America’s Empire

In what sense does America have an Empire?  What benefits, if any, does it provide to us and the world?  What does it cost us?  Can we keep it?

(1)   About the Empire

1. The foundation of America’s empire: our chain of bases around the world, 8 September 2008
2. “A shattering moment in America’s fall from power”, 19 November 2008
3. “End of Empire” by David Roche, 29 November 2008
4. The transition between Imperial reigns: what will it mean for America?, 16 December 2008
5. America reaches a tipping point as Washington becomes its heart and soul, 29 January 2009
6. To understand the Imperial Unconscious, Tom provides the Dictionary of American Empire-Speak, 6 March 2009
7. Team Obama, guardians of the American Empire (did you expect anything else?), 14 April 2009
8. Lapham: Democracy at Bay in America, 5 May 2009
9. Niall Ferguson, poet-laureate of the American Empire, 27 May 2009
10. Words important for all Americans to hear, from Tom Engelhardt, 7 June 2009
11. A wonderful discussion about the American Empire, 24 June 2009
12. We need not bow before our Emperior (yet), 22 September 2009
13. Ultimately Primacy Is Its Own Justification (Imperial rule #12), 24 September 2010
14. The American Empire, as seen by a Major General of the PLA.
15. A Chinese general judges America’s leadership of the world economy.
16. A Chinese general sees a ruthless America striving to contain his nation’s growth.
17. Advice from Kipling & Orwell about America’s empire. Let’s listen.

(2)  The costs and economics of the Empire

1. Geopolitical implications of the current economic downturn, 24 January 2008
2. Prof Nouriel Roubini describes “The Decline of the American Empire”, 18 August 2008
3. Geopolitical implications of the current economic downturn, 24 January 2009
4. A look at the new world – after the downturn, 19 March 2009
5. The limit to America’s power is our ability to pay for it, 18 April 2011

(3)  Expansion of the Empire

1. New bases in Afghanistan – more outposts of America’s Empire, 21 May 2009
2. US troops must fight in the Congo! A report from the asylum, home to many of our geopolitical experts, 20 September 2010
3. America’s Shadow Wars in Africa, 29 July 2012

(4)  The future of the Empire

1. “Welcome to 2025 – American Preeminence Is Disappearing Fifteen Years Early” by Michael Klare, 7 March 2010
2. A warning from the past.  Might the American Empire drag down America?, 4 August 2011
3. “A shattering moment in America’s fall from power”.