The Apotheosis of St. Christopher of Libya

“Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends,” the president said, quoting scripture. … “Because of these patriots, and because of you, this country that we love will always shine as a light onto the world.” In an effort not to seethe further at the absurdity […]

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Libya: Empire or Dignity

[Part 6 of 6 of my series on “Dignity,” this article is itself divided up into a series of articles, each one partly derived and adapted from my book on NATO’s war against Libya. See the bottom of the articles for more details.] “May God bless them,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with […]

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Encircling Empire: Report #13—Revolution, Intervention, Anthropology

In this report, first two maps of social media penetration in the Middle East and North Africa, in relation to ongoing revolts; then, a long overdue catalogue of anthropologists writing online about the revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa; then a series of opposing items, those dealing with rejections of any foreign military intervention in Libya (a position best articulated by Fidel Castro), followed by statements by what would otherwise be willing interventionists, in the U.S. government, who find multiple problems with imposing a no-flight-zone, and then those articles and statements that strongly favour intervention, and the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P); finally, we end with notes on empire at work in Afghanistan.

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Egypt and the Clinton Doctrine

“The United States will continue to be a friend and partner to Egypt. We stand ready to provide whatever assistance is necessary and asked for to pursue a credible transition to a democracy.” —Barack Obama, speech on Friday, 11 February 2011, on the resignation of Hosni Mubarak Finally, Mubarak is out. But the U.S. is […]

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Encircling Empire: Report #12, FOCUS ON EGYPT: Revolution and Counter-Revolution

In this report, some “opening statements” by key actors who helped to shape this report; then an editorial on revolution and counter-revolution; followed by a list of some Egyptian democracy activist sites worth following; also a list of live blogs on the Egyptian revolution; keeping track of missing persons in the Egyptian uprising; some essays worthy of note on Egypt; and, “Empire’s Egypt,” a special focus on news and essays concerning U.S. intervention in Egypt.

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The Song of the Nonaligned Nile

The United States, whose hallowed creation myth styles America as the quintessential child of revolution, has for decades navigated the insupportable irony of denying others their own political parturition through the ideological conflation of freedom with stability. From Nicaragua to Iran, this deployment has served as a discursive validation for a host of violent counterinsurgency […]

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Encircling Empire: Report #1, 03-11 September 2010

EE: Report #1, 03—11 September 2010 Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period, which can usually be glimpsed in raw form at zero.collected. They are intended to be useful for those interested in: ● contemporary and critical political anthropology ● public anthropology ● imperialism […]

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