Rating: 
Summary: Hypocrisy, Discrimination and Gross Injustice
Review: Blum gives in his book a detailed analysis of US foreign policy. According to Blum, chief characteristics of US foreign policy are gross hypocrisy and injustice. In order to understand the root causes of 9/11 attacks, it is imperative that we examine US foreign policy. Motivated primarily by imperialistic motives and global domination, US government takes on a role of world police. It unilaterally interferes with international conflicts and its interventions are rarely sanctioned by the UN. Displaying a blatant disregard for UN and international laws, US punishes certain regimes while it simultaneously aids and protects other which are equally oppressive and corrupt. To support his assertion, Blum divulges that the US gives enormous economic and military support to oppressive regimes like Israel, Turkey, Saudi-Arabia etc. How do we explain the fact that the US punishes certain regimes but not others? Strategic interests and oil of course. Blum further asserts that US treatment of certain Arab regimes is highly aggressive and merciless. Why does not the same treatment apply to Israel, Turkey and Russia? Do Americans ever ask themselves this question? Blum does not think so. Furthermore, why are American lives more important than those of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine? Why does not the US media report to the same extent about the lives of these people killed indirectly by US constant interventions? Blum dares ask the right questions. Do US officials ever wonder why so many third world countries despise their foreign policy? Because it is discriminatory, unjust and extremely hypocritical. Note that they despise US foreign policy and not as the mass media tries to tell you western modernism and prosperity. This is preposterous. Having said that, Blum does not claim that Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan are not oppressive regimes. On the contrary, they are highly oppressive and corrupt but so are Israel and Russia as well. US media never condemns Israel's belligerent actions against the Palestinians. Instead the US media is extremely biased and never critical of US government. Blum's book is extremely important for several reasons. It should be read by those who believe that the US foreign policy is just and impeccable. Most importantly it should definitely be read by every American. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Death of a Nation?
Review: Blum's book takes us via the usual listing of wrongdoings and hypocrisy to conclude that the American Government is now applying lessons learned overseas, to visit torture, intimidation, and fear upon its own, under the guise of anti-terrorism /patriotism, since the world is now so Americanised there is nowhere left to go for big government and its self-interest.The primary focus is on America, with the impression that other places existed as an alternative kind of proto-ideal inconsistent with the American way and had to be subverted no matter what the cost in human suffering, etc. Well, as far as I know it wasn't America that invented Fascism, Communism, Nazism, and flavours thereof , under the stewardship of which, tens of millions died. Nor did the Americans say to those they helped into power that they should loot the country and kill and torture as they saw fit. The remit was to hold the Capitilist line and develop the country accordingly. But sticking with America: The problem is that Capitalism has been mangled to such an extent that only off-shore slave labour is keeping it afloat, and the American people are simply paying lip-service to its prriciples. For the sittuation to change, the American people would need to look to their founding roots and apply Capitalism as it was intended, within the context of individual rights allied to morals, and reasoned understanding. In other words, for America to break away from Blum's nightmare world, they, like those who were or are in the process of being empowered, will have to step up to the plate and not foist all reponsibility onto the American Government, like the rest of the world demands, and bemoans. Blum's book also alludes to a touch of Socialism, which does taint its value with a bit of an agenda. And why Cuba hasn't simply been invaded by an army of US backed exiles strikes me as odd; all this cloak and dagger stuff just looks silly. Some elaboration with regard to that would have been useful, since Cuba is mentioned so often, and is likely to be low on the Russians' priority list. The book is consistently well written, but like John Pilger's 'The new Rulers of the World', it has a tendecny to be an informed rant by someone throwing stones at the windows. If you don't like what's going and have the skills, the freedom is still there to run for office.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Useful Policy Analysis
Review: Essentially, there are two fatal problems in this book. 1. Short cutting Blum willfully short-cuts wherever he finds it convinient. One way he does this is by describing, in an extremely one-sided way, an action by the U.S., then listing a quote by any U.S. administration official as "evidence" of that individuals "sickness." For example, Blum will say: The U.S. backed nation X's government. That government, using U.S. provided weapons, killed 1,000,000 people. When questioned about this incident, Billy Joe of the State Department said, "I think our aid to government X was justified." Therefore, Blum concludes, Billy Joe is an insane mass-murderer. None of the surcumstances surrounding the U.S. intervention are mentioned, no suggestion of what might have happened had the U.S. not intervened are present. Does anyone else see the problem here? 2. Misinformation At the beginning of this book, Blum boldly states that U.S. anti-terror legislation is designed to silence people like Naom Chomsky and the anti-globalization camp. I noticed that that assertion wasn't footnoted. Funny thing, isn't it? Conclusion: This book is an emotion-filled rehash of old news. Many of Blum's anecdotes describe incidents which are clearly not justifiable (ex: poisoning U.S. soldiers.). Many of Blum's anecdotes describe well-intentioned policies which went awry (ex: almost everything in this book). None of Blum's anecdotes give us the full story.
