The Great Communicator, Vietnam Syndrome and Another Mass Atrocity

Photo by betancourt | CC BY 2.0

Empire equals militarism. In order to maintain an empire, a nation must make either threats of violence or violence to bear to bring outliers into the fold. Both forms of violence are banned by international law and the United Nations Charter, but almost no one pays attention to such niceties of law these days. Domestically, outliers are reined in through the same process. In the twentieth century, the U.S. took on the mantle of empire and “status” as the world’s superpower from England. It was after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, that the U.S. assumed sole status as the world’s only superpower.

But there was a time, in the recent past, when unilateral military action, or military action in concert with U.S. sycophants, could still be challenged. Empire was not an absolute. That all changed after September 11, 2001, and has pretty much remained the same for the 16 years that have followed. The U.S. can now murder its own citizens without due process of law in military operations. For minority communities here in the U.S., there is a parallel of violence with police often outfitted as the military is in theaters of war. Civilians in war zones are killed as collateral damage and no human rights tribunal is called in to pass judgment. Trillions of dollars are made by the military-industrial complex and basic human rights such as the right to decent housing, medical care, and adequate education have all come under constant…

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