empire – Page 2 – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

The Imperial Presidency & the National Security State on 1D4TW

It’s been a busy week on 1D4TW, with posts on AFRICOM, the invention of “the ugly AmeriKKKan,” cultural self-criticism, and the politics of race in the U.S. electoral campaign (Palin’s paean to the pale face, euphemizing whiteness and dehumanizing Obama). There will be more posts soon about AFRICOM (especially with a debate and struggle emerging […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Making of the Imperial Presidency, the National Security State, and the Transition to Authoritarianism, Part 3

In the Name of Patriotism (Who are the Patriots?) Hon. Ron Paul Texas before the U.S. House of Representatives May 22 , 2007 In this third and possibly final part of this series (see Part 1 and Part 2), I do nothing more than serve as a repeater, amplifier, and highlighter, by presenting the materials […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Making of the Imperial Presidency, the National Security State, and the Transition to Authoritarianism, Part 2

“America did not change on September 11. It only became more itself.” — Robert Kagan, neoconservative. In Part 1 of this series we looked at the ways in which the thinking and the tools used in foreign imperial engagements have been imported back into the U.S. itself. In addition we witness the ways in which […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Making of the Imperial Presidency, the National Security State, and the Transition to Authoritarianism, Part 1

This series of posts actually began with Preparing for Domestic War in the U.S.?. The focus here is on the ways that the “global war on terror” has been used as a front for a domestic war against democracy and personal liberty in the U.S. itself, with the main tools being legislative changes handing the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Another Profile in Propaganda: Laurie Adler, U.S. Army’s “Human Terrain System” (2.0)

“The aide said that guys like me were ‘in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.’ … ‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. ‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

“The Mongoose,” by Derek Walcott, has a bigger bite than one might think (1.2)

“It’s going to be nasty,” Derek Walcott said, prefacing his war on V. S. Naipaul with a warning. “The Mongoose” was the last of Walcott’s new poems at the Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica last weekend [May 2008]. He’d wondered whether he ought to read it, Walcott said, “and then I figured if I don’t […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The New Imperialism: Max Boot, Niall Ferguson, Michael Ignatieff

(A listing of some popular quotes, from proponents of the new imperialism, that one increasingly finds quoted across a variety of publications.) A Debate over US ‘Empire’ Builds in Unexpected Circles By Dan Morgan Washington Post, August 10, 2003 William Kristol, a neoconservative editor of the Weekly Standard magazine: “If people want to say we’re […]