Empire

That Time when America was a Superpower before Trump surrendered to China (1/27/2021)

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” (Ron Suskind, NYTimes Magazine, Oct. 17, 2004). See here.

... if the American people do not find a way to choose democracy over empire - at least our imperial venture will end not with a nuclear bang but a financial whimper. From the present vantage point, it certainly seems a daunting challenge for any president (or Congress) from either party even to begin the task of dismantling the military-industrial complex, ending the pall of ¨national security¨ secrecy and the ¨black budget¨ that make public oversight of what our government does impossible, and bringing the president´s secret army, the CIA, under democratic control. It´s evident that Nemesis - in Greek mythology the goddess of vengeance, the punisher of hubris and arrogance - is already a visitor in our country, simply biding her time before she makes her presence known.
Chalmers Johnson´s book Dismantling the Empire, America´s Last Best Hope.(2010)

Donald Trump has divined, has figured out what are the essential pillars of U.S. global power that have sustained Washington’s hegemony for the past 70 years and he seems to be setting out to demolish each one of those pillars one by one. He’s weakened the NATO alliance; he’s weakened our alliances with Asian allies along the Pacific littoral. He’s proposing to cut back on the scientific research which has given the United States — its military industrial complex — a cutting edge, a leading edge in critical new weapons systems since the early years of the Cold War. And he’s withdrawing the United States, almost willfully, from its international leadership, most spectacularly with the Paris Climate Accord but also very importantly with the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Alfred W McCoy

"...this empire that we’ve created really has an emperor, and it’s not the president of this country. The President serves, you know, for a short period of time. But it doesn't really matter whether we have a Democrat or a Republican in the White House or running Congress; the empire goes on, because it’s really run by what I call the corporatocracy, which is a group of men who run our biggest corporations. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. They don’t need to conspire. They all know what serves their best interest. But they really are the equivalent of the emperor, because they do not serve at the wish of the people, they’re not democratically elected, they don’t serve any limited term. They essentially answer to no one, except their own boards, and most corporate CEOs actually run their boards, rather than the other way around. And they are the power behind this." From John Perkins interview with Amy Goodman June 5, 2007

despite a range of setbacks, no one in Washington’s power elite -- Senators Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders being the exceptions that prove the rule -- seems to have the slightest urge to abandon the role of sole superpower or even to back off it in any significant way." Michael Klare

" There is ... a huge tacit conspiracy between the U.S. government, its agencies and its multinational corporations, on the one hand, and local business and military cliques in the Third World, on the other, to assume complete control of these countries and "develop" them on a joint venture basis. The military leaders of the Third World were carefully nurtured by the U.S. security establishment to serve as the "enforcers" of this joint venture partnership, and they have been duly supplied with machine guns and the latest data on methods of interrogation of subversives." Edward S. Herman

"From 1945 to 2003, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements fighting against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US bombed some 25 countries, caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair." William Blum

Britain and France have some thirteen overseas bases between them, Russia has nine, and various other countries have one - in all, there are probably thirty overseas bases owned by non-U.S./ countries. The United States, by contrast, has roughly eight hundred, plus agreements granting it access to still other foreign sites. Dozens of countries host U.S. bases. Those that refuse are nevertheless surrounded by them. How to Hide an Empire: Daniel Immerwarh

The persistence of donor-backed Republican hawkishness remains an obstacle to national development — of industrial capacity and widely shared solidarity — that would strengthen America’s defenses and ennoble its culture. The monsters that menace us don’t lurk abroad. Hawks Are Standing in the Way of a New Republican Party (2/5/2022)

"...for an empire to be born, a Republic first has to die." Tony Judt

Jared Diamond wrote about the collapse of earlier civilizations to great acclaim and brisk sales, in a nimbus of unimpeachable respectability. The stories he told about bygone cultures gone to seed were, above all, dramatic. No reviewers or other intellectual auditors dissed him for suggesting that empires inevitably run aground on the shoals of resource depletion, population overshoot, changes in the weather, and the diminishing returns of complexity. Yet these are exactly the same problems that industrial-technocratic societies face today, and those of us who venture to discuss them are consigned to a tin-foil-hat brigade, along with the UFO abductees and Bigfoot trackers. This is unfortunate but completely predictable, since the sunk costs in all the stuff of daily life (freeways, malls, tract houses) are so grotesquely huge that letting go of them is strictly unthinkable. We're stuck with a very elaborate setup that has no future; but we refuse to consider the consequences. So messengers are generally unwelcome. (attributed to James Howard Kunstler.)

