empire Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Dumb and Dumber: Obama’s “Smart Power” Foreign Policy

by John Feffer | Sep 6, 2012

Barack Obama is a smart guy. So why has he spent the last four years executing such a dumb foreign policy? True, his reliance on “smart power” — a euphemism for giving the Pentagon a stake in all things global — has been a smart move politically at home. It has largely prevented the Republicans from playing the national security card in this election year. But “smart power” has been a disaster for the world at large and, ultimately, for the United States itself.

Tunisia’s Spark and Egypt’s Flame: the Middle East is Rising

by Phyllis Bennis | Jan 31, 2011

The breadth and depth of the spreading protests, the helplessness of the U.S.-backed governments to stop them, and the rapidly diminishing ability of the United States to protect its long-time clients, are resulting in a level of revolutionary fervor not visible in the Middle East in a generation.

Honoring a Prophet of Empire

by Miriam Pemberton | Dec 7, 2010

A prophet has died. Did his crying in the wilderness matter? At the end, did he think so?

It’s a Shame Chalmers Johnson Did Not Live to See the U.S. Air Base on Okinawa Closed

by John Feffer | Nov 22, 2010

One of Chalmers Johnson’s last concerns, closing Futenma air base in Okinawa, may yet come to pass.

Imperial Overkill and the Death of U.S. Empire

by Francis Shor | Jul 27, 2010

The oft-cited reference to Afghanistan as the “graveyard of empires” haunts the increasingly desperate military measures of the United States in that beleaguered country. However, beyond Afghanistan and the hydrocarbon-rich Caspian basin region, the imperial projects of the United States are, more and more, a commitment to Pentagon aggression and profligacy. Imperial overstretch has transmogrified into imperial overkill.

Review: ‘The Insular Empire’

by Andrew Feldman | Jul 15, 2010

The past colonial possessions of the United States seem to have slipped from public consciousness. Most American troops left Cuba, the Philippines, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic many decades ago, so little more could be expected of a nation that hardly remembers the two wars it is currently fighting.

The Foreign Policy of Baseball

by Robert Elias | Apr 2, 2010

A few days ago, I turned on the radio and heard the sweet sounds of San Francisco Giants broadcaster Jon Miller announcing this year’s first spring-training game. I thought, “Ah, baseball is finally back, and all is well in our national pastime, our country, and the world.”

Velvet Imperialists

by John Feffer | Mar 23, 2010

I’m not a big fan of Dana Rohrabacher, the grandstanding Republican congressman from California. But last week at a congressional hearing on U.S.-Japan relations, he ably cut through the Pentagon’s doublespeak.

Review: ‘The Future of Global Relations’

by Jennifer Doak, John Feffer | Aug 17, 2009

The end of the Cold War ushered in a new period of unipolar American power. In this country, liberals and conservatives alike celebrated the triumph of market democracies under the leadership of the United States. The Clinton administration attempted to consolidate America’s geoeconomic power. The Bush administration attempted to consolidate America’s military and geopolitical power. And today, the Obama administration surveys the wreckage of these efforts to preserve a unipolar world. The global economy is in deep recession, and the United States is drowning under the costs of maintaining its post-Cold War empire. The chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan stands testament to the failures of our military pretensions.

The Cost of the Global U.S. Military Presence

by Anita Dancs, Miriam Pemberton | Jul 2, 2009

The U.S. military’s global presence is vast and costly. More than one-third of U.S. troops are currently based abroad or afloat in international waters, and hundreds of bases and access agreements exist throughout the world. At the beginning of the 21st century, the government pushed to expand this presence through a variety of mechanisms. Yet the Department of Defense’s budget presentations lack enough detail to make it possible to know the precise cost. The budgets don’t break down the numbers, for example, on maintaining bases at home and overseas.