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"On Empire — America, War, and Global Supremacy," by Eric Hobsbawm (Pantheon, 97 pages, $20)
Our national tragedy of 9/11 reverberated around the world. There was great sympathy and support for America following the attacks. That favorable view of the U.S. has now evaporated.
Sen. John McCain just made a trip to Europe. The New York Times reported: "It offered him the chance to test his hope that he could repair America's tattered reputation by shifting course on some of the policies that have alienated its allies, in areas like global warming and torture. But he is making his foray even as he embraces what much of the world sees as the most hated remnant of the Bush presidency: the war in Iraq."
We have alienated the world — do we care? A book by the British historian Eric Hobsbawm, "On Empire - America, War, and Global Supremacy" analyzes our loss of good will.
Hobsbawm states in his preface that these essays "reflect the specific international concerns of that period, which was dominated by the decision of the U.S. government in 2001 to assert a single-handed world hegemony, denouncing hitherto accepted international conventions, reserving its right to launch wars of aggression or other military operations whenever it wanted to, and actually doing so."
He thinks our pretext for invading was false. "The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001 were U.S. military operations not undertaken for humanitarian reasons, though justified to humanitarian public opinion on the ground that they removed some rather unsavory regimes. But for 9/11, not even America would have regarded the situation in either country as calling for immediate invasion."
Are we merely a super-bully? Hobsbawm asserts that "in all these cases, armed intervention has come from foreign states with far superior military power and resources. In none of them has it so far produced stable solutions." Afghanistan is a mess. So is Iraq.
President Bush declared his "war on terror." Hobsbawm suggests, "Let us resist the rhetoric of irrational fear." He finds the terminology flawed. "Except as a metaphor, there can be no such thing as a war against terror or terrorism, but only against particular political actors who use what is a tactic, not a program."
Our nation pours billions of dollars into war as our economy is melting down. The author cannot comprehend how this "megalomaniac American policy since 9/11" led the United States to a place where "military strength underlines the economic vulnerability of a United States whose enormous trade deficit is maintained by Asian investors, whose economic interest in supporting a falling dollar is rapidly diminishing."
Our American reality check has just been returned for insufficient funds. Our neighbors don't understand what we are trying to do. Hobsbawm blames our government. "Frankly, I can't make sense of what has happened in the United States since 9/11 that enabled a group of political crazies to realize long-held plans for an unaccompanied solo performance of world supremacy. I believe it indicates a growing crisis within American
society."
Book reviewer Vick Mickunas blogs daily about books at www.DaytonDailyNews.com/booknook. Contact him at vick@vickmickunas.com - goto
Posted by Vick Mickunas on 4/1/08; 10:59:41 AM
from the dept.
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