Tag: empire

Portrait of a Sagging Empire

In September 1998, I was handed a submission for a proposed book by Chalmers Johnson. I was then (as I am now) consulting editor at Metropolitan Books. 9/11 was three years away, the Bush administration still an unimaginable nightmare, and though the prospective book’s prospective title had “American Empire” in it, the American Empire Project … Continue reading “Portrait of a Sagging Empire”

What If Washington…?

The other day I visited a Web site I check regularly for all things military, Noah Shachtman’s Danger Room blog at Wired magazine. One of its correspondents, Spencer Ackerman, was just then at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, the sort of place that – with its multiple bus routes, more than 30,000 inhabitants, PXes, Internet … Continue reading “What If Washington…?”

Turkey, America, and Empire’s Twilight

When U.S. forces found themselves beset by a growing insurgency in Iraq following their lightning overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the most obvious parallel that came to mind was Vietnam: an occupying army, far from home, besieged by a shadowy foe. But Patrick Cockburn, the Independent‘s ace Middle East reporter, suggested that the escalating chaos was … Continue reading “Turkey, America, and Empire’s Twilight”

Historical Lessons Warn Against Modern US Foreign Policy

This writer has recently published a book which examines the cultural origins of a certain American outlook that, since the Second World War, has inspired generally unsuccessful military interventions into non-Western countries, the most dramatic of them being the defeat in Vietnam followed by the genocide in Cambodia. This American outlook subsequently inspired the 2001-2003 … Continue reading “Historical Lessons Warn Against Modern US Foreign Policy”

Empire’s Deal

Remembering a Trampled Armistice When NATO launched Operation Allied Force in March 1999, everyone involved in the operation thought it would be a short, victorious war. How could a tiny country, devoid of allies, besieged from without and divided from within, possibly hope to resist the world’s greatest – nay, only – military alliance? Yet … Continue reading “Empire’s Deal”

Did You Say $33 Billion?

In case you hadn’t noticed, our Afghan War, like some oil-slicked bird in the Gulf of Mexico, has been dragged under the waves. It’s largely off front pages and out of the TV spotlight (despite the possible linkage of the Times Square failed car bombing to the Pakistani Taliban). As a result, most Americans undoubtedly … Continue reading “Did You Say $33 Billion?”

Return Our Weekend Warriors

If George W. Bush – notorious for skipping his Texas Air National Guard drills during the Vietnam War – were in the Guard today, he’d be up in the air without a propeller. That’s because today’s National Guard has become virtually indistinguishable from the nation’s active-duty forces in the war zone. The majority of these … Continue reading “Return Our Weekend Warriors”