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Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project) | 
 enlarge | Author: Chalmers Johnson
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 6946
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0805087281
Dewey Decimal Number: 327
EAN: 9780805087284
ASIN: 0805087281
Publication Date: January 22, 2008
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Product Description
A New York Times bestseller, Nemesis is Chalmers Johnson’s “fiercest book—and his best” (Andrew J. Bacevich) In his prophetic book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA’s clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows of Empire, he explored the ways in which the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have jeopardized our stability. In Nemesis, the bestselling and final volume in what has become known as the Blowback Trilogy, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically.
Delving into new areas—from plans to militarize outer space to Constitution-breaking presidential activities at home and the devastating corruption of a toothless Congress—Nemesis offers a striking description of the trap into which the reckless ambitions of America’s leaders have taken us. Johnson confronts questions of pressing urgency: What are the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy? What does it mean when a nation’s main intelligence organization becomes the president’s secret army? Or when the globe’s sole “hyperpower” becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all times?
Writing “as if the very existence of the nation is at stake” (San Francisco Chronicle), Johnson offers his most “bracing” and “important” (Los Angeles Times) exploration of the crisis facing America.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 "Let our object be...nothing but our country" June 23, 2008
Nemesis (2006) is the final book in Johnson's trilogy, following Blowback in 2000, and The Sorrows of Empire in 2004. It is a warning call to Americans in our interdependent world that our foreign policy actions have consequences, and that we cannot continue to guide our destiny through aggressive use of military power. Nemesis is well researched with scores of citations. It poses alarming questions, such as: 1) is our political system capable of saving the US in the face of the DOD and unaccountable government spending? and 2) What are the effects of having the US maintain so many bases in foreign lands? and 3) Is "military Keynesianism" a sustainable policy?
Johnson draws some historical lessons from the empires of Rome, which tried to maintain a far flung empire but eventually lost its government, and Britain, which gave up its distributed empire for the benefit of more robustly sustaining England. He devotes a chapter examining the CIA as an agency of foreign policy and the effects of US military bases in foreign countries. He has many surprising facts, such as there are more people of Lebanese descent in Brazil than in Lebanon, and that post WWII Japanese pacifism is a fiction.
Johnson considers space the next battleground and describes the currently deployed ground-based missile defense as a `dual use' system with the potential offensive purpose of shooting down satellites. Johnson's description of the future battleground of space is quite thought provoking and alarming, whatever your attitudes about the efficacy of military preparedness and the use of force. He points out the collateral damage likely during earth orbit warfare will have detrimental consequences for everyone, as the debris clouds will affect all communication satellites. Johnson states that our government operating in shadows of secrecy is not what the Constitutional framers intended, and the public should have access to information about the activities of our government.
This book is depressing in its hard-edged assessments of the future of the US, and is a signal alarm to that it may already be too late influence a more secure and sustainable nation for successive generations.
A Great American Patriot June 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Chalmers Johnson is one of America's greatest heroes for writing INFORMATIVE books that display his critical thinking. We must know what is going on with our American country and we must understand that the mainstream media is part of the empire umbrella. (For example, if you saw the movie, Charlie Wilson's War, you'll be intrigued to learn of the REAL Charlie Wilson in Chalmers' book). What struck me first and foremost as I was reading this book is the insight and intelligence Chalmers has about his subject. He informs us of some incredible facts, such as: The U S spends more on its armed forces than all other nations on earth combined, and that the U S has military bases in more than 130 countries! A critical thinker must ask him/herself why this is so. These are very important facts when reading political books about our United States of America because they help us to understand what is really going on, as explained in the book, Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept) Chalmers explains the relationship between big American corporations, such as ITT and the U S Government, and how the President's private army the CIA factors in. Chalmers discusses the 9/11 Commission and says, "...the fix was in..." And then in gutsy investigative detail, he says, "The Senate Intelligence Committee, the 9/11 Commission, and the CIA's Iraq Survey Group, under Charles Duelfer, all reported that the CIA's intelligence on Iraqi WMD was largely fictitious. Even more dangerous for the White House, these reports suggested that much of this intelligence had been manufactured by neoconservative officials in the Pentagon long eager to invade Iraq." But Chalmers doesn't stop there. He gives a very brief historical context for such governmental subversion by writing, "at the apex of those who profited from British-style "free trade" at the end of the nineteenth century was the Rothschild Bank, then by far the world's largest financial institution with total assets of around forty-one million pounds sterling. It profited enormously from the wars-some seventy-two of them-during Queen Vicotria's reign and financied such exploiters of Africa as Cecil Rhodes"-see my review: Rhodes: Race for Africa. It can't be easy to inform the American public of such an evil government without crossing the line of "unacceptability". Chalmers Johnson is brilliant in his scope and his scholarship. Read him and you'll understand why Tocqueville wrote in his "Democracy in America" in 1835 that civilization has perfected despotism. And then you'll understand Chalmers subtitle: "The Last Days of the American Republic".
