US Empire/West Decline

  Af Henrik Dahl & Jan Øberg 27. juni 2018 17 år efter 11. september og USA’s invasion af Afghanistan spørger Ræson: Gør vesten verden bedre? Chefredaktionen skriver: På en række områder har præsident Trump udfordret den traditionelle opfattelse af USA’s globale rolle, og givet sine allierede – herunder EU-landene – lejlighed til at overveje hvor langt de fælles interesser rækker. I Mellemøsten har Iran, Saudi-Arabien og Rusland de seneste år indtaget nye roller. I Asien bliver Kina stadig stærkere. En række iagttagere har de seneste år – med eller uden beklagelse – erklæret, at vestens mulighed for at sætte dagsordenen er ved at brænde endegyldigt ud. I en række artikler rejser RÆSON disse temaer over for eksperter, politikere og meningsdannere, herunder fredsforsker Jan Øberg og medlem af Folketinget, sociolog Henrik Dahl. I denne email-duel – “To meninger mødes” – skriver de på skift, fire indlæg hver. Artiklen er på...

By David Swanson May 29, 2018 “Memorial Day is a time to remember, appreciate, and honor the selfless patriots who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to freedom. At a time when our country seems so divided, we must not forget that it is because of their service and sacrifice that we live in the most free and prosperous nation on Earth.” Congressman Tom Garrett It would be difficult to count all of the lies in the above statement. It’s about the U.S. Memorial Day on May 28, 2018. Let’s just highlight a few. Originally published at David Swanson’s “Let’s Try Democracy” – May 28, 2018 Let’s start with “most free.” The British-based Legatum Institute, which ranks the United States 18th in overall “prosperity,” ranks it 28th in “personal freedom.”(1) The U.S.-based Cato Institute ranks the United States 24th in “personal freedom” and 11th in “economic freedom.”(2) The Canadian-based World...

    By Juan Cole – Informed Comment February 22, 2018 • Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly “corrupt” always imply that the United States is not corrupt. This year’s report from Transparency International puts the US on a par with Austria, which is ridiculous. All kinds of people from politicians to businessmen would go to jail in Austria today if they engaged in practices that are quite common in the US. While it is true that you don’t typically have to bribe your postman to deliver the mail in the US, in many key ways America’s political and financial practices make it in absolute terms far more corrupt than the usual global South suspects. After all, the US economy is worth over $18 trillion a year, so in our corruption a lot more money changes hands. Originally published here 1. A sure sign...

    By Graham E. Fuller • Over the years “containment” has been a key US political instrument by which it has sought to isolate, starve out, or excommunicate from the “international community” regimes unwilling to accept the US-dominated world order. Yet the great irony today is that this very US policy of containment seems now to characterize the way many major powers in the world have come to think about dealing with the US. These states don’t actually use the word “containment,” but the intent is still the same; they perceive the need to “contain” or constrain Washington, thereby limiting the damage that the US can inflict upon their national interests without engaging in outright confrontation with the US. Originally published at LobeLog here Containment has been a reasonably sensible way of dealing with hostile states that cannot be readily defeated militarily except at potentially huge military cost to...

  By Democracy Now! in 2011 As former Vice President Dick Cheney publishes his long-awaited memoir, we speak to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. “This is a book written out of fear, fear that one day someone will ‘Pinochet’ Dick Cheney,” says Wilkerson, alluding to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested for war crimes. Wilkerson also calls for George W. Bush and Cheney to be held accountable for their crimes in office. “I’d be willing to testify, and I’d be willing to take any punishment I’m due,” Wilkerson said. We also speak to Salon.com political and legal blogger Glenn Greenwald about his recent article on Cheney, “The Fruits of Elite Immunity.” “Dick Cheney goes around the country profiting off of this sleazy, sensationalistic, self-serving book, basically profiting from his crimes, and at the same time normalizing the idea that...

  By Donald Trump • President Donald Trump delivers his first strategy plan on protecting the United States from ‘rivals’ and enemies. December 18, 2017 Via aljazeera.com The following is a White House transcript of US President Donald Trump’s speech on Monday on his administration’s national security strategy: We’re here today to discuss matters of vital importance to us all: America’s security, prosperity, and standing in the world. I want to talk about where we’ve been, where we are now, and, finally, our strategy for where we are going in the years ahead.

Via theintercept.com Even as President Donald Trump faces ever-intensifying investigations into the alleged connections between his top aides and family members and powerful Russian figures, he serves as commander in chief over a U.S. military that is killing an astonishing and growing number of civilians. Under Trump, the U.S. is re-escalating its war in Afghanistan, expanding its operations in Iraq and Syria, conducting covert raids in Somalia and Yemen, and openly facilitating the Saudi’s genocidal military destruction of Yemen. Meanwhile, China has quietly and rapidly expanded its influence without deploying its military on foreign soil. A new book by the famed historian Alfred McCoy predicts that China is set to surpass the influence of the U.S. globally, both militarily and economically, by the year 2030. At that point, McCoy asserts the United States empire as we know it will be no more. He sees the Trump presidency as one of...

By Chris Hedges Journalist, author and war correspondent Chris Hedges spoke at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy NY on November 10, 2017 on fascism and empire in the age of Trump.     Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, New York Times best selling author, former professor at Princeton University, activist and ordained Presbyterian minister. He has written 11 books, including the New York Times best-seller “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt” (2012), which he co-authored with the cartoonist Joe Sacco. His other books include “Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt,” (2015) “Death of the Liberal Class” (2010), “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” (2009), “I Don’t Believe in Atheists” (2008) and the best-selling “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” (2008). His book “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” (2003) was a finalist...