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by ianl 5676 days ago
I can't read the comments for this article. It makes my brain hurt. Everything from 9/11 being an inside job to increase the national security net to the concept that the USA exists as a totalitarian empire.
1 comments

I live in China, which I wouldn't even call totalitarian but rather authoritarian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism#Difference_betw...), so I can't find much sympathy for the 'totalitarian' part.

But I think a decent knowledge of history would reveal that the US functions in many ways that are similar to how historical empires functioned.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/US_milita...

I wouldn't go so far as to say that we still have many colonies, but a huge amount of spheres of influence across the planet? Yes.

When we are studied 500 years in the future, I suspect the US' historical role during this past century or so will be likened to the role of Britain at the peak of the British empire.

Agree. Read Paul Kennedy and think of Britain in 1914.