A series of demonstrations dubbed "Occupy Wall Street" began in the United States in mid-September, with hundreds of people gathering in Manhattan's financial district to protest against the greed and corruption of Wall Street financial institutions and to accuse the U.S. government of bailing out the financial institutions at the expense of the majority of the country.

"The one thing we all have in common is that we are the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent," protesters said on a website named "Occupy Wall Street." The protest movement has the following characteristics:

First, it is spreading rapidly. The movement has grown from a few hundred people to more than 10,000 people and has gained the support of certain influential labor unions and many college students.

Second, the movement has a significant "butterfly effect," which is the favorite term of the United States for the "color revolutions" worldwide. The movement, which began in New York City, has spread to more than 10 major U.S. cities, including Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three weeks and it is still spreading like wildfire.

Third, the movement has amazing sustainability. Although it has lasted nearly three weeks, protesters have not lost any passion for the movement and are still determined to achieve their pre-set goals.

The U.S. media is worried that riots similar to the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa may occur in the United States. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently warned that the country's ongoing struggles with unemployment could lead to riots in the streets

The movement has shaken the United States as well as the world. The U.S. government has expressed understanding of the people’s frustration and seems to be working hard to develop appropriate measures for easing the protests.

Recently, some mainstream U.S. media said that the background of the "Occupy Wall Street" activity was the persistent decline of the U.S. economy and the U.S. people's dissatisfaction with the Wall Street. Some analyses also believe that the activity is turning into a punching bag for the U.S. public to abreact their dissatisfaction with the current situation, is a mirror of the current social contradictions of the United States and is also a big explosion of the economic, social and political contradictions of the United States accumulated in the past years.

Meanwhile, an article published on the New American newspaper warned that the demonstration on Wall Street that started on Sept. 17 was launched by extreme activists, left-wing organizations, self-proclaimed revolutionists and anti-capitalism agitators, and may lead to a severe riot.

In fact, the so-called Arab Spring is objectively inexistent. It is just a beautiful name given by the Untied States based on its own wishful thinking. The Untied States has been fostering pro-America forces in the Middle East for a long time and meanwhile has also been trying to implement the Greater Middle East Initiative.

When the two options conflict with each other, the Untied States always chooses the first one. Except for Syria and Libya, the "political earthquake" that occurred in West Asia and North Africa in 2011 was mainly aimed at the mild pro-United States administrations, and the United States was caught by it unprepared. Since the United States had landed itself in a passive position, it should reflect on itself. But instead, the Untied States, due to its hegemonic thinking, adopted the trick of grafting flowers on a tree and tried to connect it with the Greater Middle East Initiative to spread it to Libya, Syria and even Iran and other Asian countries. Unfortunately, cleverness may overreach itself. The god did not help the U.S. administration, but instead inspired the youths of the "Occupy the Wall Street" activity. That is really an irony.

The author is the executive director of the Strategy Research Center under the China Foundation for International Studies.

This post was first published on Jiefang Daily and edited and translated by People's Daily Online.

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