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Author Topic: The End of the Empire  (Read 1253 times)

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The End of the Empire
« on: April 13, 2023, 03:52:11 AM »
The End of the Empire


The American empire is coming to an end. The U.S. economy is being drained by wars in the Middle East and vast military expansion around the globe. It is burdened by growing deficits, along with the devastating effects of deindustrialization and global trade agreements. Our democracy has been captured and destroyed by corporations that steadily demand more tax cuts, more deregulation and impunity from prosecution for massive acts of financial fraud, all the while looting trillions from the U.S. treasury in the form of bailouts. The nation has lost the power and respect needed to induce allies in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa to do its bidding. Add to this the mounting destruction caused by climate change and you have a recipe for an emerging dystopia. Overseeing this descent at the highest levels of the federal and state governments is a motley collection of imbeciles, con artists, thieves, opportunists and warmongering generals. And to be clear, I am speaking about Democrats, too.

The empire will limp along, steadily losing influence until the dollar is dropped as the world’s reserve currency, plunging the United States into a crippling depression and instantly forcing a massive contraction of its military machine.

Short of a sudden and widespread popular revolt, which does not seem likely, the death spiral appears unstoppable, meaning the United States as we know it will no longer exist within a decade or, at most, two. The global vacuum we leave behind will be filled by China, already establishing itself as an economic and military juggernaut, or perhaps there will be a multipolar world carved up among Russia, China, India, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and a few other states. Or maybe the void will be filled, as the historian Alfred W. McCoy writes in his book “In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power,” by “a coalition of transnational corporations, multilateral military forces like NATO, and an international financial leadership self-selected at Davos and Bilderberg” that will “forge a supranational nexus to supersede any nation or empire.”

Under every measurement, from financial growth and infrastructure investment to advanced technology, including supercomputers, space weaponry and cyberwarfare, we are being rapidly overtaken by the Chinese. “In April 2015 the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggested that the American economy would grow by nearly 50 percent over the next 15 years, while China’s would triple and come close to surpassing America’s in 2030,” McCoy noted. China became the world’s second largest economy in 2010, the same year it became the world’s leading manufacturing nation, pushing aside a United States that had dominated the world’s manufacturing for a century. The Department of Defense issued a sober report titled “At Our Own Peril: DoD Risk Assessment in a Post-Primacy World.” It found that the U.S. military “no longer enjoys an unassailable position versus state competitors,” and “it no longer can … automatically generate consistent and sustained local military superiority at range.” McCoy predicts the collapse will come by 2030.


Empires in decay embrace an almost willful suicide. Blinded by their hubris and unable to face the reality of their diminishing power, they retreat into a fantasy world where hard and unpleasant facts no longer intrude. They replace diplomacy, multilateralism and politics with unilateral threats and the blunt instrument of war.

This collective self-delusion saw the United States make the greatest strategic blunder in its history, one that sounded the death knell of the empire—the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. The architects of the war in the George W. Bush White House, and the array of useful idiots in the press and academia who were cheerleaders for it, knew very little about the countries being invaded, were stunningly naive about the effects of industrial warfare and were blindsided by the ferocious blowback. They stated, and probably believed, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, although they had no valid evidence to support this claim. They insisted that democracy would be implanted in Baghdad and spread across the Middle East. They assured the public that U.S. troops would be greeted by grateful Iraqis and Afghans as liberators. They promised that oil revenues would cover the cost of reconstruction. They insisted that the bold and quick military strike—“shock and awe”—would restore American hegemony in the region and dominance in the world. It did the opposite. As Zbigniew Brzezinski noted, this “unilateral war of choice against Iraq precipitated a widespread delegitimation of U.S. foreign policy.”

Historians of empire call these military fiascos, a feature of all late empires, examples of “micro-militarism.” The Athenians engaged in micro-militarism when during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) they invaded Sicily, suffering the loss of 200 ships and thousands of soldiers and triggering revolts throughout the empire. Britain did so in 1956 when it attacked Egypt in a dispute over the nationalization of the Suez Canal and then quickly had to withdraw in humiliation, empowering a string of Arab nationalist leaders such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and dooming British rule over the nation’s few remaining colonies. Neither of these empires recovered.

“While rising empires are often judicious, even rational in their application of armed force for conquest and control of overseas dominions, fading empires are inclined to ill-considered displays of power, dreaming of bold military masterstrokes that would somehow recoup lost prestige and power,” McCoy writes. “Often irrational even from an imperial point of view, these micromilitary operations can yield hemorrhaging expenditures or humiliating defeats that only accelerate the process already under way.”

