My country is launched on a dangerous path that it must abandon or else face the consequences, March 2, 2007 By K. M. literary devotee (California) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) Verified Purchase(Whats this?) This review is from: Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project) (Hardcover) So declares Chalmers Johnson in NEMESIS, the completing volume of a trilogy that includes BLOWBACK and THE SORROWS OF EMPIRE. Nemesis is also the name of a Greek goddess who is the spirit of retribution, a corrective to the greed and stupidity that sometimes governs relations among people. She stands for the righteous anger to which Americans must awake if our Republic is to survive rather than be as doomed as the Roman Republic was after the Ides of March that spring of 44 BC. In seven relentless chapters -- 1. Militarism and the Breakdown of Constitutional Government 2. Comparative Imperial Pathologies: Rome, Britain, and American 3. Central Intelligence Agency: The Presidents Private Army 4. US Military Bases in Other Peoples Countries 5. How American Imperialism Actually Works: The SOFA in Japan 6. Space: The Ultimate Imperialist Project 7. The Crisis of the American Republic -- Johnson presents fact after fact to support his unswerving thesis that the United States government is empire building in an aggressive, Ugly American way; and that we Americans cannot sustain both a viable republic at home and a world hegemony. The two are incompatible. Chapter 2s discussion alone is worth the price of NEMESIS. Johnson recounts the Roman slide from republic to tyranny which America is currently following. Then he contends that Britains divestiture of its empire preserved its domestic democratic institutions, and states that for the USA, the choice is between the Roman and British precedents. Then the focus turns to topics that drive home the USAs far-flung web of control and the immense power it wields globally. The incredible hubris of the US as it occupies Iraq, as it establishes secret prison bases internationally, as it reneges on agreements and interferes in other sovereign nations elections, as it spends hundreds of billions of dollars on defense systems and occupations that dont demonstrably defend the homeland, as it blots out additional rights at home in the name of security, is copiously documented. Generally, the overwhelming criticism of US government actions is persuasive due to the unfailing use of sources: the Notes at the end of NEMESIS cover fifty pages. However, the discerning reader will at times perceive that Johnson has stacked the deck. The authors preoccupation with indicting American actions sometimes glosses the fact that the US isnt the only nation to play fast and loose in the game of international posturing and positioning. Still, any reader who possesses a grounded grasp of history and understands that other countries in the world also act -- sometimes precipitously and with their own thirst for empire-building -- will recognize Johnsons bias and compensate for it. NEMESIS is an important, well-written, well-substantiated contribution to the growing library of books warning that Americas political and military policies are sliding us closer to imperialistic totalitarianism, a very real threat. This third volume of the Blowback Trilogy is highly recommended reading for all Americans who feel righteous anger and truly want to prevent such a fate. amazon/Nemesis-American-Republic-Empire-Project/product-reviews/0805087281/ref=cm_cr_dp_text?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=byRankDescending#R3UMWFP531AJDS
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 06:07:08 +0000
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