"The United States rejects the label "empire." Yet it maintains overseas military installations, guarantees the security of allies across multiple continents, polices sea lanes, enforces sanctions with global reach, and repeatedly intervenes in the internal affairs of other states. Whatever term Americans prefer, the practical exercise of power increasingly resembles an imperial system.
The real question is whether it will continue practicing half-empire: exercising power without responsibility, spending lives, money, and credibility for temporary control while refusing to build the order that makes force politically meaningful. Power without responsibility is strategically self-defeating.
This is not an argument that empire is morally pure. It is an argument that incomplete empire is strategically disastrous: it kills people, drains wealth, leaves the United States less feared and less trusted, and then acts surprised when disorder returns more expensive than before…"
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Armand
