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Concerning military bases: 1. The US pays for those bases to be there. 2. Host countries want those bases to be there for defensive and economic purposes. If

Concerning military bases: 1. The US pays for those bases to be there. 2. Host countries want those bases to be there for defensive and economic purposes. If we look at the basic facts we see this is clearly not imperialism.

cb18 11y ago
The policy of forcefully extending a nation's authority by territorial gain or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/imperialism https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/imperialism The second half of that is pretty spot on, and if I'm not mistaken some of the overseas bases did originate from the use of force. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism Currently, the Pax Americana is based on the military preponderance beyond challenge by any combination of powers and projection of power throughout the world's commons—neutral sea, air and space. This projection is coordinated by the Unified Command Plan which divides the world on regional branches controlled by a single command. Integrated with it are global network of military alliances (the Rio Pact, NATO, ANZUS and bilateral alliances with Japan and several other states) coordinated by Washington in a hub-and-spokes system and world-wide network of several hundreds of military bases and installations. Former Security Advisor, Zbignew Brzezinski, drew an expressive summary of the military foundation of Pax Americana shortly after the unipolar moment: In contrast [to the earlier empires], the scope and pervasiveness of American global power today are unique. Not only does the United States control all the world's oceans, its military legions are firmly perched on the western and eastern extremities of Eurasia... American vassals and tributaries, some yearning to be embraced by even more formal ties to Washington, dot the entire Eurasian continent... American global supremacy is...buttered by an elaborate system of alliances and coalitions that literally span the globe. Besides the military foundation, there are significant non-military international institutions backed by American financing and diplomacy (like the United Nations and WTO). The United States invested heavily in programs such as the Marshall Plan and in the reconstruction of Japan, economically cementing defense ties that owed increasingly to the establishment of the Iron Curtain/Eastern Bloc and the widening of the Cold War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana#Contemporary_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana#Contemporary_pow...
vacri 11y ago
> 2. Host countries want those bases to be there for defensive and economic purposes. Really? Even the closest one to the US at Guantanamo Bay, where Cuba keeps demanding that the US gets off their soil? The US's foreign base policies are a little more complex than you're suggesting.

cb18 11y ago

The policy of forcefully extending a nation's authority by territorial gain or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/imperialism https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/imperialism The second half of that is pretty spot on, and if I'm not mistaken some of the overseas bases did originate from the use of force. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism Currently, the Pax Americana is based on the military preponderance beyond challenge by any combination of powers and projection of power throughout the world's commons—neutral sea, air and space. This projection is coordinated by the Unified Command Plan which divides the world on regional branches controlled by a single command. Integrated with it are global network of military alliances (the Rio Pact, NATO, ANZUS and bilateral alliances with Japan and several other states) coordinated by Washington in a hub-and-spokes system and world-wide network of several hundreds of military bases and installations. Former Security Advisor, Zbignew Brzezinski, drew an expressive summary of the military foundation of Pax Americana shortly after the unipolar moment: In contrast [to the earlier empires], the scope and pervasiveness of American global power today are unique. Not only does the United States control all the world's oceans, its military legions are firmly perched on the western and eastern extremities of Eurasia... American vassals and tributaries, some yearning to be embraced by even more formal ties to Washington, dot the entire Eurasian continent... American global supremacy is...buttered by an elaborate system of alliances and coalitions that literally span the globe. Besides the military foundation, there are significant non-military international institutions backed by American financing and diplomacy (like the United Nations and WTO). The United States invested heavily in programs such as the Marshall Plan and in the reconstruction of Japan, economically cementing defense ties that owed increasingly to the establishment of the Iron Curtain/Eastern Bloc and the widening of the Cold War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana#Contemporary_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana#Contemporary_pow...

vacri 11y ago

> 2. Host countries want those bases to be there for defensive and economic purposes. Really? Even the closest one to the US at Guantanamo Bay, where Cuba keeps demanding that the US gets off their soil? The US's foreign base policies are a little more complex than you're suggesting.