Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project) (Hardcover)

by Chalmers Johnson (Author) "One of the oddest features of political life in the United States in the years since the terrorist attacks is how few people have thought..." (more)
Key Phrases: airplane spotters, space weapons, space assets, United States, World War, Abu Ghraib (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Like ancient Rome, America is saddled with an empire that is fatally undermining its republican government, argues Johnson (The Sorrows of Empire), in this bleak jeremiad. He surveys the trappings of empire: the brutal war of choice in Iraq and other foreign interventions going back decades; the militarization of space; the hundreds of overseas U.S. military bases full of "swaggering soldiers who brawl and sometimes rape." At home, the growth of an "imperial presidency," with the CIA as its "private army," has culminated in the Bush administration's resort to warrantless wiretaps, torture, a "gulag" of secret CIA prisons and an unconstitutional arrogation of "dictatorial" powers, while a corrupt Congress bows like the Roman Senate to Caesar. Retribution looms, the author warns, as the American economy, dependent on a bloated military-industrial complex and foreign borrowing, staggers toward bankruptcy, maybe a military coup. Johnson's is a biting, often effective indictment of some ugly and troubling features of America's foreign policy and domestic politics. But his doom-laden trope of empire ("the capacity for things to get worse is limitless.... the American republic may be coming to its end") seems overstated. With Bush a lame duck, not a Caesar, and his military adventures repudiated by the electorate, the Republic seems more robust than Johnson allows. (Feb.)
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From Booklist
The third book in a series begun with Blowback (2000), which predicted harsh comeuppance for the post-cold war American "global empire," and The Sorrows of Empire (2004), which continued Johnson's thesis with a lambasting of American militarism pre- and post-September 11, this book continues the author's broad condemnation of American foreign policy by warning of imminent constitutional and economic collapse. In a chapter analyzing "comparative imperial pathologies," Johnson reminds readers of Hannah Arendt's point that successful imperialism requires that democratic systems give way to tyranny and asserts that the U.S. must choose between giving up its empire of military bases (as did Britain after World War II) or retaining the bases at the expense of its democracy (as did Rome). Johnson also predicts dire consequences should the U.S. continue to militarize low Earth orbits in pursuit of security. To some extent a timely response to recent arguments in favor of American empire, such as those of Niall Ferguson in Colossus, this account also reiterates Johnson's perennial concerns about overseas military bases, the CIA, and the artifice of a defense-fueled economy. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books; 1st edition (February 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805079114
• ISBN-13: 978-0805079111
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #263,763 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

281 of 301 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Empire or Democracy?, February 14, 2007

By	zen_arcade (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

In the final book of his "Blowback" trilogy, Johnson delivers a set of essays on such varied subjects as the Roman empire, the weaponization of space, the deceptive and un-constitutional nature of defense spending, and, as the subtitle reveals, how topics among these foreshadow the quick death of the American republic.

As a veteran Cold Warrior and self-proclaimed former "spear-carrier for the empire", Johnson is a scholar who understands the unforseen consequences of unbridled militarism (as distinct from legitimate national defense) and his disillusion with the neo-conservative hijacking of America is apparent. Johnson correctly diagnoses this infiltration into the halls of America power by such an extreme, right-wing crowd as a radically important event in US history while also acknowledging that the trend toward imperial values and away from core democratic ones can be traced to the first post-war foreign operations of the CIA, when the United States decided to reform the world to its liking.

Johnson rightfully scorns the CIA and related intelligence agencies as being instruments of imperial influence and contends that such institutions are only designed to give the executive branch a free, invisible hand in foreign meddling and that their secretive nature is by definition starkly opposed to the democratic tradition the country was founded on. He reveals how the worst elements of American society have accelerated their abuse and profiteering through the "imperial presidency" of George W. Bush and his perpetually maintained military posture, his subservient puppet-congress, and his loyal, short-sighted courts. Special focus is given to Bush's crooked team of legal "scholars" (e.g., John Yoo and David Addington) intent on gutting whatever vitality the constitution has left through the PATRIOT act, executive orders, and signing statements decreeing that the law only applies when the Commander-in-Chief feels that it should. (Thus rendering the Geneva and UN conventions on human rights null and void, torture perfectly acceptable, Pinochet-style "disappearances" and abductions permissible, evesdropping on Americans without warrants routine, etc.) Johnson says Americans face a choice: keep our democracy and lose our empire (the British route), or keep our empire at the expense of our democracy (the Roman route).

