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How to Deal with America's Empire of Bases
A Modest Proposal for Garrisoned Lands
The U.S. Empire of Bases -- at $102 billion a year already the world's costliest military enterprise -- just got a good deal more expensive. As a start, on May 27th, we learned that the State Department will build a new "embassy" in Islamabad, Pakistan, which at $736 million will be the second priciest ever constructed, only $4 million less, if cost overruns don't occur, than the Vatican-City-sized one the Bush administration put up in Baghdad. The State Department was also reportedly planning to buy the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel (complete with pool) in Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, to use as a consulate and living quarters for its staff there.
Unfortunately for such plans, on June 9th Pakistani militants rammed a truck filled with explosives into the hotel, killing 18 occupants, wounding at least 55, and collapsing one entire wing of the structure. There has been no news since about whether the State Department is still going ahead with the purchase.
Whatever the costs turn out to be, they will not be included in our already bloated military budget, even though none of these structures is designed to be a true embassy -- a place, that is, where local people come for visas and American officials represent the commercial and diplomatic interests of their country. Instead these so-called embassies will actually be walled compounds, akin to medieval fortresses, where American spies, soldiers, intelligence officials, and diplomats try to keep an eye on hostile populations in a region at war. One can predict with certainty that they will house a large contingent of Marines and include roof-top helicopter pads for quick get-aways.
While it may be comforting for State Department employees working in dangerous places to know that they have some physical protection, it must also be obvious to them, as well as the people in the countries where they serve, that they will now be visibly part of an in-your-face American imperial presence. We shouldn't be surprised when militants attacking the U.S. find one of our base-like embassies, however heavily guarded, an easier target than a large military base.
And what is being done about those military bases anyway -- now close to 800 of them dotted across the globe in other people's countries? Even as Congress and the Obama administration wrangle over the cost of bank bailouts, a new health plan, pollution controls, and other much needed domestic expenditures, no one suggests that closing some of these unpopular, expensive imperial enclaves might be a good way to save some money.
Instead, they are evidently about to become even more expensive. On June 23rd, we learned that Kyrgyzstan, the former Central Asian Soviet Republic which, back in February 2009, announced that it was going to kick the U.S. military out of Manas Air Base (used since 2001 as a staging area for the Afghan War), has been persuaded to let us stay. But here's the catch: In return for doing us that favor, the annual rent Washington pays for use of the base will more than triple from $17.4 million to $60 million, with millions more to go into promised improvements in airport facilities and other financial sweeteners. All this because the Obama administration, having committed itself to a widening war in the region, is convinced it needs this base to store and trans-ship supplies to Afghanistan.
I suspect this development will not go unnoticed in other countries where Americans are also unpopular occupiers. For example, the Ecuadorians have told us to leave Manta Air Base by this November. Of course, they have their pride to consider, not to speak of the fact that they don't like American soldiers mucking about in Colombia and Peru. Nonetheless, they could probably use a spot more money.
And
what about the Japanese who, for more than 57 years, have been paying
big bucks to host American bases on their soil? Recently, they reached
a deal with Washington to move some American Marines from bases on
Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam. In the process, however, they
were forced to shell out not only for the cost of the Marines' removal,
but also to build new facilities
on Guam for their arrival. Is it possible that they will now take a cue
from the government of Kyrgyzstan and just tell the Americans to get
out and pay for it themselves? Or might they at least stop funding the
same American military personnel who regularly rape Japanese women (at
the rate of about two per month) and make life miserable for whoever
lives near the 38 U.S. bases on Okinawa. This is certainly what the Okinawans have been hoping and praying for ever since we arrived in 1945.
In fact, I have a suggestion for other countries that are getting a bit weary of the American military presence on their soil: cash in now, before it's too late. Either up the ante or tell the Americans to go home. I encourage this behavior because I'm convinced that the U.S. Empire of Bases will soon enough bankrupt our country, and so -- on the analogy of a financial bubble or a pyramid scheme -- if you're an investor, it's better to get your money out while you still can.
This is, of course, something that has occurred to the Chinese and other financiers of the American national debt. Only they're cashing in quietly and slowly in order not to tank the dollar while they're still holding onto such a bundle of them. Make no mistake, though: whether we're being bled rapidly or slowly, we are bleeding; and hanging onto our military empire and all the bases that go with it will ultimately spell the end of the United States as we know it.
Count on this, future generations of Americans traveling abroad decades from now won't find the landscape dotted with near-billion-dollar "embassies."
Chalmers Johnson is the author of Blowback (2000), The Sorrows of Empire (2004), and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (2006), among other works. His newest book is Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope (Metropolitan Books). Chalmers Johnson died on November 20, 2010 at age 79.
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74 Comments so far
Show AllAlong with Chris Hedges, Mr. Johnson has earned my respect. Hear, Hear!
You must also include the"secret bases" in that total. From what I have read the real total is right at 1000. And yes the Amerikan empire is ready to fall. You are right that this country is a gigantic ponze scheme and with 300 million people paying in, it has been going on a long time but just like Berny Madoff they all collapse. The first small cracks are showing and you had better get you money into something besides dollars.
Sioux Rose
ERCLONE: If I had $5000 would I buy Chinese Yen? And then what? How does one use a foreign currency in their own land, shop at Chinatown, NYC or California? I know we can get a certificate of deposit drawn on another currency. Is that what you mean? Someone recommended a bank by the name of Ever bank for that style of enterprise. And I understand to buy gold is really to buy gold certificates, again, a paper fascimile of the intended resource. Ponzi schemes are everywhere!
Hi Sioux Rose,
If someone is offering you Chinese Yen, you'd be well advised to run away ASAP. The Chinese print Yuan, also called the Renminbi. But you're clearly dealing with a counterfeiter if you're offerec a PRC Yen. :)
I wouldn't say that at all.
the only reason the Yuan is refered to as "counterfeit" is because it is coming from the THINKING, the western thinking, that ANYTHING NOT INSTIGATED or DICTATED or DESIGNED by the WEST - as in financial structures - is "fake" ....
what NONSENSE!
if anything the REAL CURRENCY MANIPULATAR has ALWAYS been the USA's very own FEderal bank
IT is the one that is issuing "fake" money ..that has merely gotten away with the global scheme of FORCING the DOLLAR UPON other countries (through imperial conquests, economic blockades, threats, so-called 'treaties', institutions such as the washington designed IMF, World bank etc. which REALLy serve washington's global schemes and the US CHAMBER of Commerce's schemes to UNDERMINE OTHER ECONOMIES)
and has merely gotten away with it because it happened to be the "sole superpower" while OTHER nations were still too weakened by global wars which teh USA ITSELF had PART in PROVOKING by its PREVIOUS economic blockades against countries that it considered "uncooperative" for ITS imperial designs to "open up their markets" for US exploitation.
