It’s time to end US military engagements in the Middle East.…The US win a war but not deliver a peace.
America has been no different from other imperial powers in finding itself ensnared repeatedly in costly, bloody, and eventually futile overseas wars. From the Roman empire till today, the issue is not whether an imperial army can defeat a local one. It usually can, just as the United States did quickly in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. The issue is whether it gains anything by doing so.…This is a must-read post as a historical backgrounder. All the points that Sachs makes are correct but it is not competely correct about the cost-benefit analysis.
Even though the costs are high in terms of blood and treasure and the benefits seem rather limited in comparison, the real benefit is the hegemony that an empire gains, which is it's chief objective.
The objective is to "lead the world," and that justifies the cost of global hegemony in the view of the American leadership, and the American people have been largely willing to support this policy so far.
When the American people balk at the costs, the leadership backs off until the political climate improves enough to become proactive again.
US policy remains fixed on extending global hegemony regardless of the cost as long as it doesn't result in uncontrollable domestic political instability.
However, the mechanism of domestic control is now in place so that serious dissent can be nipped in the bud through the institution of the national security and surveillance state because "terrorism." Political dissent is increasingly being defined as domestic terrorism.
AlterNet
U.S. Military Should Get out of the Middle East
Jeffrey Sachs | Director of The Earth Institute, University Professor, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University
4 comments:
Proof that miracles do happen. Having spent decades devising ways to torture unsuspecting poor countries, Jeffrey Sachs has finally said something sensible.
Yes, but notice it is about history and politics, and not economics. He is still clueless about that.
True, but he's NEVER said anything sensible! I've seen him countless times on television or read him in print and he's clueless about everything. This of course entitles him to endless well paid and prestigious Ivy League professorships.
Bob, that's the US plan! Any attempt to Balkanise China may result in nuclear armageddon, but the neocons aren't known for their rationality...
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