The American empire project

The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene militarily against "failed states" around the globe. Chomsky turns the tables, charging the United States with being a "failed state," and therefore a danger to its own people and the world. "Failed states," Chomsky writes, are those "that do not protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction, that regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and that suffer from a 'democratic deficit, ' having democratic forms but with limited substance." Exploring recent U.S. foreign and domestic policies, Chomsky assesses Washington's escalation of nuclear risks; the dangerous consequences of the occupation of Iraq; and Americas's self-exemption from international law. He also examines an American electoral system that frustrates genuine political alternatives, thus impeding any meaningful democracy.--From publisher description

In this all-new collection of conversations, Noam Chomsky explores immediate and urgent international concerns including Iran's challenge to the United States, the deterioration of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise of China, and the growing power of the left in Latin America, as well as the Democratic victory in the US midterm elections and its ramifications for the future. As always, Chomsky presents his own ideas vividly and accessibly, with uncompromising principles and valuable insights.These interviews will inspire a new generation of readers, as well as long-term Chomsky fans eager for his latest thinking on the many crises the world now confronts.

Explores the growing danger of nuclear conflict since the end of the Cold War, citing issues such as the invasion of Iraq, nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, and the rise of terrorism

In wide-ranging interviews with David Barsamian, his longtime interlocutor, Noam Chomsky asks us to consider a world imperiled by climate change and the growing potential for nuclear war. These twelve interviews, conducted from 2013 to 2016, examine the latest developments around the globe: the devastation of Syria, the reach of state surveillance, growing anger over economic inequality, the place of religion in American political culture, and the bitterly contested 2016 U.S. presidential election. In accompanying personal reflections on his Philadelphia childhood and his eighty-seventh birthday, Chomsky also describes his own intellectual journey.

"This completely revised edition includes new information on the US invasion of Panama, US interventions in Cuba, Guatemala, and Chile, Plan Colombia and the War on Drugs, the Obama administration’s involvement in the 2009 coup in Honduras, and the current crisis at the US-Mexico border, caused by decades of misguided Washington policies. Most provocatively, Grandin argues that the origins of many of the current threats to American democracy—disinformation, permanent surveillance, political extremism and out-of-control militarism—were foreshadowed in the United States’ Central American policy."--Back cover.