History // Current TV

A Brief Explanation of Humankind

Historian Herber Farquar, DMV, explains how humanity has been genetically programmed... more

Progresshiv
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Tuaregs had completed a military push aimed at creating the state of Azawad and declared victory

BAMAKO – DESERT rebels have launched a revolutionary war in the Sahara. The... more

worrg
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shot down this day in 1968: what has changed?

I was but a young girl of ten when I watched this broadcast with my parents the day... more

JanforGore
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Santorum's Concerns About Teaching Of American History In California State Universities Gets Quick Follow-Through Action

California accepts the challenge . . .

mfb1949
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If this be inaccuracy, make the most of it: the Tea Party tosses the true Patrick Henry overboard | Scholars and Rogues

Patrick Henry is one of those historical one-hit-wonders: “Give me liberty or... more

hoosierdaddy
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The Antiwar Comic: The Protesters Know

U.S. Representatives have an ironic view of Hitler.

TonyDiGerolamo
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Rhyme Report

April Fool's!

cahtoonist
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The New World Order Of The 21st Century: Press for Truth

The agenda for a one world government is advancing at an exponential rate as it... more

rodstradamus
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Great empires, such as the Roman and British, were extractive. The empires succeeded, because the value of the resources and wealth extracted from conquered lands exceeded the value of conquest and governance. The reason Rome did not extend its empire east into Germany was not the military prowess of Germanic tribes but Rome’s calculation that the cost of conquest exceeded the value of extractable resources.

The Roman empire failed, because Romans exhausted manpower and resources in civil wars fighting amongst themselves for power. The British empire failed, because the British exhausted themselves fighting Germany in two world wars.

In his book, The Rule of Empires (2010), Timothy H. Parsons replaces the myth of the civilizing empire with the truth of the extractive empire. He describes the successes of the Romans, the Umayyad Caliphate, the Spanish in Peru, Napoleon in Italy, and the British in India and Kenya in extracting resources. To lower the cost of governing Kenya, the British instigated tribal consciousness and invented tribal customs that worked to British advantage.

Parsons does not examine the American empire, but in his introduction to the book he wonders whether America’s empire is really an empire as the Americans don’t seem to get any extractive benefits from it. After eight years of war and attempted occupation of Iraq, all Washington has for its efforts is several trillion dollars of additional debt and no Iraqi oil. After ten years of trillion dollar struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Washington has nothing to show for it except possibly some part of the drug trade that can be used to fund covert CIA operations.

America’s wars are very expensive. Bush and Obama have doubled the national debt, and the American people have no benefits from it. No riches, no bread and circuses flow to Americans from Washington’s wars. So what is it all about?

The answer is that Washington’s empire extracts resources from the American people for the benefit of the few powerful interest groups that rule America. The military-security complex, Wall Street, agri-business and the Israel Lobby use the government to extract resources from Americans to serve their profits and power. The US Constitution has been extracted in the interests of the Security State, and Americans’ incomes have been redirected to the pockets of the 1 percent. That is how the American Empire functions.

The New Empire is different. It happens without achieving conquest. The American military did not conquer Iraq and has been forced out politically by the puppet government that Washington established. There is no victory in Afghanistan, and after a decade the American military does not control the country.

In the New Empire success at war no longer matters. The extraction takes place by being at war. Huge sums of American taxpayers’ money have flowed into the American armaments industries and huge amounts of power into Homeland Security. The American empire works by stripping Americans of wealth and liberty.

This is why the wars cannot end, or if one does end another starts. Remember when Obama came into office and was asked what the US mission was in Afghanistan? He replied that he did not know what the mission was and that the mission needed to be defined.

Obama never defined the mission. He renewed the Afghan war without telling us its purpose. Obama cannot tell Americans that the purpose of the war is to build the power and profit of the military/security complex at the expense of American citizens.

