Burns, I was speaking of people in all of those island nations. I have known Puerto Ricans who would prefer for America to let go or make them a state. But yes, all of these places, especially Hawaii. I know my sister lived in the US Virgin Islands and the natives hated the USA and in particular, white USA.
Is the American empire on the brink of collapse?
by slimboyfat 54 Replies latest social current
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Lion Cask
Oh the hubris of ascendancy. Here in the UK we are a bit more cynical, after all we were the number one empire not so very long ago.
Poetic, slimboyfat, but hubris? America is indeed proud, but it hasn't fallen yet. And I don't see close parallels between the UK and the US. The UK had a true world empire, built with brutality, oppression, slavery and seizure. You might say the same thing about the beginnings of the United States, but then again the beginnings of the United States were British, after all. The sun never set on the Union Jack, but the Stars and Stripes are much less ubiquitous. The BE collapsed because it depended on the spoils of conquest and empire and it was spread out so thinly that it could not sustain itself when stretched by world war and coincident revolutionary activity within its conquered lands and territories. The dynamic at play in America is different in many respects, primarily because it is internal. Is it an empire? No. Is it the premier world power? Yes. Will it stay that way? No. But will it collapse? No.
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BizzyBee
Debt is definitely a huge problem, hence the Tea Party.
Godzilla is definitely a huge problem, hence the slingshot. Love it.
Debt is definitely a huge problem, hence angry people to complain about it.
America may not be on the brink of collapse, but it is on the brink of fundamental change. Hopefully for the better.
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mf6
I don't know about "collapse". But I do believe the United States military presence should be curtailed. Why does Europe need the american military? They have the resources to defend themselves. America can't be the world police. Nor should they be - especially in parts of the world fully capable of defending themselves.
MF6
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Joliette
I sure hope not.
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Curtains
On refuting lion cask and agreeing with slimboyfat - excellent article here regarding empire.
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a713720197
The Heart of Empire? Theorising US empire in an era of transnational capitalism
Author: Doug Stokes a
Abstract
Contemporary critical theorising on US Empire tends to diverge in two ways. First, more traditional approaches tend to foreground the national basis of the USA's imperial project and the subsequent ongoing inter-imperial rivalry inherent between rival capitalist states and regions. A second 'global-capitalist' approach rejects the notion of US Empire and instead posits the transcendence of a nationally based imperialism in favour of an increasingly transnationally orientated state and global ruling class. I argue that both accounts fail in their singularity to capture the nature and role of the US state within a global political economy. Instead, I argue that the US state has long been both subject to and demonstrative of a dual national and transnational structural logic that seeks to enhance US national interests while reproducing a world order favourable for global capital as a whole. Crucially, the end of the Cold War and the terrorist attacks on 9/11 have exacerbated the tensions between these dual logics; these will potentially affect both the hegemony of American Empire and the future of international relations in profound ways.View Full Text Article
Download PDF (~219 KB) View Article Online (HTML) -
Lion Cask
Interesting that you cite Dr. Stokes, Curtains. Another Brit who putting it mildly is not one of America's greatest fans. He's made an academic career of attacking US foreign policy. To quote a great American essayist, Dr. Stokes "who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you are saying." (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
But I respect your opinion, and slimboyfat's, too. You both could very well be proven right, but so far you are not.
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villabolo
BTS: "The United States is not an empire."
Tell that to Mossadegh and the Iranians under the US backed Shah. The US is part hegemony, part indirect empire at the service of corporatist interests.
If the US enforcement of an international order collapses, you (Europe) will feel the pain before we do. You have become feeble and vulnerable under our aegis.
To use your "imperial" language, when Rome collapsed, it was the periphery that suffered the invading hordes first.
The Europeans could have easily become weaned off the US dependence on defense around the 1960s but the fact that you declared the Europeans "feeble" only shows where you're coming from Burns. You and your kind want to keep others under you "aegis" forever feeble. That, regardless of the semantics of the term "empire" is a form of domination. It is the domination that counts, not some specific word.
Like a true supporter of tyranny, you use the Roman example to justify the use of force. A Mafia style protection racket; if we don't "protect" you, someone else will. Do you seriously think the Romans gave a damn for those people for their intrinsic value as human beings? Of course not. If they did, they would have converted into a Federation.
Villabolo
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Lion Cask
The American Empire:
The British Empire
Notice any difference?
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villabolo
Yes, America will diminish greatly in power but that will be mostly due to social upheavals that will effect the whole world. Everyone has debt, so what. You can learn a lesson from the Hebrew Scripture's concept of Jubilee.
What will effect the world substantially in the next 10-20 years is Climate Change. It has already been the trigger for Mid East unrest which was sparked by spiralling food prices throughout the world.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2011/01/spike_in_global_food_prices_tr.html
This the result of Russia and the Ukraine losing 25% of its wheat crop to a heat wave; Canada's wheat crop getting extensively damaged by intense rains; Pakistan and Australia having their crops damaged by flooding and finally, Argentina having their soybean crop damaged by drought.
Since I'm not going to turn this into a Global Warming thread, I'll simply say this. You're going to get more of the same from now on. It's going to have dramatic repurcussions on this nation and the rest of the world.
Yet another blow to American control of the world. Or itself.
Villabolo
