The U.S. Empire

By LAURENCE M. VANCE

There is a New Empire in Town, and its global presence is increasing every day.

In history, the Kingdom of Alexander the Great reached all the way to the borders of India. The Roman Empire controlled the Celtic regions of Northern Europe and all of the Hellenized states that bordered the Mediterranean. The Mongol Empire which was the largest contiguous empire in history, stretched from Southeast Asia to Europe. The Byzantine Empire spanned the years 395 to 1453. In the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf in the East to Hungary in the Northeast, and from Egypt in the South to the Caucasus in the North. At the height of its dominion, the British Empire included almost a quarter of the world’s population.

Nothing however, compares to the U.S. global empire. What makes US hegemony unique is that it consists, not the control over great the land masses or population centers, but of global presence unlike that of any other empire in history.

The extent of US global empire is almost incalculable. The latest "Base Structure Report" of the US Department of Defense states that the Department’s physical assets consists of "more than 600,000 individual buildings all over the world, at more than 6,000 locations, on more than 30,000 acres of land."

Although large amount of locations are in the continental USA, 96 of them are in US territory and 702 of them are in foreign countries. But as Chalmers Johnson has estimated, the figure of 702 bases in foreign countries is too low, for it does not include installations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrghystan, Qatar and Uzbekistan. Johnston estimates that an honest estimation would see the count of over 1,000 bases.

Afghanistan – Albania – Algeria – Antigua – Argentina – Azerbaijan – Australia – Algeria – Antigua – Austria – Bahamas – Bahrain – Bangladesh – Barbados – Belgium – Belize – Bolivia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Botswana – Brazil – Bulgaria – Burma – Burundi – Cambodia – Cameroon –Canada – Chad – Chile – China – Columbia –Congo – Costa Rica – Cuba – Cyprus – Czech Republic – Denmark – Djibouti – Dominican Republic – East Timor –Ecuador – Egypt – El Salvador – Eritrea – Estonia – Ethiopia – Fiji – Finland – France – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Greece – Guatemala – Guinea – Haiti – Honduras – Hungary – Iceland – India – Indonesia – Iraq – Israel – Italy – Ivory Coast – Jamaica – Jordan – Kazakhstan – Kenya – Kuwait – Kyrghystan – Japan – Laos – Latvia – Lebanon – Liberia – Lithuania – Luxemburg – Macedonia – Madagascar – Malawi – Mali – Malaysia – Malta – Mexico – Mongolia – Morocco – Mozambique – Nepal – Netherlands – New Zealand – Nicaragua – Niger – Nigeria – South Korea – Norway – Oman – Pakistan – Paraguay – Peru – Philippines – Poland – Portugal – Qatar – Romania – Russia – Saudi Arabia – Senegal – Serbia and Montenegro –Singapore – Sierra Leone – Slovenia – Spain – South Africa – Sri Lanka – Suriname –Syria – Sweden – Switzerland – Tanzania –Thailand – Togo – Trinidad and Tobago – Tunisia – Turkey – Turkmenistan – Uganda – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – Venezuela – Vietnam – Yemen – Zambia – Zimbabwe

This means that the United States has troops and bases in 70 percent of the world’s countries. The average American probably could not locate half of these 135 countries on the map.

Besides all of the above, let us not forget that the US Navy is in the Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia, Gibraltar, the Atlantic Ocean island of St. Helena. Greenland is also home to US troops. US troops are in Kosovo and Hong Kong. Then there are US possessions like Guam, Johnston Atoll, Puerto Rico, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the Virgin Islands.

The American Empire – an Empire that Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, Genghis Khan, Suleim the Magnificent, Justinian and King George V would be proud of.