My only criticism of the volume is the uneven feel of it; some of the chapters seem disconnected and indeed I would label it a book of essays. Many of the topics are interlinked but the only chapter that really ties them all together is the last, very pessimistic one which, incidentally, appeared in a modified and I believe more effective form in the January 2007 issue of Harper's Magazine under the title "A National Intelligence Estimate for the United States". The book is still a worthy addition to the bookshelf of any American concerned about his country and an impressive achievement among many for Johnson.

200 of 222 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Time to Connect the Dots!, February 11, 2007

By	Loyd E. Eskildson "Pragmatist" (Phoenix, AZ.) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Johnson points out that we are the world's greatest producer and exporter of arms on the planet, spend more on our armed forces than all other nations combined - while going deeply into debt to do so, and station over 500,000 troops, spies, contractors, dependents, etc. on more than 737 bases around the world in 130 countries (even this is not a complete count). Further, statistics compiled by the Federation of American Scientists analyzed by Gore Vidal show 201 military operations initiated by the U.S. against others between the end of WWII and 9/11 - none of which are directly resulted in the creation of a democracy.

Many have accused Bush II of violating international treaties - Johnson, however, is the first that I know of to make the point that our Constitution (Article 6) makes all Treaties made under authorization of the U.S. to be the supreme Law of the Land." Thus, much of Bush's international actions are not only objectionable on moral and practical grounds - they are illegal as well.

As for why few of the world's billion+ Muslims like the U.S. - estimates range from 500,000 to 1 million Iraqi children killed as an outgrowth of U.S. sanctions. Johnson also goes on to document U.S. blocking contracts to improve Iraqi water and other utilities just prior to our invasion. Then there are the matters of torture and secret renditions. (How do these acts reduce terrorism?)

The situation in the U.S. has gone downhill as well - Bush II's administration ignoring/violating the Freedom of Information Act, questionable wire-tapping, letter-opening, Internet surveillance, etc.

What is the dollar cost of these misadventures? Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel-prize winner in economics, estimates a total cost to-date of Iraq II alone at about $2 trillion - includes ongoing veterans benefits, equipment repair, etc. Meanwhile, the U.S. is trying to militarize space - further adding to our military expenditures and indebtedness.

Finally, Johnson sees our military costs eventually bankrupting the U.S. (if our escalating trade deficit doesn't first), aka Rome.

Unfortunately, it all makes sense to me.

126 of 141 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important ideals and ideas , February 26, 2007

By	L. F Sherman "dikw" (Wiscasset, ME United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The third in a series that started with "Blowback" is the strongest statement of the lot. The experience, expertise, and brain power demand a careful reading rather than simplistic name calling by those who don't like the conclusions (for them labeling "Liberal" saves bothering to think or develop a logical counter argument). Furthermore, there are numerous Conservatives who would find much of the argument justified.

Every citizen should read the last chapter before investing, making long term plans, or evaluating this `MBA war President'.

Whether one totally `buys into' the argument (well made) that the Republic is about gone because of an irresponsible Congress bypassed by the Military Industrial Complex (a Republican's term you remember) and rotten pervasive dominance of those interests, it should be carefully evaluated not dismissed by name calling as some reviewers have done.

No President as asserted so many excess powers via extreme secrecy, curtailing civil rights, creative legal fatwas, signing statements, making himself "the decider" snubbing Congress. And has any other claimed to talk to God? American arrogance compounded by megalomania - my conclusion not Johnson's.

Johnson is not a Pacifist, but he makes a strong case that realistic American interests could be supported with perhaps 40 bases rather than 740 that pollute relations in countries where they are placed. (His detailed experience with Japan and Okinawa is more than I'd care to know but one example.)

Long ago one President suggested that the US could lead by example or by asserting power and that the later approach would undermine the former as our own Republic and democracy was destroyed.