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Page added on February 16, 2015
The Great War Of The American Empire
Looking at a map of current American military engagements overseas, one cannot help but notice their wide geographical spread and their seemingly interminable nature. Battles have raged in Europe (Yugoslavia and Ukraine), in Africa, in the Middle East, and in central Asia. The American Empire has launched this country into a series of battles that have no end in sight and no location that may not become a focal point of military force. These battles, each a war in its own right, have drawn in forces and resources from U.S. allies in Europe through NATO and even drawn in Japan. The scope of this war is global. In fact, one part of this war has been called the Global War on Terror. To understand this war and grasp its meaning, in the hope of bringing it to an end, a descriptive name is needed that tells us what this war is about. The name suggested here is the “Great War of the American Empire”. Since World War I, another disastrous war that American joined, is called the Great War, we can refer to the Great War of the American Empire also as Great War II.
Great War II comprises a number of sub-wars. The American Empire is the common element and the most important driver in all the sub-wars mentioned below. American involvement has never been necessary in these sub-wars, but the decisions to make them America’s business have come from the Empire’s leaders. The name “Great War of the American Empire” emphasizes the continuity of all the sub-wars to produce one Great War, and the responsibility of the American Empire in choosing to participate in and create this Great War. Had America’s leaders chosen the radically different path of non-intervention and true defense of this continent, rather than overseas interventions, Great War II would not have occurred and not still be occurring.
The Great War of the American Empire began 25 years ago. It began on August 2, 1990 with the Gulf War against Iraq and continues to the present. Earlier wars involving Israel and America sowed the seeds of this Great War. So did American involvements in Iran, the 1977-1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). Even earlier American actions also set the stage, such as the recognition of Israel, the protection of Saudi Arabia as an oil supplier, the 1949 CIA involvement in the coup in Syria, and the American involvement in Lebanon in 1958. Poor (hostile) relations between the U.S. and Libya (1979-1986) also contributed to a major sub-war in what has turned out to be the Great War of the American Empire.
The inception of Great War II may, if one likes, be moved back to 1988 and 1989 without objection because those years also saw the American Empire coming into its own in the invasion of Panama to dislodge Noriega, operations in South America associated with the war on drugs, and an operation in the Philippines to protect the Aquino government. Turmoil in the Soviet Union was already being reflected in a more military-oriented foreign policy of the U.S.
Following the Gulf War, the U.S. government engages America and Americans non-stop inone substantial military operation or war after another. In the 1990s, these include Iraq no-fly zones, Somalia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Haiti, Zaire, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Liberia, Albania, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Serbia. In the 2000s, the Empire begins wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, and gets into serious military engagements in Yemen, Pakistan, and Syria. It has numerous other smaller military missions in Uganda, Jordan, Turkey, Chad, Mali, and Somalia. Some of these sub-wars and situations of involvement wax and wane and wax again. The latest occasion of American Empire intervention is Ukraine where, among other things, the U.S. military is slated to be training Ukrainian soldiers.
Terror and terrorism are invoked to rationalize some operations. Vague threats to national security are mentioned for others. Protection of Americans and American interests sometimes is made into a rationale. Terrorism and drugs are sometimes linked, and sometimes drug interdiction alone is used to justify an action that becomes part of the Great War of the American Empire. On several occasions, war has been justified because of purported ethnic cleansing or supposed mass killings directed by or threatened by a government.
Upon close inspection, all of these rationales fall apart. None is satisfactory. The interventions are too widespread, too long-lasting and too unsuccessful at what they supposedly accomplish to lend support to any of the common justifications. Is “good” being done when it involves endless killing, frequently of innocent bystanders, that elicits more and more anti-American sentiment from those on the receiving end who see Americans as invaders? Has the Great War II accomplished even one of its supposed objectives?
The Great War of the American Empire encompasses several sub-wars, continual warfare, continual excuses for continual warfare, and continual military engagements that promise Americans more of the same indefinitely. There is a web site called “The Long War Journal”that catalogs events all over the globe that are part of the Great War II, what the site calls the Long War. This site is a project of the “Foundation for Defense of Democracies”, which is a neocon organization that is promoting the Great War of the American Empire.
What they see, and accurately see, as a Long War is a portion of what is here called the Great War of the American Empire. The difference is that all the interventions and sub-wars of the past 25 years and all the military outposts of the U.S. government that provide the seeds of future wars and interventions are included in the Great War II. They all spring from the same source, even though each one has a different specific character.
Michael S Rozeff via LewRockwell.com
17 Comments on "The Great War Of The American Empire"
Makati1 on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 7:25 am
Nothing new here. But if you are interested:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30620.htm
“A brief and crucial history of the United States” (Let Your Life Be a Friction to Stop the Machine)
“Nightmare and insanity are akin: mysterious and involuntary states that skew and distort objective reality. One wakens from nightmare; from insanity there is no awakening.
