -- and Obama�s role as its latest figurehead -- demands even more astute opposition, even more aggressive demands for justice, and a redoubled effort to end war and imperial criminality.