The Sorrows of Empire : Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic [The American Empire Project ]

Rating:
Summary: essential truths rather than pablum and propaganda
Review: Essential truths are discomforting but critically important while there may still be time to save the United States from its worst enemies - antidemocratic ruling cliques that are part of the military industrial-complex (now oil and communications industries included) at its worst. This is not the pabulum and propaganda of most of the press and right wing think tanks or corporate media but rather a tough minded well documented and truly scary reality that most would prefer to ignore -- at their own risk. The American Empire of Bases, hidden expenses and private corporate military contracts, together with a plethora of lies make for mass hallucination that has but an inkling of truth. One chapter could stand on its own as a great description of recent economic and military history "What Happened to Globalization?". The chapter also effectively highlights how mythological is the "free market capitalism" that is ideology and far from reality. It is clear that the problem is not new - but also that is far worse than ever with the megalomaniac boy emperor and his irresponsible quest that is destroying everything from the Constitution to the economy. The practical first step - not mentioned directly by Johnson - is to get Bush out of office and work for major restoration of the promise of America for the people and the world rather than a few oil and war profiteers. Wake up! Pray there is still time to restore our country! Johnson does not say it in so many words but it becomes clear that no one has done more to make enemies and reduce our security than this President and his administration. After reading this one is not likely to be a total 'sucker' like Goering's public that could be manipulated by freaking people out about their enemies abroad and calling anyone who disagrees unpatriotic or traitorous.

Rating:
Summary: Vital Information
Review: While Johnson recognizes that US military and economic imperialisms are well known throughout much of the rest of the world, their depth and breadth are not at all well known and least of all to the majority of US citizens (especially the military 'empire of bases' Johnson details). No one who reads this fact-packed and meticulously documented account can walk away with the slightest doubt about the matter. Of special note are the many detailed connections shown between the Bush administration and every manner of special energy and private military contracting interest over the last few decades, most of all in Iraq. The book is also very well written--hard to put down. A work, along with Johnson's earlier _Blowback_, of vital importance to every American, especially before the upcoming presidential election. Thank you, Chalmers Johnson, for writing it.

Rating:
Summary: What Empire?
Review: Johnson's tirade may appeal to Leftist ideologues, but it is thoroughly weak on facts. Most obviously: What "empire"? Are bilateral, contractual, mutually-agreed military bases equivalent to imperialism? This seems ridiculous considering the fact that the US' partners can end their relationship at any time. The US presence around the world is about as "imperial" as Volkswagen factories in Brazil and Mexico. Perhaps there is some discriminatory aspect, then, of this interrogation. And secrecy?? Is he kidding? The US government couldn't keep a secret if it wanted to. Many a commentator had remarked that Watergate coudln't have happened in France because it would have been successfully covered up. I almost burst out laughing upon hearing this charge. Indeed, few countries have as transparent and open a political culture as the American one. End of the Republic? Rumours of its death are greatly exaggerated. Johnson is strong on melodrama, weak on facts. Perhaps this book will appeal to ideologues and foreign xenophobes wishing to demonize the US, but more critical minds must look elsewhere.

Johnson has made a career out of smarmy, America-bashing fare.

Rating:
Summary: So annoying that after I ordered I found I had it already!
Review: Dont looks others tempting rewiews:this book is annoying and if you can pass page 132 you are also more stupid than I am!
The only empire that I remember from school is roman empire and it was born not by arms streght but by the fact that Italy has the shape of a human boot painted by an artist so that any human loosed anywhere in this universe can say : send me home to the planet where if you make a ball with the diameter of my height than there is a country as big as my leg.
It is so strange that umanity needed 2000 years to spread this knowledge but we still forget it anyway!
This is the worth of empires made by mortals.

Rating:
Summary: Military Giant with Economic Feet of Clay?
Review: Chalmers Johnson, a pessimist, attempts to convince us that the U.S. is moving too far in the direction of militarism and empire-building, which is disadvantageous for four reasons:

1. Johnson predicts a state of perpetual war, leading to more acts of terror against Americans whatever their location in the world. Perpetual war is in fact nothing new because the world has probably never been at peace completely with itself since man has existed. Johnson also forecasts that in order to keep America at arm's length, some countries will feel an increasing need to possess weapons of mass destruction. As Natan Sharansky points out in the Case for Democracy, one of the key techniques that the fear society uses to keep itself in power is to export terror outwards by creating external enemies and disguising its domestic failures in the process.

Johnson rails against the policy of preemptive war or anticipatory self-defense in the war against terror, because this policy gives an undesirable impression of déjà vu. Johnson wrongly draws a parallelism between our reaction after 9/11 and the surprise attack of Imperial Japan against Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Johnson confuses the aggressor and the victim with one another. Furthermore, Johnson seems to underestimate the promises of soft power combined with hard power to overcome the lasting legacy of the apparently desirable, falsely attractive status quo in dealing with some states, which have shown little concern for Democracy and the Rule of Law both internally and externally. Alliance-building within the free world will remain one of the essential tools for convincing some societies to adopt capitalism and democracy, which is in the best interest of their leadership and populations.

2. Johnson also complains that militarism and imperialism are increasingly undermining our democratic institutions. Johnson points out that the Executive, and especially the Pentagon and the associated military-industrial complex, is growing in power at the expense of the Congress and the Judiciary. To Johnson's point, the Executive has admittedly committed some errors since the beginning of our organized counterattack against domestic and international terrorism. However, Johnson seems to underestimate the strength of our institutions. The Congress and the Judiciary are far from public stooges of the Executive and have repeatedly reminded the Executive about the limits of the exercise of its power in time of uncertainty.