What has emerged from Trump’s rants is a self-contradictory vision of a Fortress America with tightly controlled borders that invites foreign conflict by maintaining a provocative, overextended presence abroad. This is hardly a recipe for international stability. What might have been an overdue debate on the limits of interventionist overreach has not materialized, while Trump has been dismissed as a dangerous isolationist. A debate on American intervention is as necessary as ever." NY Review of Books.

The abandonment of empire resulted partly from the realization that empire was almost always an economic drain on the imperial powers and that countries that did not indulge in empire, like Sweden, found it much easier to develop than the great powers. Kenneth E. Boulding, The World as a Total System.

Government and corporate elites were partners in the business of imperialism: empires gave government leaders power and prestige, and gave corporate leaders power and wealth. Corporations ran the real business of empire while government leaders fabricated noble excuses for the wars that were required to keep that business going.
Beyond Left & Right: Escaping the Matrix

“The costs of empire are in general distributed over the society as a whole, while its profits revert to a few within. Noam Chomsky

"The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) took control of the ideological foundations of the American empire, encompassing the corporate, banking, political, foreign policy, military, media, and academic elite of the nation into a generally cohesive overall world view. By altering one's ideology to that of promoting such an internationalist agenda, the big money that was behind it would ensure one's rise through government, industry, academia and media. There are divisions within the elite, predicated on the basis of how to use American imperial power, where to use it, on what basis to justify it, and other various methodological differences. The divide amongst elites was never on the questions of: should we use American imperial power, why has America become an Empire, or should there even be an empire? If one takes such considerations to heart and questions these concepts, be it within the foreign policy establishment, intelligence, military, academia, finance, corporate world, or media; chances are, such a person is not a member of the CFR." Andrew Gavin Marshall

We never voted to become an empire. It was a slow expansion that people gradually got accustomed. It has all but bankrupted us. Without a radical change, we will be a Fascist state, if we aren't already.

Staying Bush's course meant the end of our republic, rejection of international law, and it confirmed our path to empire. It should now be obvious that we are a lot less safe now. War has become increasingly more destructive and our fate could be worse than those which have gone before. We are, as Noam Chomsky points out, on a path to an "Armageddon of our own making". See Chalmers Johnson's "Republic or Empire" in the January, 2007 issue of Harpers Magazine or his book trilogy: Blowback; The Sorrows of Empire; and Nemesis. (Links below.)

History shows the likely fate of empires is destruction.

"Tell Trump you didn't learn from Hitler. You can't fight on two fronts. You can't take on radical Islam and China. You will end up in the bunker, like Hitler." Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic in discussion with Steve Bannon.

An old point in fascist studies: the imperialism outside leads to the fascism inside. https://t.co/ACFleaMGgI

— Jason Stanley (@jasonintrator) July 21, 2020

The American empire is coming to an end. The nation has lost the power and respect needed to induce allies in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa to do its bidding. Add the mounting destruction caused by climate change and you have a recipe for an emerging dystopia. Overseeing this descent at the highest levels of the federal and state governments is a motley collection of imbeciles, con artists, thieves, opportunists, and warmongering generals. Chris Hedges, America: The Farewell Tour pg 294:

"... to maintain our empire abroad requires resources and commitments that will inevitably undercut our domestic democracy and in the end produce a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent. The founders of our nation understood this well and tried to create a form of government - a republic - that would prevent this from occurring. But the combination of huge standing armies, almost continuous wars, military Keynesianism, and ruinous military expenses have destroyed our republican structure in favor of an imperial presidency. We are on the cusp of losing our democracy for the sake of keeping our empire. Once a nation is started down that path, the dynamics that apply to all empires come into play  - isolation, overstretch, the uniting of forces opposed to imperialism, and bankruptcy. Nemesis stalks our life as a free nation." pg 279. Chalmers Johnson's: Nemesis.

