Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Moving beyond empire

I guess it's becoming something of a theme, but the financial crisis almost dictates, My column for Antiwar.com this week argues that one implication of the financial crisis is that the American empire is almost crumbling before our eyes. Not only has the misadventure in Iraq cost an inordinate amount of money (not to mention 4,000-plus lives) and put the U.S. in a position where it doesn't have military force to project elsewhere, the energy situation has enriched the petro-states, notably including Russia, so there's no longer much chance of it being a unpolar world much longer. The question is whether the U.S. will stand down voluntarily from imperial ambition or have to suffer embarrassing defeats on several levels.

My old friend Doug Bandow seems to have similar ideas.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

An empire from the Latin "imperium", denoting military command within the ancient Roman government is a state that extends dominion over populations distinct culturally and ethnically from the culture/ethnicity at the center of power. Scholars still debate about what exactly constitutes an empire, and other definitions may emphasize economic or political factors.
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