IN CHINA - since the 19th century - this is EXACTLY what the USA - with englan , france, belgium , netherlands, portugal, DID
they - six or seven of them - CONNIVED TOGETHER to FORCE china to SIGN TREATIES that REMOVED from china ANY power or right to DEFEND itself FROM foreing IMPERIAL domination....
where the foreign , western powers DECIDES CHINA was to be DIVIDED
into what the westerners called "our respective SPHERES of influence".
THIS is actually WHERE the PHRASE so common nowadays in US POLICIES came from:
"PREFERED NATION STATUS".
THAT is where they first employed it - to DISMEMBER CHINA into their spheres of influence while keeping it "intact" so they can run will-nilly across that country for its "market"
that they could dictate as CHEAP LABOR market, but VAST riches they could exploit to feed their OWN home EMPIRES .
when they invented that "prefered nation status" and FORCED it on china (at a time when china had become weak militarily and could not defend herself) - that status system was intended to
GIVE "prefered status" to COUNTRIES LIKE the USA , England, Belgium . etc....
where CHINA was NOT ALLOWED to challenge THEIR dictates about wages, about PROFITS taken OUT of the chinese adn hoarded INTO the foreign economies.
it was LITERALLY RAPE - GANG RAPE!
so - let us not PRETEND that the chinese YUAN is some mere "counterfeit" . eh?
the US DOLLAR and financial arrangements around the globe are rather like the GLOBAL VERSION
of the EUROPEAN WHITE PEOPLE
Giving COUNTERFEIT treaties on pieces of paper or clother
with NATIVE INDIANS
with COUNTERFEIT
"trust"
BEFORE abrogating those treaties - and committing GENOCIDE upon the Native indians along the way of STEALING their land and lives and futures
USING COUNTERFEIT
"wealth" PRINTED as MONEY !!! the US DOLLAR!
to point fingers at otehr countries liek china having "counterfeit" money is like the BIGGEST KETTLE of them all calling a pot BLACK!
no country is BETTER at COUNTERFEIT than the USA.
it's in its very DNA...starting with the treatment of native indians. ALL the way to the MODERN
FIAT USA DOLLAR PRINTING that is WORTHLESS trillions of NOTHING but MAKE BELIEVE "prosperity"!
as a writer said:
the "US DOLLAR is really the USA's version of what for Saudi Arabia would be her Black Gold...where the usa has NOTHING to back up its "wealth with" -- it PRINTS DOLLARS in perpetuity -=-= flowing like OIL".
folks -- ESPECIALLY westerners -- remember THIS phrase:
it is as OLD as civilization itself and as TRUE, REGARDLESS of what the US Empire WISHES:
"AS CHINA GOES -- so DOES ASIA".
meaning?
in terms of "currencies" as the world is structured - where CHINA is beginning to use its SOVEREIGN CREDIT POWER to pay attention to DOMESTICE DEVELOPMENT - WITHOUT DEPENDENCE uponf FOREIGN capital denominated in US dollars (which they have always seen, but were NOT yet ready to challenge, as the TRAP the USA has laid for all countries to PREVENT them from TRUE domestic development - sacrificing it FOR the US DOLLAR's "health") -
SO will other asian nations -- which ARE UNSTOPPABLE as the world's NEW power center. MARK THAT.
in fact - if anthing - along with AFRICA and SOUTH AMERICA in the future hopefully --
ASIA has LARGELY been undeveloped ONLY BECAUSE OF WEstern imperialism - particularly that by the USA .
ONCE they realize that THEIR REGIONAL health is PARAMOUNT and ABOVE SUPPORTING US imperialism at THEIR expense (example:
World Bank, IMF "prescriptions and help" in the 1980's that led to the collapse of Asian currencies - another SCHEME by washington - just like in south america which the south americans recently began KICKING OUT of their region) -
you can say Buh BYE to the FINANCING of the US EMPIRE by
foreigners who HAVE KNOWN for decades THAT was what they were being FORCED to do, except they were NOT YET in position to PUT A STOP TO IT!
things AREN"T going BACk to "unchallenged empire of the USA" folks.
NOT when the USA is in HOCK to THOSE foreigners! who HOLD the MONEY the USA can't EVEN PAY BACK IN INTEREST!
but there is another very old asian saying: it is, i believe , an Indian subcontinent one --
given to a British Empire "citizen" looking down on his empire's "backward" provinces in asia:
"WE WERE HERE long BEFORE you were EVEN TRIBES in the west....we will still be here LONG after your empires are no more".
that goes for the USA DOLLAR too - and the EMPIRE that it ARTIFICIALLY props up.......
Sioux Rose
RAY: Mea culpa. When I traveled through Asia it was hard to keep track of the currencies: Thailand, India, Nepal, Singapore, Hong Kong... each has its own. And I guess I had trouble doing fractions to try to keep track in my head how much (in terms of U.S. dollars) I was spending on any item.
WEBWALK: I did buy some property and food can grow in this region.
TEDDY: Thank you for the quite elaborate responses. I am up on Catherine Fitts, Collateral Damage, and other posts. I have to admit, as a person who never had funds to invest, it's ALL Chinese to me! I inherited stocks from my father who passed three years ago, and when I saw them tank, I didn't want to be a victim of Wall St. The thing about property is management costs, added to one's time and aggravation, added to property taxes which could go WAY up to make up for other areas of state-wide fiscal shortfall. It's like trying to maintain one's balance on a roller coaster. Of course I have to remind myself that I learned to live on little a long time ago, and nothing is more precious to me than the free time to write. So long as I have that option, I feel relatively stable. However I do feel those of us with a modicum of stability in our lives, even a roof over our heads and free time, owe it to future generations to do what we can to turn the tide that's destroying our nation and taking so much of the world along for the very rough ride.
