Hegemony or Survival : America's Quest for Full Spectrum Dominance [The American Empire Project ]

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Summary: The politics of American aristocracy.
Review: "Hegemony or Survival" , published by Noam Chomsky in 2003, almost two years after the holocaust of 11/9 , portrays in a very descriptive and detailed manner, the ways and means a very small and privileged political elite in the USA conducts the destinies of the whole world, since the fall of Britain from its imperial heights of world domination after World War I. The likes of George W.Bush and his father, sarcastically named George Bush I and George Bush II by the author, as to denote a political autocracy in the States, are accompanied by Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, just to name a few American presidents of the XX century, all, in the author's radical view, banded together on a common ground of arrogance of and defiance to international established law (World Court, the United Nations, etc..), in order to secure to the United States and the goals established by the elite, the access to the strategic world resources demanded by the American collosus, oil primarily. The recent war in Iraq is in this way analysed as less recent wars in Middle East, Latin America and Africa, all of them occasioned and motivated by the power greed of the American government. It seems that from the radical perspective taken by the author, it makes no difference to world balance whether power is exerted by a Republican or Democrat, all of them adopting a political posture most convenient to American strategic interests. Traditional political allies of the USA like Britain, Israel and Turkey are portrayed on a very debasing light, given the knee-jerk posture they adopt vis-'a-vis the Americans.

Still following the author's view, the only power strong enough to counterpoise the ravages perpetrated in the world by American arrogance, is world public opinion, specially outside the USA, given the exposure of the latter to what Noah Chomsky calls the "manufacturing of consent", attained via rigid media internal control. The book is a sharp rebuke to the posture adopted by sucessive generations of American political leaders, but unfortunately does not address ways or presents realistic proposals to get America and the world out of the mess we are all in, being, in any way, a good reading to anyone interested in the making of of international power politics of the supreme power and world politics of the second half of the XX century. I don't quite agree with the author all the time, but think his is a lucid view on many present issues of earth politics

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Summary: Masterly work by America's foremost dissident
Review: "Hegemony or Survival" by Noam Chomsky is a masterly work by America's foremost dissident. If we are fortunate enough to survive the future that Chomsky depicts, history will no doubt be indebted to the truths that are revealed in this important book.

The U.S. has of course played a major role in the world since the end of WWII. Chomsky shows how U.S. foreign policy and military power has been tied to elite economic interests over this period of time. He argues that deteriorating living conditions for most of the world's people are of little concern to those in power, as evidenced by the long record of U.S. support for numerous brutal dictators who repressed their citizens but protected U.S. business investments.

As technology becomes more lethal, Chomsky believes we are entering a very dangerous era. If and when the poor and excluded masses choose to exact retribution against us, the results could be devastating. The terrorist attacks are but one example of such a "blowback" to U.S. foreign policy. However, Chomsky contends that the risks associated with maintaining stockpiles of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction trumps concerns about the public's safety because these weapons are critical to maintaining U.S. power.

Chomsky's response to the post-9/11 question of "Why do they hate us?" is much more satisfactory than the sound bite offered up by President Bush. The author makes clear that tensions in the Middle East are directly attributable to the U.S.' desire to control the world's oil supply. He suggests that the lifting of sanctions in the 1990s might have strengthened Iraq's democracy and could have led to Saddam's ousting from power, thereby alleviating the need for war. Chomsky is also highly critical of Israel, including its relationship with the U.S. and the Palestinian homeland issue.

Interestingly, Chomsky turns the U.S.' official definition of 'terrorism' around to make the charge that the U.S. routinely engages in terrorism itself (for example, the contra wars in Central America in the 1980s). On the other hand, Chomsky cites sources who testify that the Iraq war has increased Al Qaeda recruitment. But the author believes that terrorism can only be subdued by addressing core social, economic and political inequities in the Middle East and elsewhere.

In the final chapter, Chomsky details how the militarization of space comprises the logical next step on America's path to global dominance, providing the U.S. with first-strike capability against virtually any target in the world. Chomsky is hopeful that the "global justice movements" can be mobilized to prevent this provocation and restore peace and sanity to the world.

I highly recommend this intelligently written and thoroughly researched work to humane people everywhere.

