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![]() The arrogance of American power
Paul J. Balles argues that the continued presence of 1,000 American military bases outside the USA nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union is a symptom of the arrogance of power that threatens local communities and ultimately the USA itself.
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Sunday, July 25,2010 18:49 | |||||||||
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Paul J. Balles argues that the continued presence of 1,000 American military bases outside the USA nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union is a symptom of the arrogance of power that threatens local communities and ultimately the USA itself.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ending the Cold War, America breathed a sigh of relief.
As military historian Chalmers Johnston observed: "...the United States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government secrecy, our citizens are often ignorant of the fact that our garrisons encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire..." By 2009, the number of American bases outside of the USA had increased to over 1,000. Anthropology professor David Vines said these represented "the largest collection of bases in world history".
The Vietnam War should have taught us that we weren't invincible. Whatever affect it had on the thirst for power was short-lived. The power-grabbers needed the worldwide power stations for reasons other than fighting wars. Hundreds of thousands of military personnel and their families had employment in jobs that kept the unemployment numbers down and raised few complaints from taxpayers who foot the bill. It also kept the military-industrial complex profitable. Paul J. Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for many years. For more information, see http://www.pballes.com.
Source: Redress Information & Analysis (http://www.redress.cc). Material published on Redress may be republished with full attribution to Redress Information & Analysis (http://www.redress.cc)
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tags: Germany / American Military Bases / American Military / Soviet Union / Iraq / Afghanistan / Middle East / Bin Laden
Posted in Other Issues |
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