Donald Trump and the coming fall of American Empire

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: July 23, 2017 at 1:58:50 AM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Donald Trump and the coming fall of American Empire
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> [Note:  This item comes from friend David Rosenthal.  DLH]
>
> Donald Trump and the coming fall of American Empire
> By Jeremy Scahill
> Jul 22 2017
> <https://theintercept.com/2017/07/22/donald-trump-and-the-coming-fall-of-american-empire/>
>
> Even as President Donald Trump faces ever-intensifying investigations into the alleged connections between his top 
> aides and family members and powerful Russian figures, he serves as commander in chief over a U.S. military that is 
> killing an astonishing and growing number of civilians. Under Trump, the U.S. is re-escalating its war in 
> Afghanistan, expanding its operations in Iraq and Syria, conducting covert raids in Somalia and Yemen, and openly 
> facilitating the Saudi’s genocidal military destruction of Yemen.
>
> Meanwhile, China has quietly and rapidly expanded its influence without deploying its military on foreign soil.
>
> A new book by the famed historian Alfred McCoy predicts that China is set to surpass the influence of the U.S. 
> globally, both militarily and economically, by the year 2030. At that point, McCoy asserts the United States Empire 
> as we know it will be no more. He sees the Trump presidency as one of the clearest byproducts of the erosion of U.S. 
> global dominance, but not its root cause. At the same time, he also believes Trump may accelerate the empire’s 
> decline.
>
> McCoy argues that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was the beginning of the end. McCoy is not some chicken little. He is a 
> serious academic. And he has guts.
>
> During the Vietnam war, McCoy was ambushed by CIA-backed paramilitaries as he investigated the swelling heroin trade. 
> The CIA tried to stop the publication of his now classic book, “The Politics of Heroin.” His phone was tapped, he was 
> audited by the IRS and he was investigated and spied on by the FBI. McCoy also wrote one of the earliest and most 
> prescient books on the post 9-11 CIA torture program and he is one of the world’s foremost experts on U.S. covert 
> action. His new book, which will be released in September, is called “In the Shadows of the American Century: The 
> Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power.”
>
> “The American Century, proclaimed so triumphantly at the start of World War II, may already be tattered and fading by 
> 2025 and, except for the finger pointing, could be over by 2030,” McCoy writes. Imagining the real-life impact on the 
> U.S. economy, McCoy offers a dark prediction:
>
> “For the majority of Americans, the 2020s will likely be remembered as a demoralizing decade of rising prices, 
> stagnant wages, and fading international competitiveness. After years of swelling deficits fed by incessant warfare 
> in distant lands, in 2030 the U.S. dollar eventually loses its special status as the world’s dominant reserve 
> currency.
>
> Suddenly, there are punitive price increases for American imports ranging from clothing to computers. And the costs 
> for all overseas activity surges as well, making travel for both tourists and troops prohibitive. Unable to pay for 
> swelling deficits by selling now-devalued Treasury notes abroad, Washington is finally forced to slash its bloated 
> military budget. Under pressure at home and abroad, its forces begin to pull back from hundreds of overseas bases to 
> a continental perimeter. Such a desperate move, however, comes too late.
>
> Faced with a fading superpower incapable of paying its bills, China, India, Iran, Russia, and other powers 
> provocatively challenge U.S. dominion over the oceans, space, and cyberspace.”
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>



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