Chris Hedges: The real tragedy behind the collapse of the American empire

By Dilip -

America's defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire. With the exception of the first Gulf War, fought largely by mechanized units in the open desert that did not - wisely - attempt to occupy Iraq, the United States political and military leadership has stumbled from one military debacle to another. Korea. Vietnam. Lebanon. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Libya. The trajectory of military fiascos mirrors the sad finales of the Chinese, Ottoman, Hapsburg, Russian, French, British, Dutch, Portuguese and Soviet empires. While each of these empires decayed with their own peculiarities, they all exhibited patterns of dissolution that characterize the American experiment.

Imperial ineptitude is matched by domestic ineptitude. The collapse of good government at home, with legislative, executive and judicial systems all seized by corporate power, ensures that the incompetent and the corrupt, those dedicated not to the national interest but to swelling the profits of the oligarchic elite, lead the country into a cul-de-sac. Rulers and military leaders, driven by venal self-interest, are often buffoonish characters in a grand comic operetta. How else to think of Allen Dulles, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Donald Trump or the hapless Joe Biden? While their intellectual and moral vacuity is often darkly amusing, it is murderous and savage when directed towards their victims.

There is not a single case since 1941 when the coups, political assassinations, election fraud, black propaganda, blackmail, kidnapping, brutal counter-insurgency campaigns, U.S. sanctioned massacres, torture in global black sites, proxy wars or military interventions carried out by the United States resulted in the establishment of a democratic government. The two-decade-long wars in the Middle East, the greatest strategic blunder in American history, have only left in their wake one failed state after another. Yet, no one in the ruling class is held accountable….

https://www.alternet.org/2021/04/american-empire/

Mohammed Hanif: The rest of the world has had it with US presidents, Trump or otherwise

DANIEL LEWIS - Daniel J. Berrigan, Defiant Priest Who Preached Pacifism, Dies at 94 // Catonsville 9 Statement written by Dan Berrigan, S.J.

Alfred McCoy: The crumbling delusion of Washington's endless world dominion

Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy

Sam Kriss: 'Neoliberalism' isn't a left-wing insult but a monstrous system of inequality

Zack Stanton: Violent Christian Extremism in the USA

John Pilger - The silent military coup that took over Washington

Bernie Sanders: Joe Biden must put an end to business as usual. Here's where to start // GOP nightmare about to come true: Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders

Paul Blumenthal: Trump’s MAGA Myth Reaches Its Catastrophic Conclusion / Schwarzenegger compares Capitol riot to Kristallnacht / Bharat Bhushan: Vigilantism threatens India too

Amulya Ganguli - End of India’s “Howdy, Modi” Bonhomie with the USA

Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy. By PAUL ROSENBERG

Steve Bannon Documentary, 'The Brink', Will Leave You Cold

You're fired ! Americans taunt Trump with his own catchphrase

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ends truce by warning ‘incompetent’ Democratic party

George Monbiot: Ayn Rand - A Manifesto for Psychopaths

Tom McTague: The Decline of the American World


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