Empire // Current

Obama, McCain and the Empire

Chalmers Johnson: No president has stood up to the military-industrial complex. Part 4

In Part 4 of his series of interviews with Chalmers Johnson, Senior Editor Paul Jay asks the renowned author to weigh-in on the two presidential hopefuls in the upcoming US election. Chalmers shares his skepticism about the real power that any president has over the conduct of the US on the world stage, before critiquing the visions and advisory teams being unveiled by both Obama and McCain.

Chalmers Johnson taught from 1962 to 1992 at the Berkeley and San Diego campuses of the University of California. From 1968 until 1972 he was a consultant to the Office of National Estimates of the Central Intelligence Agency. He has written 17 books. His most recent releases are “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire” (Metropolitan Books, 2000) and “The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic” (Metropolitan, 2004) and his newest book, “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic" (Metropolitan, 2007). Chalmers has been a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times, the London Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, and The Nation among others, he appears in the 2005 prize-winning documentary film "Why We Fight".

See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89370666_massive_us_military_b...

See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89373406_last_days_of_the_amer...

See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89378191_the_encirclement_of_r... Chalmers Johnson: No president has stood up to the military-industrial complex. Part 4 ... more

Vierotchka

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1 hour ago

PENTAGON SCORES A BIGGER RIP-OFF THAN BAILOUT

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE 1000 POUNDS GORILLA, BEAR OR GODZILLA STOMPING THROUGH CONGRESS, SENATE & DEMOCRACY THAT EVERYONE (BIG MEDIA INCLUDED) IGNORES SO ELEQUANTLY...

Just like a magician; while you are watching the left hand , the right one does the trick !

With All Eyes on the Bailout, House Passes Trillion-Dollar Defense Bill

*********************** SHOCKING *************************

IT'S EMPIRE BUILDING, NOT DEFENSE SPENDING !
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/100524/

"The legislation came together in a remarkably secret process that concentrated decision-making power in the hands of a few lawmakers."

In keeping with the tradition of recent years, Bush held a gun to his own head and threatened to pull the trigger if his demands weren't met. According to the AP, "To earn President Bush's signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq."

ALSO...

THE WAR ECONOMY
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/

Congress and the administration are embroiled in contentious talks over on the details of a $700 billion infusion into the financial system, intended to restore liquidity and maintain the flow of credit. But the talks stalled yesterday. "It was an implosion that spilled out from behind closed doors into public view in a way rarely seen in Washington," the New York Times observed. Tonight, Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) are scheduled to debate foreign policy matters in Oxford, MS. While the subject matter seems disconnected from the situation in financial markets, prescient economists predicted this fall-out from the Iraq war long ago. In 2002, Gerd Hausler, director of international capital markets at the IMF, said that "a serious conflict with Iraq would not be a very healthy development" for the financial markets. Robert Shapiro, undersecretary of commerce in the Clinton administration stated, "If the [Iraq] conflict wears on or, worse, spreads, the economic consequences become very serious." The debt was $5.7 trillion when Bush took office; it will be $10.3 trillion by the time he leaves. While Congress hesitates to appropriate $700 billion for the financial crisis, the administration still is pouring $12 billion a month into Iraq, also raising the question of how the Iraq war funds could be spent better at home.

IRAQ RECESSION?: A significant reason for the current $9.6 trillion federal debt has been the Iraq war, which the U.S. largely financed through borrowing. This week, President Bush said that the crisis began after "a massive amount of money flowed into the United States from investors abroad because our country is an attractive and secure place to do business," which led to easy credit and to the housing bust. But the problem isn't simply one of excessive foreign investment because of businesses. "It's that the U.S. had to borrow money from foreign nations at an alarming rate, after it dug itself into debt paying for the Iraq War while cutting taxes," The Wonk Room observed. Thus, the United States had to turn to investment from abroad for financing. This, as well as lax regulation and oversight of Wall Street contributed to the credit troubles. Currently, 45 percent of Treasury securities are owned by foreign nations, with the most owned by China and Japan. Other nations owned less than 20 percent of these securities as recently as 1994. Bush left out of his assessment the fact that much of the foreign investment went to finance a war and his tax cuts. A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE 1000 POUNDS GORILLA, BEAR OR GODZILLA STOMPING THROUGH CONGRESS, SENATE & DEMOCRACY THAT EVERYONE (BIG ME... more

WhiteNoise

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10 hours ago

The state of the Empire

Gareth Porter: The US and the world near the end of the Bush administration. Part 2

Gareth Porter is a historian and investigative journalist on US foreign and military policy analyst. He writes regularly for Inter Press Service on US policy towards Iraq and Iran. Author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam.

See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89336287_bush_doctrine_at_the_...

See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89351820_provoking_russian_nat...

See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89361295_war_and_cash_for_tras...

See Part 5 at: http://current.com/items/89373473_will_a_new_us_preside... Gareth Porter: The US and the world near the end of the Bush administration. Part 2 ... more

Vierotchka

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6 hours ago

The Godfather is the don of Empire's top 500 film poll

The Godfather has topped a list of the top 500 films of all time compiled by Empire magazine following a poll of readers and film industry luminaries

The rest of the top 10 was filled by Goodfellas, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction and Fight Club,

what do you think? should it have been number one or do you have a favourite that is different? The Godfather has topped a list of the top 500 films of all time compiled by Empire magazine following a poll of readers and film indu... more

tallmansam

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1 day ago

Wall Street teeters, the Empire and China shake

Markets nosedive, recession spreads, world financial system shaken.

