Paul Thomas Richards Resources for Understanding “Blowback” and Other Permanent Damage Caused by Imperialism
This Memorial Day, in addition to Honoring those who have those who have bravely served in our armed forces and fallen or been disabled, let us also Honor all who have so courageously stood for Peace and against corruption, conscription, invasion, occupation, brutality, force, violence, torture, and genocide of Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous species.
And, as Empire and Democracy are, by their very natures, incompatible and mutually exclusive both at home and abroad, let us also pray for the end of the American Empire. For further study of the deleterious effects of Empire, you can’t beat Chalmers Johnson’s classic Empire series, including “The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic;” “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire;” “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic;” and, written just before Chalmers’s death late last year: “Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope.”
For an absolutely stunning, fascinating, and compelling read, check out the compendium of a dozen economic hit men’s and hit women’s stories from Inside the Beast: “A Game As Old As Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption,” edited by Steven Hiatt, with a forward by former economic hit man John Perkins.
Speaking of Perkins, to help you begin understanding this seemingly daunting topic, you can’t beat John’s eminently readable (all three read like butter), nontechnical, and courageous Empire series, including “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man;” “The Secret History of the American Empire – Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth;” and “Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded–and What We Need to Do to Remake Them.”
Although it can be sometimes painful–NOT due to her superb writing, but because her brilliant spot-on analyses of the agonizing death throes of the Corporatocracy and monstrous resultant damage wreaked upon so many innocent people and ecosystems–Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” is a masterpiece that will likely remain a classic for decades.
William Blum’s incredibly comprehensive “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II;”* “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower;” “West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir;” and “Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire” are all invaluable resources.
Blum’s free regular updates, Anti-Empire Reports, are also astounding resources–Well worth checking out! You can subscribe by going to: http://killinghope.org/#essays or by sending an e-mail to “bblum6@aol.com”, with the subject line “add.” For archives of monthly Anti-Empire Reports from 2003 (when William last fully revised “Killing Hope,” first published in 1995) to 2011, go to: http://killinghope.org/#essays.
Dispatches from the Wildlands™ ©2011, Paul Richards
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*1. China – 1945 to 1960s: Was Mao Tse-tung just paranoid?
2. Italy – 1947-1948: Free elections, Hollywood style.
3. Greece – 1947 to early 1950s: From cradle of democracy to client state.
4. The Philippines – 1940s and 1950s: America’s oldest colony.
5. Korea – 1945-1953: Was it all that it appeared to be?
6. Albania – 1949-1953: The proper English spy.
7. Eastern Europe – 1948-1956: Operation Splinter Factor.
8. Germany – 1950s: Everything from juvenile delinquency to terrorism.
9. Iran – 1953: Making it safe for the King of Kings.
10. Guatemala – 1953-1954: While the whole world watched.
11. Costa Rica – Mid-1950s: Trying to topple an ally – Part 1.
12. Syria – 1956-1957: Purchasing a new government.
13. Middle East – 1957-1958: The Eisenhower Doctrine claims another backyard for America.
14. Indonesia – 1957-1958: War and pornography.
15. Western Europe – 1950s and 1960s: Fronts within fronts within fronts.
16. British Guiana – 1953-1964: The CIA’s international labor mafia.
17. Soviet Union – Late 1940s to 1960s: From spy planes to book publishing.
18. Italy – 1950s to 1970s: Supporting the Cardinal’s orphans and techno-fascism.
19. Vietnam – 1950-1973: The Hearts and Minds Circus.
20. Cambodia – 1955-1973: Prince Sihanouk walks the high-wire of neutralism.
21. Laos – 1957-1973: L’Armée Clandestine.
22. Haiti – 1959-1963: The Marines land, again.
23. Guatemala – 1960: One good coup deserves another.
24. France/Algeria – 1960s: L’état, c’est la CIA.
25. Ecuador – 1960-1963: A text book of dirty tricks.
26. The Congo – 1960-1964: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba.
27. Brazil – 1961-1964: Introducing efficient death squads.
28. Peru – 1960-1965: Fort Bragg moves to the jungle.
29. Dominican Republic – 1960-1966: Saving democracy from communism by getting rid of democracy.
30. Cuba – 1959 to 1980s: The unforgivable revolution.
31. Indonesia – 1965: Imprisoning President Sukarno and exterminating 500,000 others. Denied medical care, Sukarno died of kidney failure in 1970. In 1975, military forces directed by President Suharto, Indonesia’s dictator from 1967 until 1998, and funded by the US, invaded and occupied East Timor, killing 200,000.
32. Ghana – 1966: Kwame Nkrumah steps out of line.
33. Uruguay – 1964-1970: Torture — as American as apple pie.
34. Chile – 1964-1973: A hammer and sickle stamped on your child’s forehead.
35. Greece – 1964-1974: “Fuck your Parliament and your Constitution,” said the President of the United States.
36. Bolivia – 1964-1975: Tracking down Che Guevara in the land of coup d’état.
37. Guatemala – 1962 to 1980s: A less publicized “final solution”.
38. Costa Rica – 1970-1971: Trying to topple an ally — Part 2.
39. Iraq – 1972-1975: Covert action should not be confused with missionary work.
40. Australia – 1973-1975: Another free election bites the dust.
41. Angola – 1975 to 1980s: The Great Powers Poker Game.
42. Zaire – 1975-1978: Mobutu and the CIA, a marriage made in heaven.
43. Jamaica – 1976-1980: Kissinger’s ultimatum.
44. Seychelles – 1979-1981: Yet another area of great strategic importance.
45. Grenada – 1979-1984: Lying — one of the few growth industries in Washington D.C.
46. Morocco – 1983: A video nasty.
47. Suriname – 1982-1984: Once again, the Cuban bogeyman.
48. Libya – 1981-1989: Ronald Reagan meets his match.
49. Nicaragua – 1981-1990: Destabilization in slow motion.
50. Panama – 1969-1991: Double-crossing our drug supplier.
51. Bulgaria 1990/Albania 1991: Teaching communists what democracy is all about.
52. Iraq – 1990-1991: Desert holocaust.
53. Afghanistan – 1979-1992: America’s Jihad.
54. El Salvador – 1980-1994: Human rights, Washington D.C. style.
55. Haiti – 1986-1994: Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?
56. The American Empire – 1992 to present.
Notes.
Appendix I: This is How the Money Goes Round.
Appendix II: Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-1945.
Appendix III: U. S. Government Assassination Plots.
Index.
“Killing Hope,” published by Common Courage Press of Monroe, Maine, contains 470 pages, fully indexed. Its ISBN Number is: 1-56751-252-6. Swedish, French, Italian Korean, Arabic, Spanish, and German editions are all also available at: http://killinghope.org/#essays.
