Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 21:35:36 +0200
The US and global wars: Empire or vampire?
James Petras
2014-09-19, Issue <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/694> 694
<http://www.huewire.com/slider/president-obama-flies-asia-meet-japanese-poli
ticians/1167/> http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/694/ob.jpg
The American claim to 'world leadership' is based exclusively on
failed-state empire building. US intervention fragments the conquered state,
decimates its professionals, thus providing an entry for the most retrograde
ethno-religious, regional, tribal and clan leaders to engage in
intra-ethnic, sectarian wars against each other - in other words chaos.
To the growing army of critics of US military intervention, who also reject
the mendacious claims by American officials and their apologists of 'world
leadership', Washington is engaged in 'empire-building'.
But the notion that the US is building an empire, by engaging in wars to
exploit and plunder countries' markets, resources and labor, defies the
realities of the past two decades. US wars, including invasions, bombings,
occupations, sanctions, coups and clandestine operations have not resulted
in the expansion of markets, greater control and exploitation of resources
or the ability to exploit cheap labor. Instead US wars have destroyed
enterprises, reduced access to raw materials, killed, wounded or displaced
productive workers around the world, and limited access to lucrative
investment sites and markets via sanctions.
In other words, US global military interventions and wars have done the
exact opposite of what all previous empires have pursued: Washington has
exploited (and depleted) the domestic economy to expand militarily abroad
instead of enriching it.
Why and how the US global wars differ from those of previous empires
requires us to examine (1) the forces driving overseas expansion; (2) the
political conceptions accompanying the conquest, the displacement of
incumbent rulers and the seizure of power and; (3) the reorganization of the
conquered states and the accompanying economic and social structures to
sustain long-term neo-colonial relations......
Read it in the following PDF attachment below:
Berhane Habtemariam
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- application/pdf attachment: The_US_and_global_wars-Empire_or_vampire.pdf