Finished a book not too long ago called:
After The Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order
The book was written by a French demographer, Emmanuel Todd, in 2003. Todd's specialty lies in using demographic changes to predict changes within countries. Apparently one of his claims to fame was having predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union using birth rates.
In a very clear-headed fashion he points out all of the flaws America has, primarily including its loss of imperial status even when the world had come to believe it was a "hyper power". Pointing out the nature of past empires, Todd shows that America lost the universal appeal critical to the survival of an empire, and its power over its conquered peoples, when it wholeheartedly embraced Israel. Without saying it, he points out the ponerizing effect that that had on America's consciousness. From there America became a sort of pseudo-imperial power.
He goes step by step pointing out that America, far from being a hyperpower, simply became a big bully that is flashing its muscle on the weakest opponents in the playground, using "Limbic Warfare" to its extreme limits. He is tongue in cheek regarding the role of America's ponerogenic networks in the anthrax scare, the cynical use of terrorism to advance geopolitical chaos, and yet he was not afraid, even back in 2003, to point out the lies.
Todd also predicted that Putin would become the big challenger to US power:
Todd points out that the American elite were and are opportunistic and parasitic, and always followed the course of least resistance. Therefore they had no great vision for their "imperial moment" and never really finished Russia off when they had the chance. They had no coherent vision and, being pretty much a bunch of greedy idiots, they were easily led into this present state of extreme chaos via neocons and Israel (though he of course doesn't say this explicitly).
This is certainly a "big picture" book that, while it doesn't say anything completely new, does provide new perspectives, historical, anthropological, and geopolitical, to the decline of the American order, and provides a balanced view of the social problems American society could face in the near future. As the saying goes, it's not the fall that kills ya, it's when ya hit the ground.
After The Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order
The book was written by a French demographer, Emmanuel Todd, in 2003. Todd's specialty lies in using demographic changes to predict changes within countries. Apparently one of his claims to fame was having predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union using birth rates.
In a very clear-headed fashion he points out all of the flaws America has, primarily including its loss of imperial status even when the world had come to believe it was a "hyper power". Pointing out the nature of past empires, Todd shows that America lost the universal appeal critical to the survival of an empire, and its power over its conquered peoples, when it wholeheartedly embraced Israel. Without saying it, he points out the ponerizing effect that that had on America's consciousness. From there America became a sort of pseudo-imperial power.
He goes step by step pointing out that America, far from being a hyperpower, simply became a big bully that is flashing its muscle on the weakest opponents in the playground, using "Limbic Warfare" to its extreme limits. He is tongue in cheek regarding the role of America's ponerogenic networks in the anthrax scare, the cynical use of terrorism to advance geopolitical chaos, and yet he was not afraid, even back in 2003, to point out the lies.
Todd also predicted that Putin would become the big challenger to US power:
page 155 said:
Todd points out that the American elite were and are opportunistic and parasitic, and always followed the course of least resistance. Therefore they had no great vision for their "imperial moment" and never really finished Russia off when they had the chance. They had no coherent vision and, being pretty much a bunch of greedy idiots, they were easily led into this present state of extreme chaos via neocons and Israel (though he of course doesn't say this explicitly).
This is certainly a "big picture" book that, while it doesn't say anything completely new, does provide new perspectives, historical, anthropological, and geopolitical, to the decline of the American order, and provides a balanced view of the social problems American society could face in the near future. As the saying goes, it's not the fall that kills ya, it's when ya hit the ground.