The Imperial Presidency. May 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Nemesis" is the last book in Chalmers Johnson's inadvertent trilogy.
It is a critical examination of U.S. foreign policy and particularly the G.W. Bush mistakes. Mr. Johnson exposes the starkly unsuccessful record of our interventionist forays into foreign countries. The result is usually not a democracy, but a dictatorship.
The concept of Command Responsibility-the doctrine that a military commander is legally liable for all abuses and atrocities by his troops whether he knows about them or not is interesting considering recent U.S. history. The author provides a history of the application of the concept and how far up the chain of command that it can go.
There is a lesson on the Roman Empire and it's transformation over time form a democracy to a military dictatorship contrasted with the British Empire and how their democracy survived because of decreasing their military size and reach.
The costly, clandestine, illegal ventures of Charlie Wilson are used as an example of "off the books" CIA activities. The author describes some of Clinton's experiences with the CIA and his mistrust of their intelligence information.
The Council of Europe's report on illegal CIA "renditions" as an international violation of human rights was sobering. How many citizens are aware of these operations?
Another subject that was enlightening is the critical view of Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) from the host country's vantage point. The alarming rate of increase in the 90's of these agreements further validates the author's point of American imperialism/empire building.
Chalmers Johnson detailed the military-industrial complex's profit at taxpayers' expense on SDI(Star Wars space defense shield) and how it all too predictably evolved into an equally wasteful space weapons plan. The ridiculous idea that the United States "is an attractive candidate for a 'space Pearl Harbor'" is further evidence of the use of the fear-mongering
to precipitate funding for another absurd weapons program.
"Nemesis" spotlights the battle for secrecy that is all too obvious with Bush II. The actions regarding the FOIA by Cheney and Rumsfeld in the Ford Admninistration are not surprising.
"In theory, given our Constitution, we should not need a Freedom of Information Action."-page 245.
The Bush "signing statements" are aptly described as illegal line-item vetoes.
"Nemesis" drives home the point that all empires eventually over-extend themselves and face a harsh choice for survival. Remain a military dictatorship like Rome and pass from the world scene or sacrifice military global dominance for survival as a democracy. Right now U.S. foreign policy emphasizes global dominance rather than national defense.
Chalmers Johnson is the best author on foreign policy I have read to date. I highly recommend his books.
Fantastic Explanation of America's Empire May 27, 2008
According to Chalmers Johnson a country can have constitutional government or an empire, but not both. Using England post WWII giving up her empire, and Rome giving way to rule by Caesar. Johnson makes a strong case for why America has now reached the tipping point between the two.
An Exacting Conscience May 9, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you are not familiar with Chalmers Johnson, maybe it is time you were. He has been a sharp critic and scholar of United States politics and history for most of his life and he takes the bush administration to task over their many errors and misjudgments over the past seven years. He is specific, exacting, and does not miss a beat.
In "Nemesis" Johnson takes on U.S. hegemony and its modern imperialistic manifestations. He chillingly compares the United States to those last "glory days" of Rome, and he also examines British imperialism, all of this helping to put modern U.S. imperialism in persepctive.
And perspective is powerful in this regard. For example, while the U.S. now has hundreds of military bases on this planet, Rome and the British had like only 49 or 50 or so at their peak. Needless to say, Johnson talks about the horrendous costs of this imperialism. We have borrowed into our great grandchildren's future just to pretend to pay for this extravagant hegemony.
After September 11th, 2001, I purchased Johnson's book "Blowback" which came out before the WTC towers were hit. Like many researchers on this controversial topic, I grabbed that book thinking I would find the golden link between how we perceive ourselves as a powerful and righteous nation ("American exceptionalism"), and how we are actually viewed by the rest of the world.
The concept of blowback has many hidden aspects to it, however, and it is never really that simple, says Johnson. All the same, I smelled, tasted and sensed a connection between this concept "blowback" and how the third world in particular now views the U.S.
"Nemesis" details the unraveling of Empire (U.S.) from beginning to end, using the history of past events which can be woven into and connected to today's globally critical challenges.
Short Story with Chalmers: He gives real examples and details them out, showing connections between everything he touches. He is easy to read, and I cannot emphasize enough how exacting and conscientious he is.
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