Whether Americans live in the one state or the other is the paramount question of this era.
For two hundred years Americans have been indoctrinated with a mythology created, imposed and sustained by a manipulating cabal: the financial elite that built its absolute control on the muscle and blood, good will, ignorance and credulity, of its citizenry.
America began with the invasion of a populated continent and the genocide of its native people. Once solidly established, it grafted enslavement of another race onto that base.
With those two pillars of state firmly in place it declared itself an independent nation in a document that nobly proclaimed the equality of all mankind.
In that act of monumental hypocrisy America’s myth had its beginning…”
Davy on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 8:07 am
There is no denying this American intervention on every continent. The Americans have intervened politically, economically, and militarily everywhere. For the most part this intervention has been counterproductive. Yet, if one takes the extremist view of this author and our resident extremists we get mislead to think everything is an American induced problem. The flip side of our world in conflict is a greedy and brutal world of corrupt political, social, and economic players everywhere. There are no nations without guilt or sin in this situation.
We can argue the blame starts with the Europeans. They are the source of the two great wars. They are the sources of all the great ideologies that have corrupted man. They are the source of the industrial revolution that has turned us into bottleneck man. We than must progress to communism with Russia and China. This ideology both in its Russian and Chinese form cause the US to militarize and become interventionist in a competitive game of brinkmanship.
The US has always had a strong tendency to isolationism. Americans want to be amused with prosperity not waste money on foreign wars. The world has its share of greed and brutality that was a magnet for the worst of the American political and economic elements. We had a China and Russia that clearly preach a system that called for the revolution of the entire globe in communism a direct threat to the US.
We now see an American empire in decline with a multipolar world on the rise. I will admit the US is in the best position to exploit self interest in economics and politics. Yet, China, Russia, and many other major powers are no different. These other powers are just not in a position to do what the Americans can do. It is a complete farce to claim all global problems are American when the global system is dominated by a kaleidoscope of nation state problems. The US is hostage to a global elite who have purchased US power projection. A Chinese plutocrat can buy American influence for example. Israel is the worst example of this corruption of American foreign policy.
China is just as corrupt and driven by self-interest. Russia is a mafia state with a corrupt dictator. Our anti American extremist here who lives in a Philippines will never admit gross inequality and social and environmental issues of his adopted home.
How do we solve this problem? We can’t but the bumpy descent will. The US will not be able to extend its power projections to the extent it is now much longer. The US is at the end of power projections because complexity and energy intensity have hit limits and diminishing returns. The US will soon turn inward like every other major power with conditions of collapse internally. Complexity will shatter and with it social fabric. The excessive power projections of the US will not survive a social fabric breakdown at home. The troops will come home by necessity likely not completely but enough to lessen the damage that is if WWIII does not start in the process.
Dredd on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 8:07 am
And how ’bout them cowboys, the eyes of the Empire !
JuanP on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 9:53 am
Last Thursday’s Archdruid Report, http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/
Northwest Resident on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 9:57 am
The industrial age — the age of oil — has created so much “wealth” and excess that we’ve all been able to live cozy lives of comfort, far better off than even the kings and nobility of past ages. Overall, humans have grown soft, lazy — they’ve turned into a bunch of crying wimps, shedding tears like children on the playground when little Johnny didn’t play fair with them or stole their ball. Whaaaaaa!
Soon enough, we’ll be right back where we were before the age of oil turned us all into a bunch of enlightened peaceniks — competing for scare resources, fiercely guarding our hunting and farming grounds, hoarding any small excess to buffer against lean years that we know are coming. We’ll all be back to warring and fighting on a much more regular and pronounced basis than our plastic existence during the age of oil has forced upon us.
Rome showed no mercy and changed history. Ghenghis Khan, the ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Huns and many others chose to be the aggressors, to take what they wanted, to force their will on weaker peoples, and they didn’t give a damn about the little people crying about how unfair it all was.
In world history, there is a clear trend over the long term. Conquer, or be conquered. I think American generals and military planners understand this fundamental reality on Planet Earth.
It’s ugly. It’s brutal. It most definitely is not fair. But on this planet, during any given span of time, there is always going to be winners and losers, ongoing battles between good and evil, right and wrong. It is what it is.
BC on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 10:46 am
“In world history, there is a clear trend over the long term. Conquer, or be conquered. I think American generals and military planners understand this fundamental reality on Planet Earth.
It’s ugly. It’s brutal. It most definitely is not fair. But on this planet, during any given span of time, there is always going to be winners and losers, ongoing battles between good and evil, right and wrong. It is what it is.”
