The American Emperor Has No Clothes

There are times when I wish that the United States would just drop the charade and declare itself a global empire. As a veteran of two imperial wars, a witness to the dark underside of America’s empire-denial, I’ve grown tired of the equivocation and denials from senior policymakers. The U.S. can’t be an empire, we’re told, because—unlike the Brits and Romans—America doesn’t annex territories outright, and our school children don’t color its colonies in red-white-and-blue on cute educational maps.

But this distinction, at root, is rather superficial. Conquest, colonization, and annexation are so 19th century – Washington has moved beyond the overt and engages in the (not-so) subtle modern form of imperialism. America’s empire over the last two decades—under Democrats and Republicans—has used a range of tools: economic, military, political, to topple regimes, instigate coups, and starve “enemy” civilians. Heck, it didn’t even start with 9/11—bullying foreigners and overturning uncooperative regimes is as American as apple pie.

https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/03/20/the-american-emperor-has-no-clothes/

Trump looking his best presidential tough. It’s all a pose. There’s nothing solid in there. Certainly nothing grounded in genuine knowledge or high principles.

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