Rating:
Summary: Not A Useful Policy Analysis
Review: Essentially, there are two types of fatal flaws present throughout this entire work: 1. Short cutting Blum willfully short-cuts wherever he finds it convinient. One way he does this is by describing, in an extremely one-sided way, an action by the U.S., then listing a quote by any U.S. administration official as "evidence" of that individuals "sickness." For example, Blum will say: The U.S. supported nation X's government. That government, using U.S. provided weapons, killed 1,000,000 people. When questioned about this incident, Billy Joe of the State Department said, "I think our aid to government X was justified." Therefore, Blum concludes, Billy Joe is an insane mass-murderer - how can Billy Joe condone the deaths of 1,000,000 people?! None of the circumstances surrounding the U.S. intervention are mentioned, no suggestion of what might have happened had the U.S. not intervened are present. Does anyone else see the problem here? 2. Misinformation At the beginning of this book, Blum boldly states that U.S. anti-terror legislation is designed to silence people like Naom Chomsky and the anti-globalization camp. I noticed that that assertion wasn't footnoted. Funny thing, isn't it? Conclusion: This book is an emotion-filled rehash of old news. Many of Blum's anecdotes describe incidents which are clearly not justifiable (ex: poisoning U.S. soldiers.). Many of Blum's anecdotes describe well-intentioned policies which went awry (ex: almost everything in this book). None of Blum's anecdotes give us the full story.
Rating: 
Summary: ok, despite some misinformation
Review: Overall, this book is worth reading for people wanting an overview of the foreign and domestic policy of this sick country. But don't take everything that Blum says at face value, because he perpetuates at least one historical myth. This is the notion that Japan was trying to surrender before we dropped the atomic bombs. I believed this, but then a friend who is a history buff refuted this. Also after doing some further reading I found that most leftwing literature doesn't make that assertion. The truth is that Japan's civilian leaders wanted to surrender, but the military leaders did not. In most parts of this book, Blum cites his sources. And sometimes he does not, for example, when he is talking about the U.S. 1983 invasion of Grenada. He claims that the U.S. lied extensively about the reasons for the invasion, without bothering to cite any evidence, apparently because he believes that we should trust him because he has provided evidence in other parts of the book, proving that he is competent. But under scrutiny, some stuff in this book probably wouldn't hold up. Don't make the mistake I did of repeating everything you read in this book in political debates, because you might end up being laughed at.
Rating:
Summary: For dissidents only.
Review: Rogue State is a book that goes into great detail in discussing the negative, "side," of the American government's foreign and domestic policy. In this book Blum covers a wide rage of topics, such as American military interventionism, CIA drug dealing, Air Force bases being used for drug trafficking, what provokes terrorism, torture (domestic and foreign) and other abuses of power, such as a vendor being ordered to hand over a list of people who bought a marijuana cultivation handbook. It's also the perfect introduction to Leftism, as the reader is told exactly what the problems are and who is responsible for them. Critics will call this book one sided, but the truth is that dissidents know, "the other side of the story," already, from their televisions, at their schools, from their college professors, at work, in books or on the radio. This book, like Killing Hope, *is* the other side of the story. It's a book that people who are dissatisfied with the mainstream view have been searching for; it's the book for those who know that the American government has committed horrid acts but need the information to prove it. Blum is without a doubt the Anti-FOX. I would however like to note something about the book's target demographic. This book is not made for liberals or those who think that the major cause of America's problems is the Bush Dynasty and the war in Iraq. This book is for those who want to know the exact details of American government policy, to see the American Way in all its horror. If you fall short of this condition then I would recommend the works of Michael Moore. Rogue State is a book that the truly far-to-the-left dissident can appreciate. I give this book five stars for giving its readers the information that is so rarely available today.
Rating:
Summary: For dissidents only.
Review: Rogue State is a book that goes into great detail in discussing the negative, "side," of the American government's foreign and domestic policy. In this book Blum covers a wide rage of topics, such as American military interventionism, CIA drug dealing, Air Force bases being used for drug trafficking, what provokes terrorism, torture (domestic and foreign) and other abuses of power, such as a vendor being ordered to hand over a list of people who bought a marijuana cultivation handbook. It's also the perfect introduction to Leftism, as the reader is told exactly what the problems are and who is responsible for them. Critics will call this book one sided, but the truth is that dissidents know, "the other side of the story," already, from their televisions, at their schools, from their college professors, at work, in books or on the radio. This book, like Killing Hope, *is* the other side of the story. It's a book that people who are dissatisfied with the mainstream view have been searching for; it's the book for those who know that the American government has committed horrid acts but need the information to prove it. Blum is without a doubt the Anti-FOX. I would however like to note something about the book's target demographic. This book is not made for liberals or those who think that the major cause of America's problems is the Bush Dynasty and the war in Iraq. This book is for those who want to know the exact details of American government policy, to see the American Way in all its horror. If you fall short of this condition then I would recommend the works of Michael Moore. Rogue State is a book that the truly far-to-the-left dissident can appreciate. I give this book five stars for giving its readers the information that is so rarely available today.