NWRes, you nailed it. That’s worthy of framing. Thanks.
sunweb on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 10:47 am
Not everyone is living “cozy lives of comfort, far better off than even the kings and nobility of past ages.” In 2000 using an Excel spread sheet and using energy as a measure, I took all the countries of the world; got their population, petroleum use, natural gas use, and electricity use. I figured the per capita use for each of these energies for each country. I then rank order each of the per capita uses for each energy from the least to the most and then did a population accumulation so that I could ask what did 75 to 80% of the people use.
For petroleum 72% of the people in the world in the year 2000 had access to 4 barrels of oil or LESS each year. The United States that year had access per capita to 25 barrels of oil. The per capita use in many countries is misleading because the wealthy get the bulk of the energy. With electricity, 75% of the world population had access to 5kWh a day. And that again is misleading because the wealthy got the lion’s share.
I have done this multiple times since the 80s and the numbers have remain essentially the same. With scrapping the bottom of the petroleum barrel and the ongoing threat of climate change, the outlook is bleak initially for the poor.
Plantagenet on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 10:50 am
There is no Great War II. Every conflict the U.S. gets involved in has its own independent cause and rationale. For example consider obama’s wars in Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Nigeria, Yemen, Iraq, Syria etc. some conflicts involve Al Qaida, some involve IS, and one is against a socialist dictator.
Rodster on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 11:13 am
The Evil Empire is no different to any other Empire. You have to continue to feed the host and expand or it declines and some other Nation will take it’s place.
That’s why all Empires expand and conquer for fear of being replaced. By I gotta give it to the USSA. They have done one helluva job destabilizing the entire world.
Plantagenet on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 11:49 am
The “Evil Empire” refers to the empire maintained by the former USSR.
The Evil Empire was kicked into the dustbin of history by the US in the 1980s when the USSR collapsed.
Northwest Resident on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 12:12 pm
“Every conflict the U.S. gets involved in has its own independent cause and rationale.”
True. But they all support and/or advance one critical all-encompassing objective — domination.
Plantagenet on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 12:28 pm
Hi Nordent
You are utterly deluded if you think obama’s war in Libya has led to US “domination” of Libya.
You are really much too simple-minded in the way you are looking at this. Your claim above that the only thing that matters between nations is “Conquer—or be conquered” is just warmed over neo-Darwinain claptrap. Its nonsense.
Look at the US-Canada border. Look at NATO. There is a great deal more involved in international relations then your simple-minded “Conquer or be conquered” mindset will allow you to see.
Cheers!
GregT on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 12:32 pm
“True. But they all support and/or advance one critical all-encompassing objective — domination.”
And when push comes to shove, the same objective will include every single one of us. We are all cannon fodder, or collateral damage in their eyes.
Unchain a monster, and eventually it will come for you.
Northwest Resident on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 12:51 pm
GregT — So true. I am currently reading George R.R. Martin’s best-selling book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” (Game Of Thrones). I’m close to the end of the third book, “A Storm Of Swords”. I find a very striking connection between the fantasy world spun by Martin and the real world that we all live in, including even the court fools, who I believe Mr. Rude and Obnoxious (and utterly deluded — see post above) would be very qualified for. 🙂
Northwest Resident on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 2:08 pm
Plant — I don’t think it is Obama’s war, and I don’t think whoever’s war it is has led to US domination of Libya. You totally missed the point — too dense to “get it”, what a surprise.
As usual, Plant, you assert false assumptions to make your lame points. Simple-minded and deluded — that describes your standard operational mode. But you forgot to also accuse me of being rude and obnoxious. An oversight, no doubt.
But thanks anyway for your rudely stated pompous prognostications. Truly, you are the master of fact and prescient interpreter of all things Obama that you assert yourself to be. All hail the mighty (mental midget) Plant!!!
Plantagenet on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 2:26 pm
Hi Nordent:
If the war in Libya wasn’t obama’s war then whose war was it?
obama decided to go to war, obama ordered the military to go to war, and obama even picked the bombing targets in Libya.
Why not admit the truth? Obama took the US to war in Libya, and the result is NOT US domination of Libya. The US currently has no control over Libya. Your claim that the US wages war to conquer and dominate other countries is thusly disproved.
Cheers!
dubya on Mon, 16th Feb 2015 7:14 pm
I am surprised that nobody has identified what is probably the key detail. For Mr Planet, perhaps the fact that Obama’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were started by a certain Dubya – proves just how deep Obama’s conspiracy goes.
On the other hand if one looks at it from the point of the Military-Industrial Complex it is eminently sensible.
The Republicans responds to a perceived threat (from Saudi Arabian terrorists) to attack Iraq; when the Democrats switch the political will to the other end of the spectrum they realize that less shootin’ will result in job losses at Lockheed.
So Tweedledee and Tweedledum;the IRS and all the AMerican taxpayers support the MIC’s endless War On Terror.
I think it is time to buy some Weapons manufacturer stocks.