Thanks everyone for an interesting thread.
Sioux Rose - i am keeping updated as much as I can about global economy -
as far as I know this is what is emerging:
FIRST - the Chinese YUAN , renminbi, is NOT in position to "become" the world's main currency or replace the dollar as the currency for most global exchange. and it is NOT in the interest of the Chinese nor their intent or in their philosophy to have become SO.
on the contrary -- what the chinese are only TOO AWARE of is that: they are LOSING WEALTH simply BY holding US treasury bills as the dollar goes south - which , through the continuation of the "prescriptions" the usa makes to "right its economy" INEVITABLY LEAD to the DEGRADATION of the US dollar.
SO - what the chinese and other economies that OWN US DEBT are GRADUALLY doing is detach themselves from dependence on their US DOLLAR HOLDINGS - WITHOUT CAUSING a STAMPEDE away from the dollar so as to preserve the value of their "dollar assets" BEFORE THEY ARE READY to RID themselves of "dollar hegemony" which every economist knows was a SCHEME
to let the USA get AWAY with forcing other economies to practically SUPPORT the USA's own debts.
the dollar hegemony is the INSTRUMENT of global trade that PREVENTS other economies to USE THEIR SOVEREIGN CREDIT (transactional documents that EVERY government has the right and power - and ONLY the government - to produce NOT as DEBT to the people but as a "credit" transaction to enable people to exchange values and goods and services that can be REDEEMED after the transactions - from the government by means of PAYING that government THEIR taxes WITH that government's ISSUANCE of THAT Sovereign credit).
in other words:
THIS SOVEREIGN CREDIT which EVERY government CAN issue and has the power to issue - IS ALL that EVERY nation NEEDS for domestic development to its FULLEST
WITHOUT EVER NEEDING FOREING CAPITAL for it.
THIS part of the "development" of nations which is their NATURAL RIGHT
is the ONE that the US DOLLAR HEGEMONY has effectively - so far - been designed to SUPPRESS....
by forcing the world through US FINANCIAL manipulations- backed up of course by its Imperial Military , overt and covert, "diplomacies", and "treaties" -
to LITERALLY SACRIFICE THEIR INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS USING their sovereign credit -- for the sake of the USA"s "development" and REIGN as the globe's MAIN CURRENCY MANIPULATOR....
becaaaaauuuuse -- INSTEAD of having REAL wealth - such as OIL, GOLD, GAS, FRESH WATER, LAND, etc....that can match the REST of the globe's COLLECTIVE power -- the USA INSTEAD has used the ARTIFICIALITY of the SOLE POWER on earth (by the western imposed regime of monetarISM - giving the US Monopoly to PRINT Fiat Dollars WITHOUT BACKUP in REAL wealth with UNLIMITED power to do so and UNSUPPORTED by REAL productivity -- but instead supported by CHEAP LABOR productivity FORCED on OTHER countries through the power of the US CHAMBER of COMMERCE demands -- through IMF, WORLD BANK, etc.) the usa has used that to basically break the backs of Sovereign governments from USING THEIR SOVEREIGN CREDIT issuance POWERS
to IMPROVE their domestic economies.
one of these results AND intents is of course the perpetual LOW WAGES imposed everywhere by the USA .
which also results in "trade imbalances" which - the USA "corrects" BY ISSUING MORE DOLLARS that become MORE worthless
ESPECIALLY FOR THE FOREIGN ECONOMIES holding US DOLLARS that they HAVE to EARN in their global transactions
but which they can NOT USE domestically (just like the USA can not use YUAN domestically).
SO - the result is:
a country like china for example:
MUST BUY US DOLLARS or MUST ACCEPT US dollars in payments to ITSELF in its transactions....
but then--- THAT MONEY EARNED by CHINA - which can NOT be used for its domestic purposes - in order to retain its "value" MUST THEN BE RECHANNELED into the "global economy's" transactions - whcih END UP IN the US Coffers all over again.
in effect - the USA is ROBBING other countries TWICE.
people do not realize this is the PONZI scheme of the USA. it's GREATEST ponzi scheme.
but the chinese know this already -- and therefore are increasingly beginning to spread their ":US holdings "
by buying up REAL wealth - USING THAT "domestically unusable Dollar Asset" to buy those "real assets" globally.
even to the point of offering EXTREMELY generous terms to sellers (such as in gas, oil, copper, cobalt, land, etc.)
because they want to get rid of their Dollar holding dilemma.
and the other side of it :
they are beginning to use their Renminbi - as "sovereign credit" issuances - redeemable as "taxes paid" honored by the government to be recycled for new "credit" for more development - (basically it pays for itself and NO ONE really owes anything as it promotes general welfare and increasing wages) -
for domestic development - and using this power -- are offering the yuan as a currency of exchange bilaterally between nations (they already are doing so with brazil, and other southeast asian nations, for example).
teddy,
Excellent outline.
Everyone should recall too. that Saddam Hussein in Iraq announced that Iraqi oil would no longer be valued in US Dollars but in Euros... and the US promptly invaded Iraq.
Iran has talked about switching their oil to Euros...
The Euro was created by first creating the ECU, the European Currency Unit, which was used to cover major payments among European nations. After years of this it was expanded to become an independent currency.
Now Russia and China, through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, are setting up their own new currency unit to cover major payments between the nations... on the road to set up another independent currency.
The US Ponzi scheme is over, it's just a matter of time until the edifice collapses.
