America, Land of Extremes: An Enigmatic Country Elects a New President

Some find America fascinating, others abhor it, but virtually no one feels indifferent about the superpower. For months, the question of who will become the next president has riveted people around the globe. He will inherit responsibility for a country whose global reputation is battered. Full Story »

Posted by Peter Barnett

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Review

James Canning
4.8
by James Canning - Nov. 2, 2008

Superb assessment of the situation at hand in the US. The author sees the "war" on "terror" as reckless, inconsistent and largely unproductive or worse. I think US "think tanks" produce a great deal of rubbish, but the author rates them more highly. The US has a vastly expensive war machine, but a "third-world" infrastructure - - a view perfhaps a bit strong, though the absurd squandering of government revenue on armaments cannot be denied, when tens of millions of Americans lack basic health care.

I think the military-industrial complex poses a great threat to the national security of the US, and to the Republic itself. Most American lack the intellectual and moral rigor to apprehend the essential absurdity of 4% of the world's population spending nearly as much on "defense" as the remaining 96% of the population of the planet. Collective insanity on a truly astonishing scale.

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James's Rating

Overall
4.8

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from 19 answers
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