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Summary: One Third Rehash, One Third New Stuff, One Third Vital
Review:

Yes, Chomsky tends to be repetitive and to rehash old stuff, so take away one-star. However, and I say this as the #1 Amazon reviewer of non-fiction about national security, to suggest that Chomsky is ever anything less than four stars is to betray one's ignorance and bias. He adds new material in this book, and perhaps even more importantly, he delivers this book at a time when America is faced with what may well be its sixth most important turning point in history (after independence, the civil war, two world wars, and the cold war). How America behaves in the 2004 election is going to determine whether the Republic deteriorates into a quasi-totalitarian and bunkered society with a lost middle class and a gated elite, or whether we restore the world's faith in American goodness, moral capitalism, and inclusive democracy.

Chomsky brilliantly brings forth a theme first articulated in recent times by Jonathan Schell ("Unconquerable World") by pointing out that the *only* "superpower" capable of containing the neo-conservative, neo-totalitarian, neo-Nazi militarism and unilateralism of the current Bush Administration is "the planet's public."

Chomsky updates his work with both excellent and well-balanced footnotes and an orderly itemization of the arrogance, militarism, contempt for international law, arbitrary aggression, and--Bible thumpers take note--proven track record for supporting dictators, Israeli genocide against Palestinians, and US troop participation in--directly as well as indirectly--what will inevitably be judged by history to be a continuing pattern of war crimes.

Chomsky, past master of the topic of "manufacturing consent" now turns his attention to the manner in which the Bush Administration is attempting to establish "new norms" that, if permitted to stand, will reverse 50 years of human progress in seeking the legitimization of governance, respect for human rights, and collective decision-making and security.

He is especially strong on documenting the manner in which US aid grows in direct relation to the degree to which the recipient country is guilty of genocidal atrocities, with Colombia and Turkey being prime examples. The case can be made, and Chomsky makes it, that the US arms industry, and US policies on the selling and granting of arms world-wide, are in fact a direct US commitment to repression, genocide, and terrorism sponsored by one big state: the US. He is most interesting when he discusses the new US approach to repression, the privatization of actions against the underclasses of the world.

Morality plays big with Chomsky, who brings new ideas in with his discussion of moral asymmetry and the lack of moral integrity in US decision-making. Sadly, the US public is both ignorant and unengaged, and do not realize the crass immorality of all that is being done "in their name."

Chomsky reminds us that George Bush the Second pardoned a known international terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, because of his ties to the extremist Cuban-American community that his brother Jeb Bush is so dependent upon for support.

Over the course of the middle of the book Chomsky addresses the competing models for national development, with Cuba prominent as an alternative model that the US has sought to destroy, as the US worked very hard to destroy Catholic "liberation theology" because of its temerity in believing that the poor should be protected against repressive governments and their American corporate paymasters. Chomsky is correct, I believe, when he states and documents that the US model of capitalism has pathologically high rates of inequality and poverty (even CNN has noticed--as I waited for an airplane in Salt Lake City, a bastion of common sense, the lead story was the collapse of the US middle class).

Chomsky moves from his discussion of exceptions to US capitalism to a discussion of the importance of regional differentiation, and this is of course in direct competition with the US view that the world should be a homogenized generic variation of the US culture, with one big difference: 80% of the benefits for the US, while the rest of the world shares the left-overs.

Chomsky agrees with Dr. Col Max Manwaring and other mainstream strategists (see my review of "The Search for Security" when he identifies the legitimacy of governments, and the sanctity of human and civil rights, as the two litmus tests for determining if balance and fairness exist in a society. By this measure, the US is now failing.

The book begins to conclude with a semantic discussion of terrorism, what is terror, who sponsors terror, and here Chomsky draws on both his linguistic and historical background to make the case that the US is the primary sponsor of terrorism in the world (something both the Indonesian and Malaysian leadership would tend to agree with), and he notes that the US, in a bi-partisan manner among the elite, has consistently been hypocritical about terrorism. Nelson Mandela, and his resistance party, were labeled terrorists by the US for many years.

Are we in a passing nightmare, or the beginning of a renaissance? The jury is still out. I personally believe that John McCain would have been a vastly superior president that this lightweight bully that we have now, with his out-of-control neo-conservatives, none of whom ever served in uniform and some of whom--as with Dick Cheney--were active draft dodgers. However, I also believe that both John McCain, and Dick Gephardt if he were to be elected, are too close to the "business as usual" crowd of beltway politicians capitalized by beltway bandits. In other words, Howard Dean would not have been possible without the excesses of George Bush Junior. God does indeed work in mysterious ways, and I pray that the American public will both read Chomsky, and understand that they represent the only super-power that can restore legitimacy, sanity, comity, and prosperity to the American Republic. Down with the carpetbaggers--El Pueblo Avansa--EPA!.