This truth doesn’t mean that the objects of American military aggression have escaped without cost. Large numbers of Muslims have been bombed and murdered and their economies and infrastructure ruined, but not in order to extract resources from them.

It is ironic that under the New Empire the citizens of the empire are extracted of their wealth and liberty in order to extract lives from the targeted foreign populations. Just like the bombed and murdered Muslims, the American people are victims of the American empire.Great empires, such as the Roman and British, were extractive. The empires succeeded,... more

Crauly_Fingers
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A Late 18th Century Hoodie

very

mfb1949
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Liddonfield Housing Project's Military Connection

As interest in the history of Liddonfield grows, military veterans from the public... more

publichousingstories
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IRAN: Yesterday and Today: Rick Steves

I had the pleasure of viewing this documentary on Iran and its people/culture and had... more

JanforGore
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2 months ago
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Why Venus and Zeitgeist Don't Have It Quite Right

I might presume that most of You are aware of the Venus Project and the Zeitgeist... more

Amaterasu
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2 months ago
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Secret Files Reveal 9,000 Nazi War Criminals Fled to South America after WWII

As many as 5,000 Nazis went to Argentina Between 1,500 and 2,000 ended up in Brazil... more

wbradleyjr1
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2 months ago
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It belongs in a museum!

I am writing to urge you to protect historical artifacts in American museums and universities. The Persepolis Tablets are rare priceless pieces of the heritage of ancient Persia, that are frankly an important piece of world heritage and should continue to be shared at museums and universities, not to mention that fine American universities should not be forced to give up their prized exhibition pieces for political purposes. Why are American universities being held accountable for the actions of the government of Iran? These artifacts have always belonged to the universities and museums in question. They were never the property of Iran to begin with, so why must American institutions give away their own property for something the Iranian government has done?

But an amendment added to the "The Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Human Rights Act of 2012" in the Senate Banking Committee by Senator Menendez would strip these antiquities of their last legal protections as noncommercial items under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Past efforts to make it easier to sue state sponsors of terrorism have unwittingly made it possible for lawyers to sue America's leading research universities and museums in order to seize and auction priceless historical artifacts. This amendment--without further clarification that world heritage items are protected--would mean the Persepolis Tablets would be seized and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The amendment would give lawyers open season on Persian antiquities in order to collect judgments against the Iranian government, not to mention bullying longstanding American institutions of learning, such as Harvard, to be forced to hand away their treasured exhibition pieces to the highest bidder.

I believe victims of the Iranian government deserve just compensation. But we can protect the rights of victims without putting irreplaceable ancient Persian antiquities on the auction block.

The U.S. government has seized almost two billion dollars of the Iranian government's financial assets. Under Section 503 of the bill, victims will be able to receive damages from this seized money. But this section needs to be amended to ensure that cultural property is protected from these lawsuits, which the Department of Justice has consistently opposed.

These goals can be achieved simply by exempting historical property held by U.S. museums, libraries, colleges and universities from lawsuits against foreign governments. Closing this loophole will ensure that these world heritage items will continue to increase our understanding of history and culture for generations to come.

Before this bill comes to the Senate floor, I urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that the rights of terror victims are protected without destroying items that clearly belong in museums and libraries for the world to behold. As Indiana Jones would say: it belongs in a museum. If the cute little girl from the videoclip below can understand this, why can't the Senate?

Thank you for your attention.I am writing to urge you to protect historical artifacts in American museums and... more

SteveAiles
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Obama in 2004: Military strikes might be needed to stop Iran's nuclear program

Obama was fearmongering about Iran's nuclear weapons, right after the launch of... more

maasanova
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Founding Fathers Pickup Lines - 2012

Follow John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, James... more

mjknarf
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2 months ago
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12 comments

Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!

March 14, 1879

mfb1949
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American Railroads of the 1940s (24 pics)

American Railroads of the 1940s (24 pics)... more

neham
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Women Of The Future From 1902

Women Of The Future From 1902... more

neham
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