From PUP, the first chapter from Building an American Empire: The Era of Territorial and Political Expansion by Paul Frymer. How the US began its empire: Jackson Lears reviews The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire by Stephen Kinzer. Lindsey A. O’Rourke on how the U.S. tried to change other countries’ governments 72 times during the Cold War. Why did Putin oppose Clinton? Decades of American hypocrisy — when the U.S. intervenes abroad, we say it’s justified; when Russia does the same, we say it isn’t. America commits acts of terrorism — why is that so hard to understand? When America bombs, it’s rational; when other countries do it, we cry terrorism.
The military now runs US foreign policy — and as Trump’s recent turnabout shows, the establishment will brook no dissent from the reigning orthodoxy. Daniel Larison on Trump’s remarkable foreign policy ignorance. Peter Singer on how Trump isn’t putting America first — and that’s a good thing. Rex Tillerson: “America First” means divorcing our policy from our values. Some might argue that U.S. human rights advocacy is simply hypocritical, given the long, checkered history of American foreign policy — Trump isn’t just ignoring human rights abuses, he’s encouraging them.