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Summary: The usual brilliance, the usual dark gaps and repetition
Review: Chomsky, as usual, is brilliant and lays out the facts so that the truth appears obvious: America is a terrorist state, run by terrorists as much as any other rogue government or out-law organization. In fact, its government more resembles the mafia than a government in the genuine service of its people. Chomsky tends to be repetitive, but so what. But sometimes he gets carried away, as in asserting, for example, that the Israel lobby is Christian, not Jewish - which is hardly the whole truth - making this reader, for one, wonder what his underlying motive might be for this obfuscation. The Christian zionists lack the political savvy and strategic thinking of their Jewish counterparts, who run the show. His work in linguistics likewise is brilliant - and not entirely workable. A streak of perversity in the brilliant mix.



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Summary: great book
Review: if everyone read chomsky the world would be a better place.

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Summary: Chomsky does it again!!
Review: It is easy to see why Noam Chomsky is widely heralded as an extremely important intellect on the back of this work, and all that have come before. In this book Chomsky re-emphasises a number of points raised in his Rogue States book, yet each point is approached within the context of the current war on terror and as such retains its relevence.
It is frustrating to see reviews from people who clearly have not read the book and simply want to attack a person they see as being 'anti-american' (a notion tackled in this book) and a self-loathing jew (!?!?!).
All in all this book provides a great insight into the hypocracies and basic lies of the US govt, with the Blair govt. coming in for much deserved criticism. Obviously a blind US patriot will not enjoy this book, but somebody who can entertain the subjects raised with a relatively open mind WILL enjoy this book, as i did.
Some revelations are so striking that they almost made me want to stop reading and alert people of the past and present duplicity of the west, carried out under our noses and with tacit approval. But i carried on reading, and thoroughly enjoyed the read, which i found to be written in a more aprroachable, less academic style than previous works, adding to its general appeal. Read it!!

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Summary: Superb Scholarship, Impeccable Research
Review: Noam Chomsky has done it again. With his latest book, "Hegemony or Survival, America's Quest for Global Dominance," Chomsky presents a thorough, meticulously-researched indictment of prevailing American foreign policy - a policy which, as Chomsky correctly observes, is sure to lead to disaster for not only the United States, but ultimately, the entire world. Chomsky vividly illustrates the great alarm that is now pervasive even among the American foreign policy establishment as it struggles to come to terms with an administration that has so recklessly endangered American national security through its single-minded focus on securing a global "Pax Americana." As far-fetched as these claims may sound to many, Chomsky's documentation is irrefutable, and his research impeccable. Chomsky provides an even-headed critique of our current course through a rational examination of the frightening consequences that are sure to follow.

While his detractors are sure to resort to their usual accusations of virulent, knee-jerk anti-Americanism, asking any of them to substantiate their utterly baseless (and woefully ignorant) allegations through actually refuting the vast amounts of factual evidence Chomsky cites in his endnotes will prove to be nothing more than an exercise in futility - Chomsky's analysis is formidable, and it rests on a remarkable synthesis of practically-undeniable evidence.

I'd recomend this book highly for anyone seeking to put the policies of the second Bush administration into a more fitting historical context. It is only through analyzing our current course in a post-September 11th world through this wider historical context that we find ourselves properly equipped to dissect the mindset of the current administration's foreign policy apparatus and the inevitable implications of its unabashed quest for global domination.

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Summary: Hegemony or Survival
Review: Noam Chomsky's book is an accurate objective analysis and critique of the US's current diplomacy "situation." "Hegemony" puts into context the current dealings of state by presenting the past. There is no better book to explain the US's foreign relations nightmare.