Markets in New York were rocked again on Wednesday as anxieties about the financial system ran high after the government's bailout of insurer American International Group left investors with little confidence in many banking stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average nosedived about 450 points, down more than 800 points or 7 percent so far this week. The market was more unnerved than comforted by news that the Federal Reserve is giving a two-year, 85 billion dollar loan to AIG in exchange for a nearly 79.9 percent stake in the company, which lost billions in the risky business of insuring against bond defaults. With the markets rattled, waiting to see who the next victim could be, shares of two other major financial firms Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, sank 24 percent and 14 percent respectively.

Doug Henwood is the founder and editor of the Left Business Observer. Henwood is also a contributing editor of The Nation and does a weekly program on WBAI radio, New York's Pacifica outlet. His book, The State of the USA Atlas, was published by Simon & Schuster in 1994; his Wall Street was published by Verso in 1997 (paperback, 1998) to great acclaim. Markets nosedive, recession spreads, world financial system shaken. ... more

Vierotchka

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11 days ago

9/11 and the “American Inquisition”

by Michel Chossudovsky

Today’s “Global War on Terrorism” is a modern form of inquisition. It has all the essential ingredients of the French and Spanish inquisitions.

Going after “Islamic terrorists”, carrying out a Worldwide preemptive war to “protect the Homeland” are used to justify a military agenda.

“The Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) is presented as a “Clash of Civilizations”, a war between competing values and religions, when in reality it is an outright war of conquest, guided by strategic and economic objectives.

The GWOT is the ideological backbone of the American Empire. It defines US military doctrine, including the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against the “state sponsors” of terrorism.

The preemptive “defensive war” doctrine and the “war on terrorism” against Al Qaeda constitute essential building blocks of America’s National Security Strategy as formulated in early 2002. The objective is to present “preemptive military action” –meaning war as an act of “self-defense” against two categories of enemies, “rogue States” and “Islamic terrorists”, both of which are said to possess weapons of mass destruction.

The logic of the ”outside enemy” and the evildoer, allegedly responsible for American civilian deaths, prevails over common sense.

[...]

more at above link

see also:

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/category/911/ by Michel Chossudovsky ... more

DandelionSalad

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23 hours ago

Ron Paul revolution against empire and draft

Matt Welch of Reason.com, says Ron Paul's supporters feel shut out of political process.

Matt Welch is a journalist, blogger, pundit and a libertarian. Since 2008, he has been the editor-in-chief at the monthly libertarian journal, Reason. Recently (from 2006 to 2007), he was an editorial page editor for the Los Angeles Times. He has written a portrayal of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, from a libertarian perspective. In McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, Welch argues that a McCain presidency would advance a statist agenda.

There are other videos with Matt Welch on Current - you can find them if you do a search for his name. Matt Welch of Reason.com, says Ron Paul's supporters feel shut out of political process. ... more

Vierotchka

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5 days ago

Going on an Imperial Bender: How the US Garrisons the Planet and Doesn't Even...

Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. soldiers do not set foot, whether with guns blazing, humanitarian aid in hand, or just for a friendly visit. In startling numbers of countries, our soldiers not only arrive, but stay interminably, if not indefinitely. Sometimes they live on military bases built to the tune of billions of dollars that amount to sizeable American towns (with accompanying amenities), sometimes on stripped down forward operating bases that may not even have showers. When those troops don't stay, often American equipment does -- carefully stored for further use at tiny "cooperative security locations," known informally as "lily pads" (from which U.S. troops, like so many frogs, could assumedly leap quickly into a region in crisis).

At the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans had an estimated 37 major military bases scattered around their dominions. At the height of the British Empire, the British had 36 of them planetwide. Depending on just who you listen to and how you count, we have hundreds of bases. According to Pentagon records, in fact, there are 761 active military "sites" abroad.

The fact is: We garrison the planet north to south, east to west, and even on the seven seas, thanks to our various fleets and our massive aircraft carriers which, with 5,000-6,000 personnel aboard -- that is, the population of an American town -- are functionally floating bases.

And here's the other half of that simple truth: We don't care to know about it. We, the American people, aided and abetted by our politicians, the Pentagon, and the mainstream media, are knee-deep in base denial.

Now, that's the gist of it. If, like most Americans, that's more than you care to know, stop here.

Continues... Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. ... more

lecoke

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15 days ago

Roman Empire 'raised HIV threat'

The spread of the Roman Empire through Europe could help explain why those living in its former colonies are more vulnerable to HIV.[more] The spread of the Roman Empire through Europe could help explain why those living in its former colonies are more vulnerable to HIV.[m... more

In classic economic terms, an economy ought to create enough surplus wealth to grow without resorting to excess borrowing–we ought to be able to live on what we earn. But since 1983, we have been unable to do that. So what differentiates the American economy from the rest of the developed world since 1983? The only rational answer is in the chart below which demonstrates how far beyond any possible rival our military budgets have travelled. The fact that the DOD’s own inventory of worldwide bases is more than 189 pages long cannot lead one to any other conclusion than the American taxpayer is supporting the infrastructure of empire. In classic economic terms, an economy ought to create enough surplus wealth to grow without resorting to excess borrowing–we ought to ... more

Empire or Humanity?
What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me about the American Empire
by Howard Zinn
Narrated by Viggo Mortensen
Art by Mike Konopacki
Video editing by Eric Wold Empire or Humanity? What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me about the American Empire by Howard Zinn Narrated by Viggo Mortensen ... more