Rating:
Summary: not Blum's "piece de resistance" (that's Killing Hope)
Review: This book isn't Blum's best, however it is still very informative and well-written. You can find out the following things:
-- excerpts from training manuals with titles like "A Study of Assassination", "Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual", "Psycological Operations in Guerilla Warfare (p.43)
-- a list of assassination attempts on foreign leaders (p.38)
-- chapters on depleted uranium & cluster bombs
-- the US government used/tested chemical/biological weapons in: the Bahamas, Canada (can't forgive my government for allowing that...), China & Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Panama, Cuba (p.103)
-- the US government tested chemical/biological weapons on its own people in Watertown (NY), San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Louis, Washington DC, Florida, Savannah, Avon Park, NYC, Chicago as well as deliberate releases of radioactive material (p.113)
-- the US government encouraged the use of chemical or biological weapons by other nations (p.120)
-- a list of countries that have used torture, with handbooks, encouragement, etc provided by the CIA (p.50)
-- the US government has been 'spying' on the rest of the world via the super-secret Echelon system & other stuff (p.200)
-- during Operation Desert Storm the Iraqi Kurds got hold of 18 tons of Iraqi government documents which are now on public display at the U of Colorado @ Boulder (p.213)
-- similarily, after the Berlin Wall came down, the CIA got hold of the top-secret archives of the Stasi, East Germany's intelligence agency, and refused to return it for 9 years. Clinton wouldn't even discuss it with Schroeder. (p.212)
-- a list of CIA narcotrafficking operations, when they worked with the mafia, organised crime, etc (p.218)
and so on... Pretty much all of Blum's footntes include mainstream media, academic journals, official government documents (declassified or public), and so on. None of this looks like paranoid "conspiracy" stuff when you look at where he finds out these things that he says. This book is the perfect antidote for people who are tired of the same-old "mainstream" stuff we see on TV, or who are wondering if, say, the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is an exception to the rule or is just another typical incident. It's not Blum's 'piece de resistance' (Killing Hope) but it's still pretty good.
Rating:
Summary: The truth
Review: We have been brainwashed into believing that America is all about freedom and democracy. Sadly, that is not the case. The US has on numerous occassions arranged coups throughout the world to remove democratically elected officials simply because those officials were not going to bow down to Amnericas demnds. The US is on a campaign against terrorism, but America is the worlds deadliest terrorist. After WWII, many Nazi officers faced tribunals and were sentenced to death. Many of our leaders and generals have committed atrocities comparable to Nazi Germany, and yet, they continue to run our country and the world. Some have said that Blum did not focus on other subjects such as communism and other atrocities committed by others. But the United States is a hypocrit. We say we love peace, but we are destroying the world through bombs and violence. No other nation, group, terrorist, activist, government has had such an impact. The US is not affecting a region, but the ENTIRE planet.
Rating:
Summary: Blum's got it wrong
Review: Why does the whole world hate America? I'm not sure the whole world does, actually. How do I know this? Well, every time I fly into LAX, JFK or Miami Intl. I feel like I've arrived in Calcutta. Those airports are so crowded with 3rd Worlders trying to get in to the oppressive, war-criminal America that they'll stand patiently in line for hours waiting to pass Customs and Immigration. Oh, and speaking of exporting your awful culture to other countries, I wouldn't be surprised to see one of these families roasting a goat on the floor on my next trip north. So don't believe it guys, you're doing just fine. For every hysterical old hippie like Blum there are 1000 3rd Worlders voting with their feet. I mean, when's the last time you saw boat people LEAVING America?
As for Europeans. It may come as a shocking revelation to Blum, but just about every one of them is a little busy tryinbg to earn a paycheck to think much about other countries.
I rellyreally bought this book, but I couldn't get past the first half of it. It reads like all of the other trend-of-the-moment It's All America's Fault... hate... war criminals... imperialists... globalization (wasn't it YOUR jobs that went overseas)? I mean, were do these loons get this stuff? Why do they support sweaty, dangerous, dysfunctional countries? Who knows. Me, I'll take Manhattan.
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