"The United States maintains around 800 military bases in more than 80 countries and territories." This is an absurd waste of money and resources! The U.S. MUST get out of other countries ASAP.https://t.co/45tWe4jchk pic.twitter.com/xjzCOWTETC

— Win Without War (@WinWithoutWar) July 20, 2019

...in this effort to eliminate political violence they inspire just what they claim to be combating by suggesting that world peace is gained by the forcible spread of American ideology. Imperialism Destroys the Constitutional Republic

The common view that internal freedom makes for humane and moral international behavior is supported neither by historical evidence nor by reason. The United States itself has a long history of imposing oppressive and terrorist regimes in regions of the world within the reach of its power, such as the Caribbean and Central American sugar and banana republics (Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and the Somozas in Nicaragua were long-lived progeny of U.S. intervention and selection). Since World War II. with the great extension of U.S. power, it has borne a heavy responsibility for the spread of a plague of neofascism, state terrorism, torture and repression throughout large parts of the underdeveloped world. The United States has globalized the "banana republic." This has occurred despite some modest ideological strain because these developments serve the needs of powerful and dominant interests, state and private, within the United States itself." The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism: by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman

U.S. global power, as presently conceived by the overwhelming majority of the U.S. establishment, is unsustainable. To place American power on a firmer footing requires putting it on a more limited footing. Despite the lessons of Iraq, this is something that American policymakers - Democrat and Republican, civilian and military - still find extremely difficult to think about." Anatol Lieven.

...how often do empires end well, really ? They live vampirically by feeding off others until, sooner of later, they begin to feed on themselves, to suck their own blood, to hollow themselves out. Soon or later, they find themselves, as in our case, economically stressed and militarily extended in wars they can't afford to win or lose. The United States of Fear: Tom Englehardt p183.

"Why should the enormous American military and political operational centers built in Germany during the past 50 years still exist? There no longer is a cold war with Russia, or anyone else, that lends logic to these facilities. Today we find they are used to eavesdrop on the German chancellor and her government, and on the German (and other European) peoples – and undoubtedly to collect economic and industrial intelligence as well." William Pfaff

Chalmers Johnson video (about an hour.)

 

Alone in the history of the world, the United States has a program for global supremacy. It can be found in the 2002 National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States and in the governing doctrine of the United States military: "full-spectrum dominance." (from Geoffrey Perret's book 'Commander in Chief')

"Empire: nation-state that dominates other nation-states and exhibits one or more of the following characteristics: 1) exploits resources from the lands it dominates, 2) consumes large quantities of resources—amounts that are disproportionate to the size of its population relative to those of other nations, 3) maintains a large military that enforces its policies when more subtle measures fail, 4) spreads its language, literature, art, and various aspects of its culture throughout its sphere of influence, 5) taxes not just its own citizens, but also people in other countries, and 6) imposes its own currency on the lands under its control.

This definition of “Empire” was formulated in meetings I held with students at a number of universities during my book tour in 2005 and 2006. Almost without exception, the students arrived at the following conclusion: The United States exhibits all the characteristics of a global empire. Addressing each of the above points... " The Secret History of the American Empire: John Perkins.

"If it were necessary to give the briefest definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism" Lenin

Fall of the American Empire (6/19/2018)

US Empire: Global Imperialism and Internal Colonialism (3/20/2018)

Resisting US Military Bases and Pentagon Strategies in Latin America (1/26/2018)

The US Has Military Bases in 80 Countries. All of Them Must Close. (1/24/2018)

Reflections on national No U.S. Foreign Military Bases Conference (1/16/2018)

Mapping a World From Hell: 76 Countries Are Now Involved in Washington's War on Terror (1/5/2018) By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch

Pentagon: US Empire 'Collapsing,' So Give Us More Money (7/30/2017)

Why Trump Now? It’s the Empire, Stupid (6/9/2016)

Bungling the New World Order (2/13/2016)

This Ship Is Sinking (12/11/2015) video

Lawrence Wilkerson: "The American 'Empire' Is In Deep, Deep Trouble" (10/4/2015)

US Power and the Godfather Principle (5/27/2015)

Chaos – not Victory – is Empire’s Name of the Game (5/5/2015)

The Empire Is Crumbling. That Is Why It Needs War (12/27/2014)

Taking the Imperial out of American Imperialism

The Empire as Basket Case (7/13/2014)

The US Sledgehammer Worldview (7/8/2014)

Empire's Age-Old Aim: Wealth and Power (7/4/2014)

The Ghoulish Face of Empire (6/22/2014)

A New World Order ? (3/2/2014)

The Folly of Empire (10/14/2013)

Three Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire And Ten Steps to Take to Do So

America's Imperial Power Is Showing Real Signs of Decline: (8/2/2013) Chomsky

The Making of a Global Security State (6/16/2013)

The Real Invasion of Africa is Not News (1/31/2013)

Why The American Empire Was Destined to Collapse (3/7/2012)

Empire: The Pentagon Can Barely Keep Track of Its Thousands of Bases (1/9/2011)

The Empire is Eating Itself (Ralph Nader) 9/3/2011

An Empire of Lies: Why Our Media Betrays Us

The Project For The New American Century

Morris Berman: Reflections on the Decline of American Empire

America's Empire and Endless Wars Are Destroying the World, and Ruining Our Great Country (9/6/2010)

How to Dismantle the American Empire Before This Country Goes Under (7/29/2010)

America's Tragic Descent into Empire (7/7/2010)

EmpireNotes.org

On Imperialism

The US Has 761 Military Bases Across the Planet, and We Simply Never Talk About It (9/8/2008) See Military.