And Sioux Rose, as to investing your dollars before they evaporate - REAL assets, not currency speculation - land, preferably arable land, and houses, for communities of people who work that land... that's where i recommend "investing" now...
exactly -- this is what it is really about -- NOT ONLY the physical assets of countries :"access AND control" as cheney would put it ....or as "big oil" such as Condi's former boss Chevron was leaked in the early 90's to say in meetings "gee....l.if we can just GIT IN THAR....(iraq) the SKY's the LIMIT"...
no - it is not JUSt about THAT - it is ENFORCING the US DOLLAR continually as the transaction currency - because THIS prevents countries that USE THEIR RESERVES away from the dollar (after they wean themselves out of those Dollar-denomination reserves and earnings and savings) - and therefore be more able to free themselves for DOMESTIC development and therefore from a position of strength be truly trading with countries for things they need while trading or exporting material they have developed to over-capacity for domestic consumption. that is a NATURAL economic function
BUT US DOLLAR HEGEMONY ensures that the RACKET of the USA as the "GATE -KEEPER" for all economies remains
because IT FORCES THEM to actually be the FUNDERS of the US EMPIRE at THEIR expense of domestic development .
it's like making THEM pay FOR their OWn enslavement.>THAT is the TRUE US foreign policy. the ARMY is there to do what general smedley butler - US marine 1933 revealed :
"Making the world safe for Capitalism and our cultural and economic assault:"
or what former CIA "economic hitman" JOHN PERKINS revealed in his recent interviews -
"OUR foreign policy is designed to render weaker nations PERMANENTLY subject to the will of our Chamber of Commerce and our policies....what americans do not really undrstand is -- we are living our lifestyles ONLY because it is part of a VERY, VERY vicious system of exploitation that Dehumanizes and ENSLAVES people EVERYWHERE./..........i was part of this Empire Project for decades , in south america, asia, middle east and africa.....if countries do not cooperate - we resort to assassinations and murder, torture, fomenting rebellions and blaming them for mismanagement, economic blockades..if they still do not cooperate ---- THAT's when we send in our army..that's what you are seeing in Iraq".
Check out Global Guerrillas as the writer has been thinking about how to respond locally when everything goes bust.
This is another very good article from Chalmers Johnson. The world would be a better and safer place if they used his works as text books in our schools.
One of the biggest problems is the 'Black Budget', which destroyed any hope for a real Democracy in the U$A.
I would recommend Sorrows of Empire. It's one of the better books I've read lately.
Good you broadcast the news about our so-called embassy in Pakistan. Chalmers Johnson is always right on the money, as well, on how these bases will take down the empire.
Bound to happen, what with Wall Street's flame-out, the military overreach and the bubble economy--we're heading to the world of former empires: Britain, Spain, the Dutch. So it goes.
Indeed. And history's dirty big secret is how the elite are the first into the lifeboats when the Shit hits the fan. They then try to "get in front of the trend" by faking populism to divert the masses from any real reform. Meanwhile the elite preserve their ill gotten wealth. Anyone studying family dynasties will discover that the "clogs to clogs in three generations" is total bullshit. The mobility of poor to middle to rich and rich to poor is an exception; the rule is being stuck. But it makes a nice bed time story.
Chalmers is right but "we" didn't have anything to do with this crap. It was the elite that milk us like cows. It's time to keep them from milking us. We must embrace fierce austerity and frugality until we break the rich elite political control. This is not about saving; this is about destroying the predators from wall/war street. Sure, we'll save, but keep your eye on that bullseye painted on the elite F.I.R.E. people.
FRUGALITY IS FREEDOM!
Part of the reason the bases are still on is that other countries actually depend on them when they have no business doing so. Closing the bases will benefit both us and the citizens of those countries. The only people who will be kicking and screaming are the politicians and the military leadership.
Another great article from Chalmers Johnson in addition to his earlier call to ABOLISH THE CIA.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1105-30.htm
What we need to do is close down most of if not all the military bases. We could do a lot better at a lot lower cost if we spent our money on national defense in place of national offense. We should develop a missile defense system. If you want to get rid of nukes make the delivery systems obsolete. Now who wants to sign a missile defense treaty with us? We will give you a missile defense system for your land. That should shake up the status quo.
Obsolete delivery systems? Boats, cars, trucks ... it doesn't take a missle or an airplane.
Happy upcoming Fourth of July and all that. But perhaps someone could clarify for me exactly what revolutionary precepts have been preserved from the U.S. struggle against the preceding imperium and are currently being celebrated by its populace and their own colonial activities.
Let's see. There was, if I remember my history correctly, the "no taxation without representation" issue. So today you've got yourselves a so-called "representative" legislature. The only fly in that ointment is that it's actually a wholly owned subsidiary of USA Incorporated and no longer represents you and your interests at all, if it ever really did. And PLEASE don't tell me that its next red/blue facade switch will fix that.
Then there was that nasty old constitutional monarchy bound by "quaint" notions like Magna Carta and habeas corpus. Well, you certainly "improved" on that with your unconstitutional presidency combining C-in-C/Head-of-State/Head-of-Government functions in a singular "unitary executive" office without any day-to-day parliamentary accountability and with assumed never-ending war powers (indefinite detention without trial, "death-by-drone" on command, etc., etc.) that George III could only dream of.
And speaking of poor ol' porphyric George, he really should have granted Washington his much sought after king's commission in the regular British army. Instead, the silly fool got Washington really PO'd by frustrating his westward land speculation with that 1763 proclamation honoring treaties and prohibiting colonial settlement west of the Appalachian mountains in an effort to ease tensions with the native population. Some monarchs just don't seem to understand that treaties and other constitutional "supreme laws" are mere pieces of paper to be dealt with via "signing statements" and "executive findings." Damnable imperial tyrants!
But I guess the straw that really broke the camel's back, so to speak, was the British demand for colonial financial support for their imperial protection. It must be granted that nominal ownership of the imperium and its protection rackets does appear to have changed somewhat since then, but it's far from clear that ordinary U.S. citizens have derived much benefit from that titular shift either.
So I ask again. Could someone please elucidate for me on the precise bases for the upcoming celebrations apart from the ever-present "rocket's red glare" on every horizon and an imperial flag that now incites much more hatred than love and admiration around the world. If it's the old Roman "oderint dum metuant" thing (let them hate so long as they fear) it didn't seem to work out too well in the end for the originators of the concept. For that matter, how does it differ from the more recent imperial forces whose defeat you celebrate as a victory for "freedom and democracy" and all that other good stuff?
You might have also commented upon the fact that the 1812 War was fought over what was the "rendition" program of its day--Impressment of sailors on US flagged vessels and subjecting them to the torture of slavery on a UK warship until their death. As payment for attempting to fight that abomination, the reigning superpower--The British Empire--burned the White House and gave a second-rate poet the oportunity to upgrade one of his previously failed ditties into the Star Spangled Banner.
Good point. I guess I was hesitant about getting into the revolution's immediate aftermath and the US/UK tensions leading up to the War of 1812 -- complicated, of course, by the ongoing war between Britain and France.