3. Furthermore, Johnson associates militarism and imperialism with the manipulation of the truth through systematic propaganda, disinformation and official lying. Johnson gives several unconvincing examples in an attempt to make us believe that we get closer to a fear society. The author seems not to know the multiple differences existing between a free society and a fear society. Whoever has ever spent some time in multiple fear societies, will not be convinced by such argumentation. No democratic government, including ours, can be totally transparent for security reasons. However, the fourth power, the Press, which is far from being subservient to the Executive, has regularly obliged our government to disclose information that it did not feel comfortable to tell in the first place.

4. Finally, Johnson fears that militarism and imperialism could lead to economic bankruptcy, the least dangerous of the four sorrows in his mind. This is probably Johnson's best argument because the Congress and the Executive are going to be faced with tough choices down the road. Defense and homeland security expenditures are expected to increase at the expense of almost everything else. Changing demographics are compounding the complexity of these delicate budgetary arbitrages. Johnson also points out that unlike Imperial Britain, the U.S. does not run huge account surpluses. Our trade deficit was US$617.7 billion in 2004, an increase of close to 42% over our trade deficit of US$435.2 in 2002. Johnson rightly estimates that this deficit represents a disturbing economic statistic for our country with its global outreach. Perhaps, the Federal Reserve should drop the words "measured" and "accommodative" and raise its official interest rates at a faster pace to bring traditional and asset-driven inflation under control as well as boost savings and investments in productive assets. Economic growth and a weaker dollar alone will not be enough to reduce the twin budget and trade deficits significantly in the coming years. Overdependence on foreign credit to feed our seemingly insatiable appetite for goods and services from overseas ultimately shifts economic power abroad.


Rating:
Summary: The Collapse of the US Empire
Review: Author Chalmers Johnson became an intellectual superstar after his last book, Blowback (2000), predicted the horrors of 9-11. With this book, Johnson traces the origins of the US Empire, first as a by-and-large economic empire (via the World Bank and WTO), and now as a military empire, under neoconservative leadership. Scarier than the neoconservative agenda, though, has been the bipartisan acceptance of a growing, secretive military-industrial complex (MIC), with it's "black budgets" and lack of accountability and public oversight. Johnson traces the history of the MIC all the way to the present, showing how it expanded in the post-cold-war era to become a de facto empire, ruling the world with unilateral gunboat diplomacy. For those Americans who could enjoy the benefits of global economic and military hegemony, life seemed good until 9-11. Now, it seems rather insecure, to say the least. And, according to Johnson, the road ahead is only going to get bumpier, as our foreign policy increases global insecurity, both social and economic, and the threat of terrorism. The argument Johnson weaves together is highly cogent, and well-researched. Most remarkable for a book of such leaning, he only utilizes the most rigorously conservative sources. A powerful, necessary read for anyone concerned about the fate of the nation.

j. william krueger


Rating:
Summary: hope for America
Review: This book by a conscientious scholar makes foreign observers believe that they can still see some hope for the future of America and her relationship with their own countries.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing..
Review: As a third world citizen, sometimes I don't know what to think when I read a book like this. We have a saying in spanish when somebody mentions or makes a statement about something that has been widely known for a long time...we say that this person making the statement had just "discovered how to make hot water"... It is hard to believe that all this is unknown for the general american public. It is really amazing. For us, Mr. Johnson had just discovered how to "make hot water", but for the american people it seems not...it seems that a great proportion of the american people( almost always misinformed) are getting to know about these issues for the first time. And I do believe it is so, because people in general are good. Not only americans , but people of the world are good and want to live in a decent and honest way . No matter that we third world citizens are almost always presented in your films ( also part of the propaganda war) as drug dealers, terrorists, prostitutes or subhumans with no family values.
I think that what Mr. Johnson describes in his book is nothing new ( with minor variations) from a historical perspective. This path for empire building has been traveled before a lot of times by a lot of countries with known final results. It is also a feature of the human soul to try to dominate and rule and most of all,to feel superior to others. That is the way of the world.
The sad point now is that the amount of resources being employed in this empire building effort, could be employed in other kind of projects. Projects that would bring prosperity to a lot of people worldwide and as a by-product make the USA the leader of the world that it should be...a leader for justice and equality. This would make the world a better place for all. But ..this is just wishful thinking.
Anyway, books like this are important as they contribute to the general knowledge of what is happening and why.





Rating:
Summary: Doomed to repeat it
Review: OK, Dr. Johnson is considered a bit of a lefty but Americans of all political stripes ignore this book at their peril. You may disagree with his conclusions but critics can't escape the fact of history that all empires fall and they fall hard. What? There's no American empire you say? Just because we have no actual "colonies"? Because we use our might to "liberate" people (especially those who have oil beneath their borders)? Wake up. This book taught me that the U.S. has a bigger military that the next 12 biggest militaries COMBINED and we have got bases in every corner of the globe where we stand ready to unilaterally impose our will on any nation that displeases us. If that doesn't fit your definition of a global empire, I'm dying to know what would.

This book lays bare the extent to which the U.S. government (Republicans AND Democrats) have squandered our tax dollars on a vast global military network that has turned the U.S. into a hated playground bully (OK, maybe we'll help a tsunami victim or two every now and then). No wonder we are making enemies faster than we can kill them. What's most disturbing about the book is how pessimistic Johnson is about the prospects for us reversing course. Let's stop this nonsense and start building a great nation from the inside out. Read this book to discover just how difficult this task will be.

Rating:
Summary: Can we turn back?
Review:
Thorough, detailed, authoritative and right on point, that's how this works lays out the reality of the United States of America's downward spiral into a military state and world provocateur.

I recommend this book to readers of all political persuasions. What we are losing by enlarging our world dominance through military expansion far outdistances parochial political beliefs. Both the right and the left can learn from this work and hopefully work toward a better and safer solution.