Chris Hedges | The HORRIFIC State of the American Empire

the american empire is coming to an end the u.s economy is being drained by wars in the middle east and vast military expansion across the globe it is burdened by growing deficits along with the devastating effects of de-industrialization and global trade agreements our democracy has been captured and destroyed by corporations that steadily demand more tax cuts more deregulation and impunity from prosecution for massive acts of financial fraud all the while looting trillions from the us treasury in the form of bailouts the nation has lost the power and respect needed to induce allies in europe latin america asia and africa to do its bidding add to this the mounting destruction caused by climate change and you have a recipe for an emerging dystopia overseeing this descent at the highest levels of the federal and state governments is a motley collection of imbeciles con artists thieves opportunists and war mongering generals and yes i am also speaking about the democratic party the empire will limp along steadily losing influence until the dollar is dropped as the world's reserve currency plunging the united states into a crippling depression and instantly forcing a massive contraction of our military machine short of a sudden and widespread popular revolt which does not seem likely the death spiral appears unstoppable meaning the united states as we know it will no longer exist within a decade or at most two the global vacuum we leave behind will be filled by china already establishing itself as an economic and military juggernaut or perhaps there will be a multi-polar world carved up among russia china india brazil turkey south africa and a few other states or maybe the void will be filled as the historian alfred mccoy writes by a collection of transnational corporations multilateral military forces like nato and an international financial leadership self-selected davos and bilderberg that will forge a supranational nexus to supersede any nation or empire under every measure from financial growth and infrastructure investment to advanced technology including super computers space weaponry and cyber warfare we are being rapidly overtaken by the chinese in april 2015 the us department of agriculture predicted that the american economy would grow by nearly 50 over the next 15 years while china's economy is predicted to triple and come close to surpassing america's by 2030. china became the world's second largest economy in 2010 the same year it became the world's leading manufacturing nation pushing aside a united states that had dominated the world's manufacturing for a century the department of defense issued a sober report at our own peril dod risk assessment in a post primacy world it found that the u.s military and i quote no longer enjoys an unassailable position versus state competitors and it no longer can automatically generate consistent and sustained local military superiority at range mccoy predicts the collapse will come by 2030. empires in decay embrace an almost willful suicide blinded by their hubris and unable to face the reality of their diminishing power they retreat into a fantasy world where hard and unpleasant facts no longer intrude they replace diplomacy multilateralism and politics with unilateral bombastic threats and the blunt instrument of war this collective self-delusion saw the united states make the greatest strategic blunder in its history one that sounded the death knell of the empire the invasion of afghanistan and iraq the architects of the war in the george w bush white house and the array of useful idiots in the press and academia who were cheerleaders for it knew very little about the countries being invaded were stunningly naive about the effects of industrial warfare and were blindsided by the ferocious blowback they stated and probably believed that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction although there was no valid evidence to support this claim they insisted that democracy would be implanted in baghdad and spread across the middle east they assured the public that u.s troops would be greeted by grateful iraqis and afghans as liberators they promised that oil revenues would cover the cost of reconstruction they insisted that bold and quick military strikes shock and awe would restore american hegemony in the region and dominance in the world but it did the opposite as big now brzezinski noted this unilateral war of choice against iraq precipitated a widespread de-legitimation of u.s foreign policy historians of empire call these military fiascos a feature of all late empires micro militarism the athenians engaged in micro-militarism when during the peloponnesian war they invaded sicily suffering the loss of 200 ships and thousands of soldiers and triggering revolts throughout the empire britain did this in 1956 when it attacked egypt in a dispute over the nationalization of the suez canal and then quickly had to withdraw in humiliation empowering a string of arab nationalist leaders such as egypt's gamal abdel nasser and dooming british rule over the nation's few remaining colonies neither of these empires recovered while rising empires are often judicious even rational in their application of armed force for conquest and control of overseas dominions fading empires are inclined to ill-considered displays of power dreaming of bold military master strokes that would somehow recoup lost prestige and power mccoy rights often irrational even from an imperial point of view these micro military operations can yield hemorrhaging expenditures or humiliating defeats that only accelerate the process already underway but empires need more than force to dominate other nations they need a mystique this mystique always a mask for imperial plunder repression and exploitation seduces some native elites who become willing to do the bidding of the imperial power or at least remain passive and it provides a patina of civility even nobility to justify to those at home the costs and blood and money needed to maintain empire the parliamentary system of government that britain replicated in appearance in its colonies and the introduction of british sports such as polo cricket and horse racing along with the elaborately uniformed viceroys and the pageantry of royalty were buttressed by what the colonials said was the invincibility of their navy and their army and england was able to hold this empire together from 1815 to 1914 before being forced into a steady retreat america's high-blown rhetoric about democracy liberty and equality along with basketball baseball and hollywood as well as our own deification of the military entranced and cowed much of the globe in the wake of world war ii behind the scenes of course the cia used its bag of dirty tricks to orchestrate coups fix elections and carry out assassinations black propaganda campaigns bribery blackmail intimidation and of course torture but none of this works anymore the photographs of physical abuse and sexual humiliation imposed on arab prisoners at abu ghraib inflamed the muslim world it fed al qaeda and later isis with recruits the assassination of osama bin laden he was unarmed it's called assassination and a host of other jihadist leaders including the u.s citizen anwar al-awlaki openly mocked the concept of the rule of law the hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of refugees fleeing our debacles in the middle east along with a near constant threat from militarized aerial drones exposed us as state terrorists we have replicated in the middle east the us military's pension for widespread atrocities indiscriminate violence lies and fatal miscalculations that led to our defeat in vietnam the brutality abroad is matched by a growing brutality at home militarized police gunned down mostly unarmed poor people of color and fill a system of penitentiaries and jails that hold a staggering 25 percent of the world's prisoners although americans represent only five percent of the global population many of our cities are in ruins our public transportation is in shambles our educational system is in steep decline and being privatized opioid addiction suicide mass shootings depression and morbid obesity plague a population that has fallen into profound despair the deep disillusionment and anger that led to donald trump's election a reaction to the corporate coup d'etat and the poverty afflicting at least half the country have destroyed the myth of a functioning democracy

Channel: andrewnef

Views: 351,994

Rating: 4.7924461 out of 5

Keywords: chris hedges, empire, american empire, china, war, jimmy dore, history

Id: VXYsGuBdzM4

Length: 12min 22sec (742 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 20 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Cpt_Folktron]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMYjroVIDLA&ab_channel=mediasanctuary

(the entire speech)

[u/suikerbruintje]

2017, not 2021

[u/RadioMelon]

Chris Hedges is a journalist and minister living in the United States. He has made multiple statements on the status of the modern United States, usually with great skepticism and alarm.

(Sorry to be posting this on Casual Friday.)

[u/RadioMelon]

Someone pointed out that this video is actually from 2017, not 2021.

Sorry about that. I don't believe I can alter the title of the thread.

[u/Taqueria_Style]

Wow Debbie Downer huh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inld-zDad0c

[u/leapingliard]

Clear as a bell!

[u/3n7r0py]

All thanks to Christian Conservative Republicans and Evil Greedy Corporations. Helluva Destructive Combo, those two... 🤷‍♂️😔

[u/krink1487]

Interesting