Neutral rights and their infringement (as perceived by all of the parties) were certainly a major factor. But, once again, the desire of the frontiersmen for free land, which could only be obtained at the expense of the Native Americans, also played a significant role. Moreover, the British were suspected, with some justification, of encouraging and arming the native population for the purpose of preventing that desired U.S. expansion.
In any case, as you correctly point out, there are indeed more than a few "traditional" inheritances that have been preserved and adapted from the time to serve modern imperial needs.
One of my curiosities as an historian is what was remarked about US territorial expansion by the Brits after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and then after the failed US assault on Canada at the beginning of the 1812 War. Unfortunately, that curiosity has a very low priority at the moment. As for the Empire of Bases, finacial insolvency will be their death knell, but far too late for my tastes.
Sioux Rose
RV: Quite an evocative post. Thank you for your eloquent words.
I, for one, see nothing to celebrate. I'd like to see war replaced with firework display competitions. Olympic-style judges would sit at tables and SCORE each team for its creative use of firepower. This way no one would die, a winner would be declared, and those enamored by bombastic playing god displays of ejaculatory power would also be satisfied. No need to send in trained corps to clean up millions of unexploded ordnance, no DU that will require lifetime medical treatment programs. No crying widows or orphanned children. And the crowds can gather round and roar! Sure sounds like a winner to me. Now if only the MIC would see the value of this idea, and get with the program! Peace WITH firepower!
And thank you for your kind response.
I'll certainly go along with your proposal for a fireworks contest, if some way can be found to guarantee against the equivalent of nuclear escalation. ;-)
Another KBR wealth transfer? Will this infinite money sink have indoor plumbing?
Chalmers, Chomsky and Zinn. The triumvirate of reason in America.
And unfortunately, those three are getting up there in age. It won't be long before we lose them to the great library in the sky. We need some young pups to step up to the plate when that happens. Chris Hedges and Glenn Greenwald come to mind . . .
"...it must also be obvious to them, as well as the people in the countries where they serve, that they will now be visibly part of an in-your-face American imperial presence. We shouldn't be surprised when militants attacking the U.S. find one of our base-like embassies, however heavily guarded, an easier target than a large military base"
****************
Exactly right! These fortress-shopping mall-amusement park-resort-"embassies" are just one more way for oppressed peoples to attack their oppressors.
Poet
It's unfortunate how "we" have to wait for the bankruptcy of our nation to bring about such a demise of the military, as CJ suggests.
And it's unfortunate how "we" are left to deal with the destruction that the spiritually and morally perverse power elite leave behind.
In all the years of building the MIC and practicing disaster capitalism (they go hand in hand) few Americans seemed to recognize the inevitable consequences of a self-rationalized fear and greed-based reality, or how "we" in fact created that reality by virtue of our arrogance and condescension toward other nations and other humans (and our planet). From a transcendent perspective it is easy to see how "we" brought this on ourselves and how "we" must face the inevitable karmic consequences - just as prior empires and civilizations.
When will "we" learn to stop rendering unto caesar? Until then, expect this rise-and-fall scenario to repeat itself ad nauseam.
BUT, if you're fortunate enough to live during the "rise" you will think you're living a great life, in a great community, and that you must act to protect your great life from everyone else, whom quite naturally will be envious and want what you have. And, of course, the future consequences of acting from your self-rationalized fear and vanity, denying others and even castigating them, well that's just too far off to matter so very much, isn't it?
Inevitably, there does come the "fall" .... and for those that have to deal with that, apparently it's just too bad. Besides, how can you be so sure the "fall" will even come? We've been through tough times before, and things "always" have a way of working themselves out, so the story line goes.
For now, I'm going back to my poolside lounge chair with my drink, and try not to think about it anymore. I have enough stress in my life without worrying about the whole rise-and-fall of empires thingy. Besides, there will always be opportunity in cleaning up the mess. Or, if I'm dead, it won't matter. Right?
The next book that Hugo Chavez gives to Obama should be one of Chalmers Johnson's trilogy. Haven't heard if O is a book reader. Anyone know?
Another way to describe the illness of the US is with the three E words: Empire, exceptionalism, entitlement. Empire for the 1,000 or so bases in 132 countries worldwide and a military operation costing around a trillion dollars annually, clearly unsustainable as Johnson points out. Exceptionalism from the mad notions of being God's chosen people or the light upon a hill guiding all mankind. Thus the US is outside history, and outside any laws, even ones it has signed as solemn treaties. And this was true from the beginning as treaties with the native tribal peoples were constantly broken. And entitlement is the notion that the rest of the world and the world environment "owes" the US a standard of living. All three of these notions are running into a stone wall of hard reality. Unfortunately there are few voices in the political arena willing to face the facts and wake up the people. Dennis Kucinich genuinely tries "Wake Up, America", along with Nader, Sanders and others the corporate media won't allow time on the public airwaves. Fortunately there are sharp minds and writers attempting to educate and alert those fortunate enough to look for them or find them; Johnson, Zinn, Chomsky, Bacevich, Scahill, Greenwald, and others.
Sioux Rose
COURT JESTER: Sharp post. Gracias.
you know what is so sad , courtjester?
just as you described: the americans DID NOT have to become the world's "main aggressors" - but their own exceptionalist mythologies - which is DIFFERENT from basic national pride - turned them into that. and it has created more of a mess than has been necessary or even "natural" among nations and cultures of such vast varieties of thinking. it is largely because the USA wouldn't LET the REST of the world ALONE to decide their national destinies as members of the world's civilizations and make their own decisions.
NO -- it had to be "UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE SHINING CITY ON THE HILL" and its MESSIANIC, "christianizing" DELUSIONS of "superior civilization" NONSENSE.
I have read in several places where China and others wish to replace the dollar with a (perhaps genuinely?) international currency as the metier of international transaction.
I'd love to know what an old East-Asia hand like Johnson thinks of that. Unless I'm missing something very large, such an action would force most of the US to depend mostly on the labor of its residents, perhaps even its own citizens.
I find it hard to imagine why countries like Russia and China, who need have only limited fear of immediate US reprisal, could not come to some agreement over this kind of thing.
As the price of oil rises, Venezuelan oil should become more valuable, and more viable in scenarios that do not involve blasting tankers between Venezuela and China or Siberia - a prospect that just may be frightening enough to actually not happen.