Empires need more than force to dominate other nations. They need a mystique. This mystique—a mask for imperial plunder, repression and exploitation—seduces some native elites, who become willing to do the bidding of the imperial power or at least remain passive. And it provides a patina of civility and even nobility to justify to those at home the costs in blood and money needed to maintain empire. The parliamentary system of government that Britain replicated in appearance in the colonies, and the introduction of British sports such as polo, cricket and horse racing, along with elaborately uniformed viceroys and the pageantry of royalty, were buttressed by what the colonialists said was the invincibility of their navy and army. England was able to hold its empire together from 1815 to 1914 before being forced into a steady retreat. America’s high-blown rhetoric about democracy, liberty and equality, along with basketball, baseball and Hollywood, as well as our own deification of the military, entranced and cowed much of the globe in the wake of World War II. Behind the scenes, of course, the CIA used its bag of dirty tricks to orchestrate coups, fix elections and carry out assassinations, black propaganda campaigns, bribery, blackmail, intimidation and torture. But none of this works anymore.

The loss of the mystique is crippling. It makes it hard to find pliant surrogates to administer the empire, as we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. The photographs of physical abuse and sexual humiliation imposed on Arab prisoners at Abu Ghraib inflamed the Muslim world and fed al-Qaida and later Islamic State with new recruits. The assassination of Osama bin Laden and a host of other jihadist leaders, including the U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, openly mocked the concept of the rule of law. The hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of refugees fleeing our debacles in the Middle East, along with the near-constant threat from militarized aerial drones, exposed us as state terrorists. We have exercised in the Middle East the U.S. military’s penchant for widespread atrocities, indiscriminate violence, lies and blundering miscalculations, actions that led to our defeat in Vietnam.

The brutality abroad is matched by a growing brutality at home. Militarized police gun down mostly unarmed, poor people of color and fill a system of penitentiaries and jails that hold a staggering 25 percent of the world’s prisoners although Americans represent only 5 percent of global population. Many of our cities are in ruins. Our public transportation system is a shambles. Our educational system is in steep decline and being privatized. Opioid addiction, suicide, mass shootings, depression and morbid obesity plague a population that has fallen into profound despair. The deep disillusionment and anger that led to Donald Trump’s election—a reaction to the corporate coup d’état and the poverty afflicting at least half of the country—have destroyed the myth of a functioning democracy. Presidential tweets and rhetoric celebrate hate, racism and bigotry and taunt the weak and the vulnerable. The president in an address before the United Nations threatened to obliterate another nation in an act of genocide. We are worldwide objects of ridicule and hatred. The foreboding for the future is expressed in the rash of dystopian films, motion pictures that no longer perpetuate American virtue and exceptionalism or the myth of human progress.

“The demise of the United States as the preeminent global power could come far more quickly than anyone imagines,” McCoy writes. “Despite the aura of omnipotence empires often project, most are surprisingly fragile, lacking the inherent strength of even a modest nation-state. Indeed, a glance at their history should remind us that the greatest of them are susceptible to collapse from diverse causes, with fiscal pressures usually a prime factor. For the better part of two centuries, the security and prosperity of the homeland has been the main objective for most stable states, making foreign or imperial adventures an expendable option, usually allocated no more than 5 percent of the domestic budget. Without the financing that arises almost organically inside a sovereign nation, empires are famously predatory in their relentless hunt for plunder or profit—witness the Atlantic slave trade, Belgium’s rubber lust in the Congo, British India’s opium commerce, the Third Reich’s rape of Europe, or the Soviet exploitation of Eastern Europe.”

When revenues shrink or collapse, McCoy points out, “empires become brittle.”

“So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly wrong, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, eleven years for the Ottomans, seventeen for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, just twenty-seven years for the United States, counting from the crucial year 2003 [when the U.S. invaded Iraq],” he writes.

Many of the estimated 69 empires that have existed throughout history lacked competent leadership in their decline, having ceded power to monstrosities such as the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero. In the United States, the reins of authority may be in the grasp of the first in a line of depraved demagogues.

“For the majority of Americans, the 2020s will likely be remembered as a demoralizing decade of rising prices, stagnant wages, and fading international competitiveness,” McCoy writes. The loss of the dollar as the global reserve currency will see the U.S. unable to pay for its huge deficits by selling Treasury bonds, which will be drastically devalued at that point. There will be a massive rise in the cost of imports. Unemployment will explode. Domestic clashes over what McCoy calls “insubstantial issues” will fuel a dangerous hypernationalism that could morph into an American fascism.

