New Book by James Petras. THE POLITICS OF EMPIRE: The US, Israel and the Middle East | Axis of Logic Special Report |Axisoflogic.com

Editorial Comment: In today's political media world the public is confronted with a storm of information, disinformation, a myriad of conflicting news and opinions on television, internet and in print. Often this deluge of information is intended to leave the consumer in a state of confusion with the sense that nothing can really be known with certainty or clearly understood. It is essential that we develop our own dynamic worldview against which we can measure everything we read for clear perspectives. We encourage Axis of Logic readers to order and read this informative new book by James Petras on the Politics of Empire for a compelling and clear view of the world based on social justice.

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THE POLITICS OF EMPIRE: The US, Israel and the Middle East and order the book now at CLARITY PRESS

On December 8 2010 The Club of Mexican Journalists awarded James Petras its prestigious International Journalism Prize for Investigation and Analysis of the News within the global context.

"Dr. James Petras is one of the greatest personalities of critical intellect of our time. His numerous books, which have been translated into many languages, and his opinion articles which are invariably defined by their rigor and decisive data, widely documented and placed within their social context, have turned this thinker into one of the most lucid and coherent minds of recent times. Naturally, this has earned Dr. Petras the resentment of those who feel affected by his tireless efforts. Nevertheless, countless readers all over the world seek the words of this thinker to defend themselves from propaganda that intends to make us sympathize with the single-minded thinking of neoliberalism."

SYNOPSIS

This book provides a unique conception of US empire building, linking overseas expansion with:

the growth of a police state and declining living standards;
advanced technologically driven global spying on adversaries and allies with declining economic competitiveness and military defeats;
large scale, long term commitments of economic and military resources to wars in the Middle East to the detriment of major corporate interests, but for the benefit of a pariah state, Israel; and
the power of a foreign state (Israel) over US policy via its domestic pro-Zionist power configuration.

The interplay of these four specific features of US empire building has no past or present precedent among imperial states. Because of Israeli-Zionist influence on US imperial policy, the main targets and objectives of imperial wars are located in the Middle East. The objectives of Israeli and Zionist-influenced US policy in the Middle East is to enhance Israeli regional power and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. The trillion dollar cost of US wars for Israel, however, has alienated the vast majority of US society and driven a wedge between the political elite backing new wars for Israel, and the public prioritizing of domestic economic welfare. This study highlights how the domestic foundations of empire building have deteriorated and forced the imperial presidency to modify its approach, seeking diplomatic negotiations over new military interventions, specifically in the cases of Syria and Iran.

Imperial politics is viewed as a multi-sided power struggle between military and economic elites, Israel and the Zionist power configuration, overseas resistance movements and nationalist regimes, and the US public. The resolution of this power struggle is more than an academic question; it will determine whether the US will become a full blown police state, ruled by the pawns of a racist-colonial state engaged in endless wars or return to its roots as an independent democratic republic “free of foreign entanglements”.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 THE CHANGING CONTOURS OF US IMPERIAL INTERVENTION IN WORLD CONFLICTS

2 THE OBAMA REGIME'S MILITARY METAPHYSICS REJECTS DIPLOMATIC OPPORTUNITIES

3 THE DECLINE OF THE US (AND EVERYONE ELSE…

PART 2 CYBER-IMPERIALISM

4 THE LOGIC BEHIND MASS SPYING:EMPIRE AND CYBER-IMPERIALISM

5 THE DEEPER MEANING OF MASS SPYING IN AMERICA

PART 3 POLICE STATE: DOMESTIC FOUNDATION OF EMPIRE

6 FABRICATING TERROR CONSPIRACIES IN DEFENSE OF THE POLICE STATE

7 THE RISE OF THE POLICE STATE AND THE ABSENCE OF MASS OPPOSITION

8 PRESIDENTIAL RULE BY DECEPTION :THE MASTER CON-MAN

9 THE TWO FACES OF THE POLICE STATE

PART 4 THE POWER OF ISRAEL IN THE UNITED STATES

10 ISRAEL BUYS THE US CONGRESS

11 OBAMA WITH ISRAEL AND AGAINST THE WORLD

12 FIFTEEN MINUTES AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT

13 ISRAEL’S WILLING EXECUTIONERS: AIPAC INVADES WASHINGTON

14 THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN JEWISH CHARITIES

PART 5 IMPERIAL AND ZIONIST WARS AND TERROR IN THE MIDDLE EAST:PALESTINE, IRAN, SYRIA AND YEMEN

15 ISRAELI TERROR: THE “FINAL SOLUTION “TO THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION

16 OBAMA AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: SACRIFICING PALESTINE FOR CAMPAIGN FUNDS

17 ISRAELI BOMBERS :AL QAEDA’S AIR FORCE

18 THE BLOODY ROAD TO DAMASCUS :THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE’S WAR ON A SOVEREIGN STATE

19 SAUDI ARABIA: A RETROGRADE RENTIER DICTATORSHIP AND GLOBAL TERRORISM

20 IRAN-US INTERIM AGREEMENT

21 THE ASSASSINATION OF ANWAR al AWLAKI BY DECREE

PART 6 CONCLUSION

22 OLIGARCHS, DEMAGOGUES AND “MASS REVOLTS”… AGAINST DEMOCRACY

THE AUTHOR

James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. He is the author of 64 books published in 29 languages, and over 560 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, Temps Moderne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely carried on the internet.

His publishers have included Random House, John Wiley, Westview, Routledge, Macmillan, Verso, Zed Books and Pluto Books. He is winner of the Life Time Career Award, Marxist Section, of the American Sociology Association, the Robert Kenny Award for Best Book, 2002, and the Best Dissertation, Western Political Science Association in 1968. Some recent titles include Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century (2001); co-author The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America (2000), Unmasking Globalisation (2001), System in Crisis (2003), co-author Social Movements and State Power (2003), co-author Empire With Imperialism (2005), co-author) Multinationals on Trial (2006). His most recent titles, The Power of Israel in the United States and Rulers and Ruled in the United States (Clarity Press, Inc. 2006), have been acquired for Japanese, German, Italian, Indonesian and Arabic editions.

He has a long history of commitment to social justice, working in particular with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement for 11 years. In 1973- 76 he was a member of the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America. He writes a monthly column for the Mexican newspaper, Le Jornada, and previously, for the Spanish daily, El Mundo. He received his B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Source: Clarity Press

ARTICLES BY JAMES PETRAS ON AXIS OF LOGIC