I should think that an alliance of some sort that involved a coalition of states that combined China and Russia with Venezuela and its Latin American neighbors might reasonably introduce an international currency.
They're working on it. Google "BRIC, SCO Discuss Super-Sovereignty Currency"
But you'll have to be patient. When you're a major creditor and hold as many dollar-denominated assets as they do (especially China) you don't want to rock the boat too quickly lest you find youself at the bottom along with the ship itself.
you are absolutely right!
that's why there is very little chance the USA will "invade" IRAN - even as the usa TRIES to continue to destabilize iran.
IRAN is a POWER in the middle east - no matter what the westerners WISH OTHERWISE - and as a power - is already TOO INTERTWINED with its own asian neighbors = which is traditional and historical - and china and russia as well as other energy rich countries have LARGE - self-interested and preserving stakes to make sure IRAN REMAINS STABLE. they are all intertwined in their economic and cultural investments with each other.
it is the USA which is the ODD MAN OUT....
and as Patrick Buchanan wisely said:
:"we should get OUT of this business of EMPIRE and get out of those lands -- before they KICK us out".
countries in fact are already LEARNING how to BLEED the USA "global empire of bases" - as Chalmers Johnson said - by UPPING the demands upon the US TREASURY...
it's kind of PAYBACK time. while the USA is STILL TRAPPED in ITS 20-century DELUSIONS of "global dominance" beating its breasts and flexing its military muscle that is DEPENDENT on the TOLERANCE of its CREDITORS!
It's an old and very good idea. Keynes actually proposed it back in 1937-38. He wanted to call it the bancor. This "bancor" currency would be based on a basket of approximately 30 commodities (metals, grains, etc.). This would avoid the constant inflation/deflation problem due to money supply manipulation and other central banking shinnanegans. It wasn't done because Brettan-Woods made the dollar a one way cash cow for the U.S. at the expense of stability and growth in many other countries. We got all the upside and no downside. What a deal! We can't do that anymore because our industrial monopoly is kaput. So the writing is on the wall. Hang on to your wallet.
what China is proposing is NOT for the yuan to replace the dollar as main currency.
it's NOT in a position to do that because china's INTERNAL economy is FAR from having reached ITS TRUE potential - which is AS THE WORLD's LARGEST economy ( here you can easily see why the DOLLAR hegemony and militaristic back up to force countries has served to UNDESERVELY and UNEARNEDLY allow the USA to be the "world's largest economy" - it's really an aberration and is unnatural in and of itself ) ...
and every historicaly aware person KNOWS that china was TURNED -in the space of LESS than a century - from being the worlds MOST PROSPEROUS nation at the end of the 19th century to "the worlds' BASKET CASE"
when - because china's last ruling families became weak and corrupt and neglected their economy - they laid the country OPEN to imperial attacks BY the british, the USA, the french, etc....
which surrounded china (about six or seven nations together) - and the forced china to sign treaties giving THESE colonial powers VIRTUALLY total control over the chinese - in what was called "the PREFERED NATION STATUS" (made even more famous by the clintons , nixon, reagan and so current still today) -
where the FOREIGN imperialists - as "prefered nations" could run VIRTUALLY with impunity inside china - doing whatever they wanted - within their "agreed" spheres of influence.
the communist uprising - was a result of the "left/right" division of the NATIONALISTS that rose up against this foreign "devil" invasions that seeked turn china into their Chattel , which is what they did of course...INCLUDING USING the "OPIUM TRADE" to weaken the chinese population , on top of economic and naval blockades.
THAT"s the real history of US and western imperialism in CHINA and the asian continent.
SO - as china has risen or "woken up" from its century long DEBASEMENT - and seeks to REGAIN its RIGHTFUL destiny since thousands of years ago - as one of the worlds' great civilizations and prosperous powers - which was CONTINUOUSLY SO until the 19th century --
China is seeking to WEAN ITSELF FROM its own ENTRAPMENT into the DOLLAR HOLDINGS. by diversifying, gradually, its Dollar holdings into "real assets" BEFORE the Dollar collapses - as the chinese are already anticipating -- and NOT because they WANT it to - but because it is the RESULT of AMERICAN POLICIES THEMSELVES - a SELF-INFLICTED wound..
naturally the chinese are merely looking at the long view..why SHOULD THEY allow thesmelves to be DRAGGED DOWN by the USA IN ITS self-immolation?
so - they are suggesting a "basket of currencies" including the ruble, the yuan, dollar, sterling, euro, dinar, etc - that can be called something like the BANCOR
or based on "credit notes" issued by the world bank (as the convenience requires) or "special drawing rights" where countries can then "convert" their currencies into these drawing rights and vice-versa while the VALUE remains stable based on the DEPOSITS guaranteed by the countries -- towards their different international transactions.
another ALTERNATIVE - which is probably LIKELY -
China is suggesting that the USA PAY back china in what are called "PANDA" accounts....
where US firms or corporations ISSUE CREDITS for their debts and obligations to china through "panda credits" BYPASSING the dollar and in effect - are like "industry ISSUED" "money"....
direct from trader to trader - which China will then HONOR as "payment" for use in its domestic economy and other transactions to whichever country is in a treaty with china to use their mutual currencies also (such as brazil and china together).
Learn Languages: http://www.learnthatlanguagenow.com
partly this is because their internal economies are not (YET) large ENOUGH to be "guarantors" as the US dollar has been - to be backed up by the "consumer" - as the US consumer has been - until recently , that is, - as the "last resort" for the world's goods .
partly it is because the dollar has been established as the main currency for such a long time during a world period after the wars when most countries were either not advanced enough as economies - OR were devastated by the wars, LEAVING the USA literally "untouched" in her own shores and therefore left standing as the "main power" - WHICH THEN, under the BRETTON-WOODS program treaties just after the second world war - the main POWERS then - without consultation with the remaining countries (especially asian and african) - simply decided to establish the DOLLAR as the main currency - backed up by Gold reserves in its treasury...which in the 1970's NIXON detached the Dollar FROM being REQUIRED to be backed up by appropriate Gold reserves ... reserves being the historical way economies measured their actual "worth" in terms of whatever coinage or currencies they issued to be "trusted" in transactions.