A discredited elite, suspicious and even paranoid in an age of decline, will see enemies everywhere. The array of instruments created for global dominance—wholesale surveillance, the evisceration of civil liberties, sophisticated torture techniques, militarized police, the massive prison system, the thousands of militarized drones and satellites—will be employed in the homeland. The empire will collapse and the nation will consume itself within our lifetimes if we do not wrest power from those who rule the corporate state.

Source: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-end-of-empire
Why the sun does not shine on the Ex- British Empire Anymore? Because God never trusted an Englishman in the dark!

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The End of the Empire
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2024, 01:51:47 PM »
Quote

"If we relied solely on the academic discipline of economics for interpretation, it would be difficult to reason how a heavily financialized nation can convince other countries to continue producing real, physical products for a heavily indebted nation’s citizens to sell to one another and consume at rates not balanced out by net exports.

It is a struggle to rationalize — though economists, through repetition and assertion, try — how the New York Stock Exchange can be worth $32.7 trillion dollars when there are only $2.3 trillion dollars in circulation if it isn’t a glorified Ponzi scheme riddled with securities and accounting fraud."

AND

"This has led to an awkward development, where countries perceived as second world, including US rival Russia, have started catching up to America’s long admired standard of living.

When adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), a Russian worker making the median Moscow salary of $19,200 a year can afford the same lifestyle as an American worker making $72,000 a year in a major American city (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, etc).

Russian workers pay a 13% flat tax on their income, which in return gets them great public transportation and universal health care. According to 2017 statistics, Russia has a unionization rate almost three times higher than the US at 27.5%. Russian workers enjoy 28 days of paid vacation time every year, compared to an average of 11 days for their American counterparts. 23% of Russian workers are employed in goods-producing fields, with an additional 5.8% participating in the agriculture sector (Russian agricultural production has doubled since the start of Western sanctions in 2022)."



https://www.unz.com/estriker/the-collapse-of-the-american-empire-part-ii-economics/

Offline Jonas!

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2024, 02:34:09 PM »


"This has led to an awkward development, where countries perceived as second world, including US rival Russia, have started catching up to America’s long admired standard of living.

When adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), a Russian worker making the median Moscow salary of $19,200 a year can afford the same lifestyle as an American worker making $72,000 a year in a major American city (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, etc).

Russian workers pay a 13% flat tax on their income, which in return gets them great public transportation and universal health care. According to 2017 statistics, Russia has a unionization rate almost three times higher than the US at 27.5%. Russian workers enjoy 28 days of paid vacation time every year, compared to an average of 11 days for their American counterparts. 23% of Russian workers are employed in goods-producing fields, with an additional 5.8% participating in the agriculture sector (Russian agricultural production has doubled since the start of Western sanctions in 2022)."



https://www.unz.com/estriker/the-collapse-of-the-american-empire-part-ii-economics/
These are interesting numbers...some in the states pretend we have this unparallelled standard of living.  Reality is our potential health care dollars go to our aggressive military.   Of course, the reality is without the aggressive military our standard of living would drop further as they enforce a lot of lopsided agreements and create circumstances whereby nations make deals practically with a gun to their head.  It seems the days are numbered in the future for this type of policy. 

Jonas! 


Offline Texan77

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2024, 03:45:31 PM »
The Russian government has a larger part of its budget going to military than we do. The reason it seems so good is because much of their income from raw material exports like oil so they can survive on lower taxes. That will not work here. Big cities in the east have a high standard of living with most of the rest of the country earning much less. A lot of their benefits are being lost in Ukraine war.
3) There has been no "threat" to invade Ukraine. The US invented that and fed it to a complicit media.

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2024, 02:01:49 PM »

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2024, 02:18:45 PM »
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262742/countries-with-the-highest-military-spending/

While I would prefer to seeing world wide less spent on militaries. The numbers become far different when reading the ‘fine print.’
“If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” T.S. Eliot

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2024, 09:26:29 PM »
Why The West Can't Win: From Bretton Woods to a Multipolar World 

Quite frankly, if the USA would turn it's focus back home, we could become a much better country out of the collapse coming.

https://www.claritypress.com/product/why-the-west-cant-win-from-bretton-woods-to-a-multipolar-world/

Online Wiz

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2024, 10:22:56 AM »
Game over - Russia: Only victory ends the war

The Ukrainian End on all fronts is dramatic%u2026

Ukrainians unable to fight have lost 24% of their territory and the special military operation in
 
Eastern Ukraine by the Russians has not yet been completed.

Ukraine is now a death zone as Russia officially declares that the war will end when Russia is clearly defeated and Ukraine surrenders unconditionally.

The British Telegraph reports that the Ukrainian army has collapsed%u2026

Bloomberg admits that the West must recognize that Russia has clearly won Ukraine and NATO has been defeated.

