Limits of Power - a Moyers Interview Excerpt

[Stravo]

Here is an excerpt from an interview that a friend turned me onto, it was a frank discussion about American foreign policy that lays out in some cold terms that what we have now is an Imperial policy. The author asserts that what we have now is a professional army that is there to make sure that under any circumstances this country maintains the two things identified as what the American people want the most: Cheap Oil and Abundant Credit or luxury. It charts our move from a nation of producers to a nation of consumers.

I was quite impressed and plan to buy the book that the author wrote: The Limits of Power by Andrew Bacevich

Moyers Interview

[Kanastrous]

Read the excerpt, went to Amazon, bought a copy. Ought to be a good read.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I've argued this point in the past. Anyone who requires evidence need look no further than the protection offered The Kingdom and how gung-ho we went into Iraq. The problem is, no empire survives without an economy. And America is losing her economic superpower status, which means that private police force protecting American assets abroad is going to get one hell of a haircut.

"You're familiar with the phrase 'man's reach exceeds his grasp'? It's a lie: man's grasp exceeds his nerve."
-Nikola Tesla, The Prestige

[Adrian Laguna]

Back in 1985 historian Paul Kennedy published a book titled, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers where he noted that the chief cause behind changes in the power balance are economic in nature, and that "top-heavy" States with expensive armed forces and resource intensive foreign commitments tended to fall from the top of the pile. He warned that the United States was in danger of falling into the same "imperial overstretch" trap.

Guess that's not the sort of book that Republicans like to read.