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The Schizophrenic Deep State is a Symptom, Not the Disease
The Schizophrenic Deep State is a Symptom, Not the Disease If we understand the profound political disunity fracturing the nation and its Imperial Project, we understand the Deep State must also fracture along the same fault lines. If we consider the state of the nation from 40,000 feet, several key indicators of profound political disunity within […]
Two Keywords for US Imperialism: ‘Justification’ and ‘Plausibility’
Two Keywords for US Imperialism: ‘Justification’ and ‘Plausibility’ Observing the behavior of the United States over recent decades, it becomes clear that the American establishment has always relied on two fundamental factors to justify choices in foreign policy. We have been accustomed in recent years to humanitarian interventions being justified on the assumption that the […]
Imperial Hubris Redefined
Imperial Hubris Redefined There have been two developments in the past month that illustrate clearly what is wrong with the White House’s perception of America’s place in the world. Going far beyond the oft-repeated nonsense that the United States is somehow the “leader of the free world,” the Trump Administration has taken several positions that […]
Humanity vs. the Rule of Law
Humanity vs. the Rule of Law Photo by Nathaniel St. Clair It was back in my early undergrad years when I first came to understand the broad reach of US foreign policy. I completed a social work internship in Los Angeles at a safe house in east LA in a largely immigrant community whose goal […]
Murder Incorporated
Murder Incorporated Murder Incorporated is a three-book series by Mumia Abu Jamal and Stephen Vittoria, which I can highly recommend based on the first book. The other two are not out yet. Book One, “Dreaming of Empire,” is a critique of U.S. imperialism, a debunking of U.S. nationalist myths, a corrective or alternative history of […]
How the last superpower was unchained
How the last superpower was unchained Think of it as the all-American version of the human comedy: a great power that eternally knows what the world needs and offers copious advice with a tone deafness that would be humorous, if it weren’t so grim. If you look, you can find examples of this just about […]
The Day the US Became an Empire
The Day the US Became an Empire For half a century, the United Kingdom celebrated May 24, the birthday of the late Queen Victoria, as “Empire Day.” The US ought to have its own Empire Day and it should be on June 15. It was on June 15, 1898 that the US became an empire. […]
Declining and Falling
Declining and Falling Are we destined for the same fate as that other empire? At the end of World War II, the US enjoyed geopolitical supremacy unmatched since the Roman empire. Friends and foes had been devastated by the war: millions dead, thousands of towns and cities destroyed, commercial and industrial infrastructure decimated. The only […]
The Empire Strikes Out
The Empire Strikes Out Watching the debacle unfold that is the contemporary U.S. is like watching a tsunami approach an ocean shore and knowing that it’s pretty much time to kiss, well, readers can catch the drift of this line of thought without too much reliance on imagination. Now we stand on the precipice and […]
Staying the Course: the Long March of Middle East Destruction
Staying the Course: the Long March of Middle East Destruction When falsely convicted Andy Dufresne bored a hole through the Shawshank prison wall over the course of two decades, narrator “Red” says that Andy always liked geology, and that geology, like digging through a prison wall with a rock hammer, is just a matter of “pressure […]
‘Enlightenment Now’ rationalizes the violence of empire
‘Enlightenment Now’ rationalizes the violence of empire Through an impressive array of data and visual metrics, Steven Pinker’s most recent book, Enlightenment Now, presents a fiercely optimistic portrait of the achievements of the human race. Pinker uses stats and charts to show how, as one reviewer put it: “Wars are fewer and less severe, homicides are […]
The American Way of War: Evolution Stops Here
The American Way of War: Evolution Stops Here America does what it wants. This is obvious, except it’s also monstrously unnerving. Let’s at least add some quote marks: “America” does what it wants — this secretly defined, self-obsessed, unelected entity that purports to be the United States of America, all 325 million of us, but […]
Tomgram: Making Sense of America’s Empire of Chaos
Tomgram: Making Sense of America’s Empire of Chaos [Note for TomDispatch Readers: Every week Truthout chooses a book, a “progressive pick,” to highlight (and sell). This coming week, it’s my new book, A Nation Unmade by War. As part of the process, I did an interview about the book’s themes with Truthout’s Mark Karlin who […]
The U.S. and the Fate of the World
The U.S. and the Fate of the World Americans ought to be more honest about U.S. military interventionism. There ought to be a serious debate about it. Instead there seems to be three, entrenched foreign policy camps who never talk to each other. The first is made up of avowed imperialists. They are easy to […]
