Peoples Geography — Reclaiming space

Creating people's geographies

Why We Fight – Update on the Empire

Three recent interrelated pieces on US Empire vs Republic worth a look.

nemesis.jpgThe first is Democracy Now’s interview with Chalmers Johnson, in which this scholar and CIA analyst argues in his new book Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic that US military and economic overreach may lead to the nation’s collapse as a constitutional republic. Johnson’s latest book is the last volume in his Blowback trilogy, following Blowback and The Sorrows of Empire. In this trilogy, Johnson argues that clandestine and military activity has led to unintended disaster in the United States. See also his article in Harper‘s Magazine and at TomDispatch.

The second is Laurence M. Vance’s brief but valuable survey ‘Update on the Empire’ at Lew Rockwell.

The third is BBC Four’s award winning documentary Why We Fight, with thanks to Ed for pointing it out. The historical context it provides on the military-industrial complex and the range and quality of guests from Gore Vidal to Karen Kwiatowski to Chalmers Johnson is excellent. I’ve posted a video clip (below) that shows the first 22 minutes only; for the documentary in its entirety (99 minutes) see Google Video here or visit the dedicated website Why We Fight.

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Timely Reminders

"Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better, but leave it either as it was, or sometimes perceptibly worse than what it was, before the crusade began. By thinking primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions, to create occasions for evil to manifest itself."
-- Aldous Huxley

"The only war that matters is the war against the imagination. All others are subsumed by it."
-- Diane DiPrima, "Rant", from Pieces of a Song.

"It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there"
-- William Carlos Williams, "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower"


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