Tariq Ali considers how USA power has played out across the world, arguing that although its imperial ambitions have been manifested for centuries, overstretch is beginning to set in.
Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa
The University of Auckland Sir Douglas Robb Lectures 2011 17 March 2011 to 23 March 2011
Empire and its futures. A series of three lectures by Tariq Ali. In a changing world with American military power transcending US economic weaknesses, the amazing rise of China and the continuing occupations in the Arab world and South Asia, what are the likely outcomes? Is it the case, as many argue, that the US empire is now in irretrievable decline? Will China flex its military muscles one day?
London-based and published on every continent, Tariq Ali has been a leading figure of the international left since the 1960s. He is an editor of New Left Review and has written more than 20 books on world history and politics as well as seven novels. Born in Pakistan he attended Oxford University where he became involved in student politics and the movement against the Vietnam war. He is a critic of neoliberal economics and his book The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity was a response to 9/11. His latest book is The Obama Syndrome: War Abroad.
Lecture 2: Monday 21 March US power today: The global hegemon Iraq and Afghanistan, Japan and South Korea are still occupied - in different ways - by the US and its allies but imperial overstretch is beginning to set in. Nonetheless US politico-military hegemony, while weakened, is still in place. The EU, Australia/New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea remain loyal satraps with occasional voicing of discontent. How long can this last?
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