Review (PDF) Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America And The World (American Empire Project)
From Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras, a far-reaching examination of the perils of American military bases overseasAmerican military bases encircle the globe. More than two decades after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. still stations its troops at nearly a thousand locations in foreign lands. These bases are usually taken for granted or overlooked entirely, a little-noticed part of the Pentagon's vast operations. But in an eye-opening account, "Base Nation" shows that the worldwide network of bases brings with it a panoply of ills and actually makes the nation less safe in the long run.As David Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United States. They also undermine American democratic ideals, pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy the environment, and damage local economies. And their financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill approaches $100 billion per year.For many decades, the need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan coalition has finally started to question this conventional wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation is an essential contribution to that debate."
Series: American Empire Project
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Books; First Edition edition (August 25, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627791698
ISBN-13: 978-1627791694
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.4 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #156,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #46 in Books > History > Military > Korean War #262 in Books > History > Military > Strategy #271 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Security
This is a five-star academic work, a superb up-to-date compilation of what can be known legally and ethically about US military bases in all forms from the formal to the undeclared and covert, around the world. It's inclusion in the American Empire Project puts the author in the company of such great scholars and iconoclastic observers as Andrew Bacevich, Noam Chomsky, Robert Dreyfuss, Chalmers Johnson, and Howard Zinn.The author provides a compelling combination of history, anthropological-sociological narrative, and political-economic calculation as to the cost of what some estimate to be as many at 1,000 bases around the world.The references are a fine mix of books, articles, online sources, and as a good a range of Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congressional Research Service (CRS), and other limited edition publications including PhD theses.I find multiple bottom lines in this book that could but does not go far enough, but is certainly an excellent starting point for getting to a total true cost that I believe is at least five times the author's calculation of $170 billion a year and that is only in relation to total cost in dollars -- if the cost of environmental pollution, geoengineering, false flag terrorism, and everything else is added up, the overseas bases that enable our "secret teams" and our not so secret occupying forces are the base of a multi-trillion dollar criminal industry that leaves no country untouched.
Because of government and military/industrial secrecy, it is not common knowledge that the American military maintains more than 800 bases outside the USA. Considering there are only 200 or so countries in the world, and a good number of them are enemies of the USA, that is a frightening number. It gets more frightening as David Vine describes them, their effect on the locals, their draining of vast pools of tax dollars, and their often irrational rationale for existing. Basically, the military wants to grab as much territory as it can, and once it has a foothold, it is loath to give anything back, even if it is of no military use.The main tool it uses seems to be scope creep. The military will tell Congress it only wants a small installation, very inexpensive, with few personnel. But once built, it expands and gets added to ad infinitum. Vine says construction spending is out of control. The military maintains 170 golf courses, and offers all kinds of admittedly socialistic benefits that soldiers and their families dote on. This includes pay premiums, housing, healthcare, and shipping personal vehicles around the world free, along with all their belongings,It also maintains dictators and criminals. By placing bases in their countries, they imply a level of stability and longevity the locals might not appreciate, what Vine calls “a pattern of U.S. support for violence and repression.” The same people we say we don’t like are compromising our military with these deals. US bases actually make the world more dangerous, Vine says. One of the more offensive situations is in Honduras, where the massive Satos-Cano Airbase does not officially exist. The Honduran constitution forbids foreign troops.
Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (American Empire Project) The Military Advantage, 2016 Edition: The Military.com Guide to Military and Veterans Benefits (Military Advantage: The Military.com Guide to Military and Veteran Benefits) Bases teoricas y fundamentos de la fisioterapia / Theoretical Bases and Fundamentals of Physiotherapy (Spanish Edition) Lactancia humana / Human lactation: Bases para lograr su exito / Bases for Their Success (Spanish Edition) A Comprehensive Guide to Project Management Schedule and Cost Control: Methods and Models for Managing the Project Lifecycle (FT Press Project Management) Walt Disney World For Military Families: Expert Advice By Military - For Military The Common Law Abroad: Constitutional and Legal Legacy of the British Empire UNDERGROUND BASES: Subterranean Military Facilities and the Cities Beneath Our Feet (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 7) Storming the City: U.S. Military Performance in Urban Warfare from World War II to Vietnam (American Military Studies) How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America Python: Learn Python in One Day and Learn It Well. Python for Beginners with Hands-on Project. (Learn Coding Fast with Hands-On Project Book 1) CSS (with HTML5): Learn CSS in One Day and Learn It Well. CSS for Beginners with Hands-on Project. Includes HTML5. (Learn Coding Fast with Hands-On Project Book 2) C#: Learn C# in One Day and Learn It Well. C# for Beginners with Hands-on Project. (Learn Coding Fast with Hands-On Project Book 3) Revised An Introduction to Project Management, Fourth Edition : With Brief Guides to Microsoft Project 2013 and AtTask Bundle: New Perspectives on Microsoft Project 2010: Introductory + Microsoft Project 2010 60 Day Trial CD-ROM for Shelly/Rosenblatt's Systems Analysis and Design The Wiley Project Engineer's Desk Reference: Project Engineering, Operations, and Management The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later Successful Project Management (with Microsoft Project CD-ROM) Project Management for Mining: Handbook for Delivering Project Success Trivia: The Rosie Project: A Novel By Graeme Simsion (Trivia-On-Books) (The Rosie Project & The Rosie Effect Bundle Book 1)
