The Birth of American Empire

H. Patricia Hynes / Truthdig Jul 20, 2018 Stephen Kinzer's book illuminates the decisions of 1898-1902 that set the course of American wars and the overthrow of governments into the 21st century. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

A Planet Boiling With Unintended Consequences

Tom Engelhardt / TomDispatch Mar 4, 2018 To get a picture of “blowback” in action, just do an internet search for such phrases as “warmest years,” “rising sea levels” and “future climate refugees." Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Time to Close Our Foreign Military Bases

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers / Popular Resistance Jan 17, 2018 The United States cannot be a moral or ethical country until it accepts the realities of U.S. empire and the destruction it causes around the world. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Garrisoning the Globe: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Undermine National Security and Harm Us All

By David Vine, TomDispatch Sep 14, 2015 Our network of overseas bases have helped lock us inside a permanently militarized society that has made everyone on this planet less secure, damaging lives at home and abroad. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

From the Archives of TomDispatch: America’s Empire of Bases

By Chalmers Johnson, TomDispatch Aug 12, 2015 A vast network of American military bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire not likely to be taught in any high school geography class. Without grasping the dimensions of this globe-girdling Baseworld, one can't begin to understand the size and nature of our imperial aspirations or the degree to which a new kind of militarism is undermining our constitutional order. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

Three Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire

By Chalmers Johnson, TomDispatch Aug 23, 2013 The failure to begin to deal with our bloated military establishment and the profligate use of it in missions for which it is hopelessly inappropriate will, sooner rather than later, condemn the United States to a devastating trio of consequences: imperial overstretch, perpetual war, and insolvency, leading to a likely collapse similar to that of the former Soviet Union. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Filling the Empty Battlefield

By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch Apr 23, 2013 With "Blowback," Chalmers Johnson aimed to paint a portrait of how America's informal empire and its historically unprecedented garrisoning of the world looked to others, and so explain why animosity and blowback were building globally. Now we have a secret history of 21st-century American war in Jeremy Scahill’s latest book, "Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield." Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

The Guns of August: Lowering the Flag on the American Century

Chalmers Johnson / Truthdig Aug 18, 2010 None of America's problems are likely to be tackled in a serious or successful way as long as we continue to spend our wealth on armies, weapons, wars, global garrisons, and bribes for petty dictators. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Chalmers Johnson on the Cost of Empire

BLANK May 15, 2009 Author, scholar and Truthdig contributor Chalmers Johnson passed away Nov. 20. In his honor, we are reposting this 2009 book review, which, like much of Johnson's work, remains relevant to this day. Dig deeper ( 16 Min. Read )

The Bailout vs. the Defense Budget

Chalmers Johnson / Truthdig Sep 29, 2008 There has been much moaning, air-sucking and outrage about the U.S. government's $700-billion bailout deal, but in fact we dole out similar amounts of money every year in the form of payoffs to the armed services, the military-industrial complex, and powerful senators and representatives allied with the Pentagon. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

The Military-Industrial Complex: It’s Much Later Than You Think

Chalmers Johnson / Truthdig Jul 28, 2008 Since 1961, there has been too little serious study of, or discussion of, the origins of the military-industrial complex, how it has changed over time, how governmental secrecy has hidden it from oversight by members of Congress or attentive citizens, and how it degrades our constitutional structure of checks and balances. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )