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Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project) by Chalmers Johnson
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Chalmers Johnson Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2008-01-22 ISBN: 0805087281 Number of pages: 368 Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Book Reviews of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)Book Review: An Honest Look at the Hubris Behind American Imperialism Summary: 5 Stars
Nemesis, in the popular milieu is your enemy, your opponent, your other half - the one who arguably makes you better. This is not the case for Chalmers Johnson. Johnson argues that Nemesis is the Greek goddess "of divine justice and vengeance," a divine being who "punishes human transgression of the natural, right order of things and the arrogance that causes it" (Johnson, Nemesis 1). First conjured up in The Sorrows of Empire, Nemesis is the tie that binds the three books (Blowback in 2000, The Sorrows of Empire in 2004, and this one Nemesis in 2006) which Johnson has often referred to as "The Blowback Trilogy." In keeping with his modus operandi, Johnson, riffs from his previous work's gloomy and dreadful view of post world war CIA/Pentagon policy and inauspicious current historical trajectory. In light of the attack of Sept. 11, 2001, the quandary we find ourselves in Iraq has increasingly dangerous financial implications vis-à-vis the endless war. Johnson sees these developments along with other abuses of power - in and outside of government - not as isolated incidents or as a portmanteau of happenings, but as a self-fulfilling prophecy after decades of American imperialism. Starting with the end of the Second World War, but arguably further back than that - to a time when America began its imperial project in the Philippines and Central as well as South America, the writing was on the wall. Johnson argues that we are not loved in the world because of a sense of hubris that pervades our interaction with and reading of other countries internal affairs. Ozaki was hanged as a traitor for his efforts late in WW II. We, and I am sure Johnson, hope he does not suffer the same fate as Ozaki. However, Johnson argues and we need to heed that "that my country is launched on a dangerous path that it must abandon or else face the consequences" (Johnson, Nemesis 279).
In Nemesis, Johnson posits that US military and resultant economic overextension may result in the nation's demise as a constitutional republic. As mentioned above, Nemesis is the last of the "Blowback Trilogy." More as an extension of The Sorrows of Empire, in Nemesis we begin to see our way of life being eroded an obsessive chase for empire through the auspices of a military industrial complex that drives this thrust for empire. Marked by a sense of hubris, and I might have to argue with Johnson on this one, it seems more akin to Arendt's banality that this military industrial complex has become so dominant and omnipresent that it is almost a shadow government. According to Johnson, history is lucid about choice vis-à-vis empire (Johnson, Nemesis 49, 55, and 57-58).
One the one hand, we can stand by quietly and allow the buildup to continue. On the other hand, we can choose to hold on to our cherished democracy. In the end, we really cannot have it both ways. On the one hand, we can emulate Rome make the wrong selection and relinquish any semblance of democracy. On the other hand, we can go by way of Britain select a more humane approach, learn from history, and keep our democracy. If you read Chalmers Johnson, the time to make that selection is now. One could make a good argument, Johnson does that the institutional momentum will mobilize resources and commitments abroad that ultimately, Johnson argues, "will inevitably undercut our domestic democracy and....produce a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent" (Johnson, Nemesis 278).
A civilization of corruption destroyed the Roman Republic. It is argued that the Roman Republic all but ended in 49 BC when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River starting and eventually winning a civil war that left Caesar eventually Emperor (Johnson, Nemesis 58-59, 69). The crossing of the Rubicon marked the end of the Republic and the rise of Empire. Caesar ruled from 48 to 44 BC until his demise at the Ides of March (Johnson, Nemesis 60). In an examination of the pathologies of empires, Johnson articulates the difference between the choices taken by Rome, Britain, and now America (Johnson, Nemesis 54 - 89).
Johnson concludes Nemesis coming back to the first bookend of this his unintended troika of books. In Blowback he articulated why he thinks we are so hated abroad. According to Johnson, it is nothing short of the actions and reactions to policies and acts that serve to remind the world who the boss is around here (Johnson, Nemesis 278). If you read between the lines, it seems like simple physics - action and reaction. In The Sorrows of Empire printed at a time when the US began its war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq; Johnson articulated the military buildup since the Second World War marked by our bases construction and expansion stamping American hegemony abroad in the interim ensuring more blowback from our covert operations (Johnson, Nemesis 278). In Nemesis, Johnson argues he "tried to present historical, political, economic, and philosophical evidence of where our current behavior is likely to lead" (Johnson, Nemesis 278). Johnson believes our current trajectory will lead to two things: 1.) fiscal insolvency and, 2.) Military or civilian dictatorship (Johnson, Nemesis 278 - 279). The onus is now on us - the people. We can continue by way of imperial Rome - lose our democracy. Or, we can go by way of Britain with some semblance of civility both keeping our democracy at the expense of sacrificing empire. I found this section most intriguing, after all the details of excess are all laid out, Johnson concludes Nemesis citing Japanese scholar Hotsumi Ozaki as an example (Johnson, Nemesis 279). Ozaki, Johnson argues, fully understood that his country's conquest of China would fail. Ozaki understood that conquest would eventually result in blowback in the resolve of Mao's Chinese Communism (Johnson, Nemesis 279). Ozaki, like Johnson, tried warning his government.
Summary of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)A New York Times bestseller, Nemesis is Chalmers Johnson's "fiercest book--and his best" (Andrew J. Bacevich) In his prophetic book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA's clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows of Empire, he explored the ways in which the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have jeopardized our stability. In Nemesis, the bestselling and final volume in what has become known as the Blowback Trilogy, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically. Delving into new areas--from plans to militarize outer space to Constitution-breaking presidential activities at home and the devastating corruption of a toothless Congress--Nemesis offers a striking description of the trap into which the reckless ambitions of America's leaders have taken us. Johnson confronts questions of pressing urgency: What are the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy? What does it mean when a nation's main intelligence organization becomes the president's secret army? Or when the globe's sole "hyperpower" becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all times? Writing "as if the very existence of the nation is at stake" (San Francisco Chronicle), Johnson offers his most "bracing" and "important" (Los Angeles Times) exploration of the crisis facing America.
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