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How the U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.
Metropolitan Books
September 2015
On Sale: August 25, 2015
432 pages ISBN: 1627791698 EAN: 9781627791694 Kindle: B00SENTA92 Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
From Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras, a
far-reaching examination of the perils of American military
bases overseas American military bases encircle
the globe. More than two decades after the end of the Cold
War, the U.S. still stations its troops at nearly a thousand
locations in foreign lands. These bases are usually taken
for granted or overlooked entirely, a little-noticed part of
the Pentagon's vast operations. But in an eye-opening
account, Base Nation shows that the worldwide network
of bases brings with it a panoply of ills--and actually
makes the nation less safe in the long run. As David
Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical
tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United
States. They also undermine American democratic ideals,
pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and
perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in
territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy
the environment, and damage local economies. And their
financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays
the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill
approaches $100 billion per year. For many decades, the
need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of
U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan
coalition has finally started to question this conventional
wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and
ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to
re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation
is an essential contribution to that debate.
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