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Summary: Chomsky sheds light on us again
Review: Noam Chomsky's book, Hegemony or Survival, presents an analytical critique of American foreign policy in the post Soviet Union era. Through referencing critical actions taken by the US in recent history, he pursues his theory of what he believes is a direct mission by the US for total and complete global dominance. Chomsky believes that the road in which US foreign policy has been charging down is clearly towards supremacy. This drive avoids yielding to opportunities of peace and threatens the future survival of the US and the world as a whole. Throughout the book, Chomsky continuously rallies around this overshadowing question that is essentially the core of his book. How will the future of America unfold as a result of the short-term actions it is currently seeking out and will total global dominance lead to survival or destruction?
In September of 2002, the Bush administration proposed its declaration on the national security strategy of America. As stated in the US declaration and reiterated by Chomsky in his book, the US intends to dominate the world indefinitely and through force if necessary. The proposal announced by Bush raised concerns throughout the nation and the international community. Mainstream news sources such as the journal of Foreign Affairs had criticized and questioned the true intensions of what the Bush administration set to achieve through such radical goals. This outright declaration of complete dominance is dangerous to the future of the state. As one of Chomsky's many themes in the book, he feels that the style and implications being carried out by the US are extremely dangerous. Such propositions leave America isolated from the rest of the world and hated by virtually everyone. Threatening to destroy any domination that gets in its way, America is not only putting itself at risk, but resonating fear in the international arena.
America's continual pursuit for supremacy, as defined by Chomsky, revolves around one central control and that is militarily. As of now, the US is without a doubt militarily supreme over the rest of the world. Chomsky makes this clear and goes on to discuss how it plans on expanding that supremacy. One of the issues covered is the militarization of space. The key tribulation associated with this idea is the fact that America wants absolute control of space. The US is alone in the world in trying to move to the militarization of space. Those plans threaten survival because of the measures being risked.
Survival is an issue that Chomsky continuously draws back too. Survival in the future as a superpower, survival as a state, survival of the human species; all these predicaments are never a sure thing. Americas drive towards hegemony through Chomsky's theories is to take the world by force and leave no competitors. It is the undoubtedly evident that survival becomes seriously threatened. When reading this book one has to step back and ask themselves, are these claims accurate. Many of Chomsky's theories resonate out the historical events conducted by America in recent year. These events deal with the international relations and financial aid America has supported. The views presented by Chomsky, although accurate, are one sided and leave the reader without any choice but to point blame at the US. In mentioning Iraq, he makes a very convincing argument by questioning why the Regan administration increased aid to Saddam Hussein after learning about the gassing and holocaust of thousands of innocent civilians. Yet his claims towards Nicaragua and Kosovo, just to name a few, seem very far fetched. America did indeed deliver aid to those regions and financial support may have been misused as some point by the aiding states. But was it part of America's larger "agenda". Such claims need to be seriously questioned.
As both the leading superpower in the world today and the most hated state in the international arena, America continues to face many criticisms. Noam Chomsky continues to be at the heart of the criticism America is facing. Although he makes clear and clever arguments questioning foreign policy and overall strategies, the tone of his book leans more towards and a projection of negative sentiment. He sees America as less democratic and more Imperialistic. It is of course the goal of America to stay supremely on top in the international arena, but Chomsky believes the US has gone beyond that. As he understands it, it is not natural law to obtain power and control, but a clear stride towards global supremacy.


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Summary: Bowling Ball Crashes The Right Wing's Pins Of Lie
Review: Noam Chomsky's Hegemony Or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance is truly like a bowling ball crashing dead-centre against the lies and distortions of the right wing. In a customary logical and authoritative manner Chomsky poses a simple and elegant question. Namely, why does America's internal and foreign policies amount to nothing more or less than direct or tacit support for criminal acts of violence against itself and others? He elaborates on the theme - citing examples - by pondering the consequences and amplifying the inevitable invitation for a reaction.
In this context, the book's pages flip briskly through America's criminal actions from the turn of the last century to World War II to the modern invasion of a defenseless Iraq and compare and contrast these with standards American sets for its adversaries. Page after page, Chomsky elucidates a regrettable litany of demonstrations of American injustice and terrorism past and present as the products of American policy. The comeuppance, predictably, is nothing short of horrific and the responsibility of a compliant and uncritical US press corps aligned with arrogant policy bureaucrats engaged in a docile frightening of the ignorant masses. As the serial of lies and fabrications are sold to the deluded public an emboldened and self-righteous American terrorist state pushes the envelope in its global hegemony and goal of imposing American domination.
In a chapter called Imperial Grand Strategy Chomsky demonstrates how America has positioned itself as the illegitimate heir to British imperialist regime and also demonstrates how many a quotation from Bush II are almost verbatim the words of the maligned Stalin. Then again, the standards America sets for others are never quite good enough (or relevant for that matter) for itself.
If that is not enough to scare the average comfy American hiding behind a shot gun imbibing something from Orange Julius then maybe the many quotations and illogical rants and tirades by clearly psychopathic American officials over the years should. Either way, the rational observer will discern the contents as the disclosure of the true nature of the weapons of mass content and the outing of the manifestations of the plot to rule the world in the name of the few and the privileged.