Meanwhile on the whole front the situation is simply tragic%u2026 Selydove a town near Pokrovsk is turning into Ugledar the Russians have it surrounded and with pincers they will take it%u2026 the same with Kurakhove which if it falls there is no Ukrainian defense in south-west Donetsk.
Nothing is going well for the Ukrainian army... disaster everywhere.
Many soldiers from the 143rd Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine threatened the command to leave their positions en masse in the direction of Kharkov, as they lack officers and ammunition.

Wall Street Journal: Trump Says He Threatened Putin To Hit Downtown Goddamn Moscow Over Ukraine
Former US President Trump said he threatened Putin to hit Moscow if Russia "invades and
destroys Ukraine," Republican candidate said in a meeting with Wall Street Journal reporters.
"Putin if you destroy Ukraine, I'll hit you so hard you won't believe it, I'll hit right in the middle of
 goddamn Moscow," reports the Wall Street Journal.

According to the former president, he told Putin that he would not want to do that, since they
 have a good relationship, but "he would have no choice."

Trump did not specify when and under what circumstances this conversation took place, but
they presumably took place before February 24, 2022, at the start of the special military
operation.

In response to a question from the Wall Street Journal about the possible use of military force against China in the event of a blockade of Taiwan, the former president questioned the need
for such actions, citing his relationship with the Chinese president.

"I don't think I should...

He knows I'm crazy," Trump replied... Putin knows that too.

In early October, in an interview with the American magazine Newsweek, the head of the

Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that Russia is not interested in how the presidential elections in the United States will end.

Peskov (Kremlin) on Trump's statements: We do not disclose Putin's conversations with other leaders
Why the sun does not shine on the Ex- British Empire Anymore? Because God never trusted an Englishman in the dark!

Online Wiz

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2024, 03:37:02 AM »
The Russian government has a larger part of its budget going to military than we do. The reason it seems so good is because much of their income from raw material exports like oil so they can survive on lower taxes. That will not work here. Big cities in the east have a high standard of living with most of the rest of the country earning much less. A lot of their benefits are being lost in Ukraine war.

Russsia has something of its own to sell, AND IT DOES....... were USA DOES NOT HAVE SAME OWN PRODUCT TO SELL IN this MARKET and you have to BUY IT FROM the market and use the Greek shipowners to transport it....At least Russia is selling a product that everybody wants......

But USA  is using its printers to print Toilet paper (Dollars)

You still have not answered my question why USA has to have 800 ARMY BASES ABROAD?????? wHAT  IS its purpose?   To sell arms.....to the Nations you have the bases on........

I guess most if not all Nations with USA army bases.......do not want you there.... but..you have arms etc to selll.!!!.


Why the sun does not shine on the Ex- British Empire Anymore? Because God never trusted an Englishman in the dark!

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2024, 07:20:16 AM »
You still have not answered my question why USA has to have 800 ARMY BASES ABROAD?????? wHAT  IS its purpose?   To sell arms.....to the Nations you have the bases on........

Texan77 is in the midst of a mental breakdown and his obsession with everything Russian, appears to show no signs of slowing down. He's so consumed with hate, that each and every article he reads from his predictable anti Russian sources, simply feeds his sickness. The establishment along with it's compliant media, should be held accountable for brainwashing vulnerable types and wrecking their lives.

I feel sorry for the old boy but he's too far gone. All we can do is challenge his lies and silliness, prove his fantasy wrong and try to push him towards reality.

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2024, 12:01:39 PM »
Taxing is definitely too far gone. Oh well.

Meanwhile so is US debt. Grown so large that it's now too late. Or so this professional investor believes.

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/10/22/the-point-of-no-returns/

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Re: The End of the Empire
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2024, 03:21:54 PM »
You still have not answered my question why USA has to have 800 ARMY BASES ABROAD?????? wHAT  IS its purpose?   To sell arms.....to the Nations you have the bases on........

Texan77 is in the midst of a mental breakdown and his obsession with everything Russian, appears to show no signs of slowing down. He's so consumed with hate, that each and every article he reads from his predictable anti Russian sources, simply feeds his sickness. The establishment along with it's compliant media, should be held accountable for brainwashing vulnerable types and wrecking their lives.

I feel sorry for the old boy but he's too far gone. All we can do is challenge his lies and silliness, prove his fantasy wrong and try to push him towards reality.

I think I have to follow your example and let the poor man alone and don't bother replying  to his silly posts. Thank you for your  advice and wish you and your wife lots of happines alll your life!

Also I would like to thank Contrarian for his advice regarding the burning platform . Thank you both.
Why the sun does not shine on the Ex- British Empire Anymore? Because God never trusted an Englishman in the dark!