The Sorrows of Empire
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2014/09/11/the-sorrows-of-empire/
The American Empire has been called everything from "a colossus with attention deficit disorder" to a "reluctant empire". On the anniversary of 9-11, IDEAS revisits an interview with academic Chalmers Johnson who suggested that failure in Iraq might mark the beginning of the end of the American Empire. Producer Mary O'Connell explores the discussion further with historian Alfred McCoy.
Historian Alfred McCoy has written a dozen books and is one of the editors of
Endless Empire: Spain's Retreat, Europe's Eclipse, America's Decline. The book is a collection of writings from twenty leading historians on four continents who sift through the tea leaves of past empires, looking for emerging patterns that may apply to the decline of the American Empire. These academics are part of a growing group who refer to themselves as "declinists". They warn, "As the American century of global dominion draws to a close, the signs of geopolitical change are gathering like thunderbolts on the horizon."
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Participants in the program:
Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback; The Sorrows of Empire; and Nemesis. He was a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. Chalmers Johnson died in 2010.
Alfred McCoy, historian, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Author of a dozen books, including, Endless Empire; A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror; and Policing America's Empire.
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/ideas_20140911_20297.mp3
I found this quite interesting, maybe you will too. It's a little under an hour.