Auditing The Empire

Assessing the Crimes of U.S. Foreign Policy

The United States spent $610 billion on its military in 2018, more than the next seven countries combined and nearly ten times more than Russia.  There are nearly 200,000 U.S. troops deployed around the world in over 150 countries and the U.S. has nearly 800 military bases in over 60 countries.  The United States are officially involved in wars in seven different countries: Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Niger, according to the White House.  This does not include conflicts where the U.S. is involved non-militarily by providing weapons, training, aid, or other forms of covert assistance, like in Ukraine and more recently, in Venezuela.

America is in any sense of the word, an empire. The U.S. government presumes the authority to be anywhere and everywhere around the world, injecting itself into global affairs regardless of constitutional law, international law, or any basic respect for the sovereignty of other countries.  If there is a problem any place on the globe, or simply a situation the U.S. feels could affect its so-called “national interests”, legitimate or otherwise, there is general agreement among establishment politicians, mainstream media, and so-called foreign policy experts, that America can and should intervene.

While there is often debate over what form this intervention should take i.e. should we invade, drop bombs, arm rebel groups, or maybe just starve the people through economic sanctions?, there is very little discussion over the broader role of the U.S. government around the world. The questions of whether America should police the world, manipulate foreign elections for its benefit, stage coups to overthrow regimes, or use military force for “humanitarian” purposes or to “promote democracy”, are rarely asked or considered.  It is implicitly assumed that these are all legitimate functions of U.S. global power.

What is also rarely discussed are the results of past U.S. interventions. When America has engaged itself militarily around the world, did it achieve the positive results that our leaders and experts promised it would? Instead of engaging in any type of true reflection about the consequences of our policies, we are generally whisked away by the political and media classes in the frenzy of whatever the next hotspot is that we supposedly must intervene in.

In this blog, I will visit some of these unanswered, and for the most part unasked, questions, while exploring in depth the true history of U.S. foreign policy. This discussion will hopefully provide a context and perspective to America’s global empire that you won’t get reading the New York Times or Washington Post, watching CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News, or listening to U.S. presidents, congressmen, or bureaucratic officials, all of whom generally discuss U.S. global involvement only within the confines of the current paradigm, which includes the assumption that it is America’s duty to police the world, promote democracy, and be perpetually engaged militarily in every corner of the globe.

To read more, check out one of the 3 era overview posts below or any blog post for history and analysis on a more specific topic.

Pre-World War II Era (1776-1945)

The founders, the Constitution, Non-Invervention, World War I, World War II, and the beginning stages of U.S. Empire

Cold War Era (1945 - 1991)

The Cold War, Vietnam, Korea, and the rise of the American Bureaucratic War Apparatus and the Military-Industrial Complex

Modern Era (1991-Today)

The Iraq Wars, Afghanistan, 9/11, Middle East Hegemony, Torture, and the fight for Global Supremacy with Russia and China

Blog Posts

Dishonest Narratives from the Soleimani Saga: Part 2

The assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani has been justified and spun by the media class and Trump administration in a multitude of ways. In particular, there are 5 narratives the imperialist class has used in its continued effort to push for regime change in Iran.

Dishonest Narratives from the Soleimani Saga: Part 1

The assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani has been justified and spun by the media class and Trump administration in a multitude of ways. In particular, there are 5 narratives the imperialist class has used in its continued effort to push for regime change in Iran.

Russia

America’s relationship with its most prominent global rival, from the rise of the Soviet Union to the ongoing tension with Putin’s Russia.

Afghanistan

From Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s interventions to support the mujahideen fighters against the Soviet Union in the 80s to what is now the longest war in American history, a conflict launched by George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11 and continued aimlessly and catastrophically by Presidents Obama and Trump.

World War I

Arguably America’s most consequential intervention, World War I set the stage for further chaos in Europe, as well as a century to come of disastrous American militarism and global dominance, leading to our current state of permanent war.

Why The Empire Hates Iran

America’s disdain for the Iranian revolution of 1979, when they overthrew America’s sock puppet dictator that the CIA helped install in 1953, has been a primary driving force for the constant war and bloodshed throughout the Middle East ever since.

The Tradition of Non-Intervention

Examining the intellectual and political leaders who have promoted a peaceful American foreign policy and attempted to rollback America’s ever growing empirical ambitions.

The Vietnam War

The signature American foreign policy blunder of the 2nd half of the 20th century, Vietnam exemplifies so many of the ways in which U.S. empire has failed its own people and those around the world.

The Redirection – The Obama Years

When President Obama took over from George W. Bush, many hoped to see his campaign promises of a more peaceful foreign policy come to fruition. Instead, Obama failed to deescalate conflict in the Middle East and initiated a whole new wave of American imperialism.

The Iraq War (2003-2011)

The Iraq War is the defining foreign policy atrocity of the 21st century. It was launched on a plethora of obvious and outlandish lies and the devastating consequences of the war continue to drive America’s calamitous foreign policy in the region today.