THIS detaching from the gold reserves requirement allowed the USA to LITERALLy , with IMPUNITY - be able to
open the spigot of "DOLLAR" as IF merely printing money was itself "TREAsURE". and THIS time it forced countries to have to buy more and more Dollars from THEIR SAVINGS and EARNINGS from their trades in order to make TRANSACTIONS (such as debt payments to each other, industries, etc.) in international trade -- while of course paying a dividend to the USA for USING the DOLLAR as the instrument of "choice"......
in effect - PAYING the USA TWICE for being FORCEd to use the DOLLAR as the globe's main currency.
it's really a long-build scam . a kind of global MONEY Racketeering by the USA .
that's why in the 60's especially in asian countries - and they REMEMBER this experience very well - it was traditional joke about the USA:
"we (americans) PRINT the DOLLARS and ....it's YOUR problem".
the DOLLAR PRINTING POWER is how the USA really maintains its global empire. without IT
it will collapse. its corporations and therefore its global arms empire can not be sustained with the kind of "advantages" THEY HAVE enjoyed and gotten away with for "producing" "prosperity" - and supporting the US economy
while MAKING OTHER countries PAY for that behavior be means of keeping their currencies UNUSABLE as global currencies even AMONG THEMSELVES since the Dollar has taken OVER that role - like a "gate-keeper" that also takes payments - and at the same time KEEPS those countries' EARNINGS and SAVINGS (being forced to keep wages low to KEEP the DOLLAR Solvent in comparison) - concentrated in being reserved for CONVERSION INTO DOLLAR use to SERVICE the countries' foreign debts or transactional payments (the reverse is not allowed, to CONVERT dollar RESERVES into LOCAL currency for domestic development use - this is the PARTICULAR anomaly designed into the systmem of "dollar hegemony").
THAT's the SCHEME of the USA -- underneath ALL its empire.
as GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER, US MARINES, 1933 revealed in speeches - for which HE was , as the most decorated marine in US history , after serving 30 years as the "CHIEF ENFORCER leading our BIG MUSCLES. the army t0 do the bidding of our Chamber of Commerce, Big Banks, Big Corporations, Big Finance all in service of our BIG BOSS - 0ur supernationalistic Capitalism" -- of being a "communist" or "left sympathizer"....
:"we are a PREDATOR nation...a nation of RACKETEERS....the Foreign policy of the USA has always been geared towards gathering as much of the world's resources unto ourselves -- at the expense of others..the true purpose of our US ARMY and forces is to make the world safe for Capitalism and our Cultural and Economic Assault....the TROUBLE with US americans is ....if our DOLLAR can not buy more than 6% of value at home....we want to go abroad so it can buy 100 % ...and where the DOLLAR goes...the FLAG follows, where the flag goes, our ARmy follows....i spent decades pacifying countries to do our bidding. nicaragua, panama, honduras, domincan republic, puerto rico........indonesia...you wanted to ensure our BIG OIL can run unmolested in the oil-rich northeastern china and other provinces? i'd do it for you...i always had my suspicions that what we DO is EVIL....but I SUSPENDED my conscience for 30 years.......i will have NOTHING more to do with it".
There was a time when the sun never set on the ENGLISH EMPIRE.
This is a good example of what will happen to the United States.
SUSTAINABILITY....is a concept not well understood in the US.
Like the president of Ecuador said...."if the US will let us put a base in the United States we will consider letting the US base stay in Ecuador".
.
Ask the BIG QUESTION............what does the United States get in return for these hundreds of bases around the globe ??????????????......NOTHING, NADA, ZIP.
Little or no return for these U.S Military land bases on foreign soil !!!!!!!!!!!!!
These land bases are obsolete in modern war-fare.
There is no justification for the U.S. manpower and equiptment scattered around the world.
That 112 Billion taxpayer dollars could be well, used right here at home. Those bases are not defenses; they are TARGETS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
,
Let me help clear your perspective.
1) The U.S. is a big place. The "benefit" from these bases goes into corporate elite pockets that build and service these bases on OUR dime.
2) Of course they are targets. The more targets the better. You can't have wars without some action, no matter how puny or contrived, to justify them. Think of these bases as lures. Remember when Bush said he was "going fishing"? His lures were two large rectangular skyscrapers but our foreign bases work that way too.
3) The elite like wars because THEY make money while WE fight them and pay for them.
I hope this has made things clearer. It's a bummer but our leaders don't give a rats' ass about us. We are cows to be milked or butchered if we get too ornery. Live with it or fight it with frugality. Don't spend. Crush corporate profits.
I'm helping that fight. I don't keep any money in my bank account. I use it just to cash my checks. I blew off paying my student loans. I ran up credit card debt over years and blew that off when I lost my on the books job and they wouldn't work with me. On paper I own nothing. I don't save money, I buy tools and durable goods that I can use to maintain my life. I don't pay taxes and I barter my skills and product to avoid actually dealing with money. The best way to beat the beast is starve the beast. Let them have enough rope they'll hang them selves; but I won't be on the gallows next to 'em. And cosmobilly is right: there will be plenty of meat on this empires bones for us to live on when it does collapse.
I think it was the legendary War Theorist - Claus von Clausewitz that said:
"ALL WARS are planned, instigated and promoted by the Moneyed Class for profit and power....the Moneyed Class will NEVER support wars UNLESS there is a PROFIT to be made...
"WARS are really domestic policy by other means...in reality they are also wars AGAINSt the domestic population by the Moneyed Class"...
and I believe James Madison said:
"Foreign wars are to be charged with the Loss of Liberties at home -- they always come hand in hand".
Benjamin Franklin said:
"While the costs are great DURING war....the REAL bill comes later".
and SOCRATES:
"ALL foreign Wars are waged for Power and Money".
FINALLY - the UNITED STATES of America is a WARFARE nation.
connect the dots of history and you have it all figured out.
it is quite up to americans themselves what kind of nation they REALLY want to BE.
BUT :
as Madison , or maybe it was Franklin said it:
"NO NATION can survive perpetual war".
and of course either Jefferson or Washington or Franklin said:
"Beware of the RISE of the Corporations and BANKS - for they shall one day accumulate such wealth and power over the people that the nation SHALL see the population of homeless and destitute".
EXACTLY what has begun in america as it SPREADS its "american way" globally - through its wars and economics of profiteering.