Colonizing Culture 5/29/2009

Full Spectrum Dominance

Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Is imperial liquidation possible for America ?: Chalmers Johnson

Chalmers Johnson (videos)

Andrew J. Bacevich

Economic Hitman

John Perkins

From Empire to Earth Community

Resisting the Empire:

The State of the Empire

Video

The Empire Files

Keiser Report: Collapsing Empires (Summer Solutions E793)  (8/6/2015)

Chris Hedges: The American Empire Is Dead - How Corporations & Finance Have Ruined the U.S. (2009 CSPAN Video.)

Obama's Imperialist Policies (2010)

Bibliography

Dismantling the Empire, America´s Last Best Hope by Chalmers Johnson (2010)

The Hell of Good Intentions, America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy by Stephen M. Walt

America, the Farewell Tour: Chris Hedges

In the Shadows of the American Century, The Rise and Decline of US Global Power: Alfred W. McCoy

Pretensions to Empire: Notes on the Criminal Folly of the Bush Administration by Lewis H. Lapham

How to Hide an Empire, A History of the Greater United States: Daniel Immerwahr

The Orwellian Empire: Gilbert Mercier

Colossus, The Rise and Fall of the American Empire: Niall Ferguson

Perilous Partners, the Benefits and Pitfalls of Americas Alliances with Authoritarian Regimes, Ted Galen Carpenter and Malou Innocent

Empire's Workshop, Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism. Greg Grandin

The New Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man, John Perkins

Base Nation: David Vine

Empire's Workshop, Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism:Greg Grandin

Fear's Empire, War, Terrorism and Democracy: Benjamin R. Barber

The Face of Imperialism: Michael Parenti

Colossus: Niall Ferguson

Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order: F. William Engdahl

Resistance Against Empire: Derrick Jensen.

The Secret History of the American Empire, John Perkins

Naked Imperialism, The U.S. Pursuit of Global Dominance: John Bellamy Foster

The Roots Of US Empire: Military Actions In The 1800s

Citizens of Empire: Bob Jensen

The Crime of Empire: Carl Boggs (3/23/2010)

A People's History of American Empire: Howard Zinn

Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers rise to global Dominance - and why they fail: Amy Chua

“Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic": Chalmers Johnson

Challenging Empire: Phllis Bennis

Empire of Illusion: Chris Hedges

The Sorrows of Empire Chalmers Johnson

The End of the American Era: Charles Kupchan

Full Spectrum Dominance: F. William Engdahl

Full Spectrum Dominance: Rahul Mahajan

Democracy Matters: Cornel West

The Empire of Necessity: Greg Grandin

Blowback: Chalmers Johnson

Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism.

Overthrow, Stephen Kinzer

Overthrow: Stephen Kinzer

Hoodwinked, John Perkins

Empire of Debt: William Bonner and Addison Wiggin.

The State of the Empire 2006.

Jonathan Schell on Bush's Failed Empire

Dark Ages America, the Final Phase of Empire by Morris Berman. Like any book at variance with the official story, this one has taken a lot of hits. You need to read it for yourself to see the depth of source material, the insight, and the poor outlook for the US empire.

The Price of Empire: J. William Fulbright (1989)

The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War. Andrew J. Bacevich

Commander in Chief: Geoffrey Perret

Are We Rome? The fall of an Empire and the Fate of America: Cullen Murphy

Presidential Power: Unchecked and Unbalanced. Mathew Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg.

Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror. Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. and Aziz Z. Huq

The Matador's Cape: America's Reckless Response to Terror. Stephen Holmes.

Failed States: Noam Chomsky (See this link also.)

Hegemony or Survival: Noam Chomsky

The End of the American Era: Andrew Hacker, 1971

The American Empire project lists books that, singly or together, confirm that the US is building an empire.

Pretensions to Empire, by Lewis H. Lapham

Notes on the Criminal Folly of the Bush Administration