Alfred McCoy, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses his article on the US empire of failed states at TomDispatch; the post-WWII breakup of European empires into 100 new countries, shifting the balance of world power; how empires require cooperative foreign elites to keep the natives under control; the transition from imperial Britain’s dominant naval power to US air supremacy, which requires many more military bases (which are slipping away as the US loses its empire mojo); and how competition from BRICS and the global economy make US client states less dependent on their benefactor.
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