As US military interventions continue across several continents, we should remember that much of US foreign policy is little more than cleaning up messes the US created.
Moyn fears that "humane warfare" along with programs of global surveillance, would subject the world to hegemonic control by one or a few dominant superpowers.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 were possible thanks to an immense military and intelligence failure on the part of the United States government. Why think these people "keep us safe"?
There is no reason to expect the Afghanistan debacle to humble Washington policymakers. Korean War fiascos were swept under the rug, paving the way for the Vietnam War. The cycle didn't end there.
"The state cannot intervene in the economic affairs of society without building up its coercive machinery, and that, after all, is militarism. Power is the correlative of politics." ~Frank Chodorov
Private security tends to provide its services to the highest bidder. And you know that almost always ends up being the regime itself. Corn farmers just can’t cut the same kinds of checks that tax farmers can.
The difficulty Trump encountered in trying to even slightly scale back American military schemes shows just how far Americans are from abandoning the idea that the United States is the indispensable nation entitled to fight wars always and everywhere.
Now that the average American voter is barely paying attention—and that the US is facing an economic crisis and weak recovery—it has become politically expedient to move further toward wrapping up a couple more lost wars.
