South Korea – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

What are the Prospects for a US War with China?

Was Barack Obama’s “pivot to Asia” the signal for a coming US war on China? Is the current clash between the US and China a confrontation between an empire in decline and an empire on the rise? Does China entertain imperial ambitions? Is China really a “threat to peace”? What would be some of the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Review of 2018, Part 2 (April–June): Dealing in Danger and Diplomacy

APRIL The Trade War Begins? April continued many of the same themes from March, beginning with the apparent start of a trade war between China and the US as China made good on its threats of retaliation in a major way. China expanded its list of tariffs, targeting 128 US exports with up to 25% […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Book Review: Patriots, Traitors and Empires—The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom, by Stephen Gowans

Review of: Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom, by Stephen Gowans. Published by Baraka Books, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 6 x 9 inches. 280 pages. ISBN No 9781771861359. Paper, $24.95 CDN; PDF/EPUB, $19.99 CDN. “It is easy to lose a country, but difficult to win it back”. —Kim Il-sung (quoted in […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

North Korea: The Undaunted State Tests the Limits of Empire

North Korea is an exceptional state, but unlike an imperial power it lacks a doctrine of exceptionalism. It is exceptional in that it is willing to suffer any cost to protect its independence, and it relies on no one to assure its sovereignty. One fact stands out as unambiguous: today, North Korea stands alone as […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Donald Trump, Empire, and Globalization: A Reassessment

“Hey, I’m a nationalist and a globalist,” Donald Trump recently declared, “I’m both”. The only way in which the two (seemingly contradictory) positions can be reconciled is by introducing a third term, one that is absent from Trump’s vocabulary: imperialism. Trump might not be conscious of the implication of his statement (nor would he be […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Donald Trump and Empire: An Assessment

“There is something unseemly about a nation conducting a foreign policy that involves it in the affairs of most of the nations of the world while its own domestic needs are neglected or postponed, just as there is something unseemly about an individual carrying all the burdens of the Community Chest and the PTA while […]