THAT"s your "shining city on the hill" for ya......
with its current EMPEROR OBAMA STILL trying to lecture other countries how to BEHAVE..........(which he JUST did to russia - telling Russia "to go beyond the Cold War" EVEN as THE USA CONTINUES IT unabated!!!)
odoco
JAM4 - I beg to differ, in a sense: The system of US bases around the world are meant to insure a continuing hegemony of the natural resource base of other nations and the protection of trade routes / oil pipeline avenues for the future transference of mineral wealth. The rub is this: the US corps now involved in this seek foreign depositories for their wealth to avoid paying taxes while simultaneously using US tax dollars (via no-bid contracts with no or little oversight)- contracts from the corporate driven US government (see Juhasz's "The Bush Agenda' and Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine,' as well as all of Chalmers and Chomsky's works).
The bases are about the control and flow of wealth to a well-positioned, privileged few - they have very little to so with actual national security or the perpetuation of economic stability for the average working American.
How to get rid of them? Don't feed the machine. Jim Hinde, a great northwest song writer once penned a tune called 'Sam the Alligator.' Find it, read the verses, therein you will find the answer.
And thanks to Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War for continuing the struggle. VFP has been on the side of Chalmers, Chomsky, Klein, Bennis, Jamail, et al since before this war began. Check out their websites - especially if you are a vet.
Imperialism is a capitalist thing.
Quite true. Follow the money.
Deepa
How to Deal with America's Empire of Bases???
Learn from your south & Central American friends, who dethroned their dictators through MASS DEMONSTRATIONS AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE.
PEOPLE'S POWER IS MIGHTIER THAN IMPERIAL POWER.
As long as majority of Americans continue to sit, watch and enjoy (and take pride) what their government is doing in other sovereign countries, nothing happens.
Nothing happens? I'm not so sure about that, not even in the limited perspective of American wellbeing alone.
Even if one leaves aside the more obvious risks, there is such a thing as anomie, usually defined as social instability caused by the erosion of standards and values. Emile Durkheim, writing as far back as the late 19th century, called it "the malady of infinite aspiration."
there is the concept - or perhaps "excuse" - that most americans just "sit by" - in order to "live the american way, being too busy with it" - as the Empire tries to expand to "full spectrum dominance" while also bankrupting itself , BECAUSE they are "just not aware ENOUGH" .
I have , in observation and studying the history and PATTERNS of how americans look at the "empire" or "OUR NATION" as they would put it , begun to believe that - CONTRARY to the suggestion that americans are just "not aware ENOUGH of what is done in their name -- but that if they REALLY KNEW they would show dissent and not support Empire".......
contrary to it -- AMERICANS in general can NOT be AS "ignorant" or "unaware" or "uninformed" or "unwitting" as is suggested.
I think americans as a whole are ONLY TOO AWARE that the USA IS an empire -- but CHOOSE to relegate that thought to the outskirts of their "consciousness" - so as not to attach that notion or its accompanying associations with something
"evil" or "not benign" -- "like the others - like the evil soviets, evil Hitler's Third Reich, the Roman Empire"...
and that through this STUDIED "ignorance" or "lack of awareness" -- americans DON"T have to confront the same question that germans used to answer with "we DIDN"T KNOW".
in reality -- I think that americans are ONLY TOO AWARE that a country with such POWER and wealth could NEVER have been achieved or maintained UNLESS SOMETHING MONUMENTALLY WRONG has been its FOUNDATION.....
but BEING americans -- they PREFER to put their eyes on the "goodness" and "benign" nature of "america".
while there are of course the usual "antiwar" - "anti empire" -- "anti american hegemony" -- etc...whether from the vietnam era or before or after
I think that americans in GENERAL - CHOOSE to NOT disturb what they DEEP DOWN SENSE
at the very least -- as america BEING an EMPIRE - and that even just the slightest "rumors" (even for those that are VERY nativist or conservative or ";liberal war hawks" etc) about what the USA has been doing all along - even if they can RATIONALIZE that this is NOT "characteristic of america"
DEEP DOWN -- KNOW it is ALL TOO TRUE and FAR MORE the TRUE nature of the USA which they "love".
therefore -- i believe that americans in GENERAL
Consciously or subconsciously -- knowingly direct - or not - ARE IN FAVOR of AMERICA AS an EMPIRE
only -- they WON'T admit to it and won't call it that....
why i keep forgetting that poet -- he is american - but he said this:
"WE AMERICANS ---- CAREFULLY NURTURE an attitude of STUDIED INDIFFERENCE to the suffering of others -- EVEN if WE are the cause of it".
because if they DO NOT nurture that -- they WOULD have to admit to themselves : WE ARE NOT the benign nation we claim to be..we are NOT the nation of "truth, justice and liberty and fairness" we claim to be.......
we are indeed a nation of PREDATORS who FEED upon the body of other nations...and it is WE that is the THREAT to life on this earth.
so -- i think that americans HIDE behind that facade of "not knowing enough" or at least being PERCEIVED and written about as "not knowing enough" in order to continue to be capable of QUIETLY SUPPORTING what they KKNOW , deep down, as any child would when shown injustices, to be WRONG.
I do not think it is POSSIBLE for an entire nation to be as "distracted" or "too busy" or too "uneducated" or "too uninformed" about the true nature of their own country -- so as to be EXCUSED FROM the CULPABILITY of being PART of what JOHN PERKINS , Former CIA economic hitman - partly also EXCUSES americans when he says:
"what americans DO NOT UNDERSTAND -" ...........
"is that we are living our lifestyles ONLY because it is part of a VEry, VERY vicious system of Exploitation that Dehumanizes and Enslaves People Everywhere".
I think that he is of course CORRECT in the SECOND part of that statement .....
but that he is TOO GENEROUS about the "innocence" of americans in his first part of the statement.
ONE CAN SENSE EVIL even if it is not openly uncovered to one's eyes.
that is , after all, part of what we ought to HAVE as human beings...our SENSE that SOMETHING is NOT right.
the lifestyle of americans ALONE should be the DAILY SMOKE that should have been telling them "this lifestyle we brag about -- the american WAY " ----- "rather than a reflection of how GOOD we are and how WORTHY -- points to something ROTTEN"......
but THEN prefer to NOT question it. it is "american". and THAT is SUPPOSED to be BENIGN ONLY.