The Ironies of Conquest: Michael Schwartz on efforts by Russia and China to block US hegemonic ambition. More and more commentators are prepared to declare the US has basically lost the war in Iraq; if so, this defeat represents a significant strategic setback, indeed an historic turning point. The neocons' dream of 'global domination' is over virtually as soon as it was announced.

"At the June 2005 meeting of the SCO [Russia, China and allies], after guest Iran was invited into full membership, the group called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from member states, and particularly from the large base in Uzbekistan that was a key staging area for American troops in the Afghanistan War. The SCO thus became the first international body of any sort to call for a rollback of U.S. bases anywhere in the world."

As Chalmers Johnson has pointed out, the US empire is an empire of bases. Shutting the bases means shutting down the empire.

The Ironies of Conquest: Michael Schwartz on efforts by Russia and China to block US hegemonic ambition. More and more commentators are prepared to declare the US has basically lost the war in Iraq; if so, this defeat represents a significant strategic setback, indeed an historic turning point. The neocons' dream of 'global domination' is over virtually as soon as it was announced.

"At the June 2005 meeting of the SCO [Russia, China and allies], after guest Iran was invited into full membership, the group called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from member states, and particularly from the large base in Uzbekistan that was a key staging area for American troops in the Afghanistan War. The SCO thus became the first international body of any sort to call for a rollback of U.S. bases anywhere in the world."

As Chalmers Johnson has pointed out, the US empire is an empire of bases. Shutting the bases means shutting down the empire.