Force Multipliers: The Instrumentalities of Imperialism

Description

In the drive to accumulate ever more global power for the US state and its allies, both political and corporate, the quest for totalization confronts the challenge of "overreach". To operate using smaller efforts to carry larger loads, Us strategists have devised what they call "force multipliers". Force multiplication is about "leverage": using partners and proxies in an expanding network. Forces are conceptualized in multi-dimensional terms. Anything in the world of cultural systems, social relationships, and material production can become force multipliers for imperialism, Chapters in this volume present diverse examples of force multiplication, ranging from Plan Colombia to Bulgarian membership in NATO and the Us-Israeli relationship, from the New Alliance for Food Security to charitable aid and the control of migration, to the management of secrecy. Cover Front Copyright Table of Contents Figures Preface Introduction: FORCE MULTIPLIERS: IMPERIAL INSTRUMENTALISM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE Figure I.1: General Petraeus and His Force Multipliers Figure I.2: The US State Department’s Connected Coca-Cola Capitalists from the Middle East and North Africa Ch. 1: PROTÉGÉ OF AN EMPIRE: INFLUENCE AND EXCHANGE BETWEEN US AND ISRAELI IMPERIALISM Figure 1.1: John Kerry Meets with AIPAC Figure 1.2: A US-Israeli Air Force Figure 1.3: US Patriots in Israel Figure 1.4: US-directed “Interoperability” with Israel Figure 1.5: Defending Israel Figure 1.6: Big Brother Visits His Israeli Protégé Ch. 2: THE NEW ALLIANCE: GAINING GROUND IN AFRICA Figure 2.1: Genealogy of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition Ch. 3: COCAINE BLUES: THE COST OF DEMOCRATIZATION UNDER PLAN COLOMBIA Figure 3.1: Colin Powell Supporting Plan Colombia Ch. 4: BULGARIAN MEMBERSHIP IN NATO AND THE PRICE OF DEMOCRACY Figure 4.1: NATO Training Bulgaria for “Interoperability” Figure 4.2: The US Inspects Bulgaria’s “Modernization” Ch. 5: FORCED MIGRATIONS: AN ECHO OF THE STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE OF THE NEW IMPERIALISM Figure 5.1: A Mobile US Border Figure 5.2: A History of Militarizing the US-Mexican Border, 1916 Figure 5.3: Militarizing the US-Mexican Border, 2015 Figure 5.4: An Imperial Border Figure 5.5: The US Army: Walling Off Mexico Ch. 6: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF VS. HUMANITARIAN BELIEF Ch. 7: ON SECRECY, POWER, AND THE IMPERIAL STATE: PERSPECTIVES FROM WIKILEAKS AND ANTHROPOLOGY Contributors Index