Chalmers Johnson om amerikansk imperialism

Missa inte intervjun med Chalmers Johnson, författare till boken "Imperiedrömmar"; en bok om hur den amerikanska militarismen under lång tid har infiltrerat regeringsorganen i Washington och manipulerar den federala budgeten för att stärka sitt inflytande över det amerikanska samhället.

In 1989, what startled me almost more than the Wall coming down was this: As the entire justification for the Military-Industrial Complex, for the Pentagon apparatus, for the fleets around the world, for all our bases came to an end, the United States instantly - pure knee-jerk reaction - began to seek an alternative enemy. Our leaders simply could not contemplate dismantling the apparatus of the Cold War.

The chief question that came to mind almost at once, as soon as it was clear that our part of the Cold War was going to be perpetuated - the same structure, the same military Keynesianism, an economy based largely on the building of weapons - was: Did this suggest that the Cold War was, in fact, a cover for something else; that something else being an American empire intentionally created during World War II as the successor to the British Empire?

Johnson analyserar om det amerikanska imperiet verkligen är ett klassiskt imperium, och vad som skiljer från exempelvis det brittiska:

Empires are defined so often as holders of colonies, but analytically, by empire we simply mean the projection of hegemony outward, over other people, using them to serve our interests, regardless of how their interests may be affected.

So what kind of empire is ours? The unit is not the colony, it's the military base.

Missa inte en väldigt läsvärd intervju.
.


Andra bloggar om: chalmers johnson, militär industriella komplexet, ekonomi, kapitalism, militär keynesianism, imperialism, hegemoni