Originally posted by Lord Lucien
It is. Not in the direct-rule way as Rome or Persia, or in the colonial sense, like Britain or France. But in economic, political, and cultural terms, it has immense control. Not to mention the unprecedented number of global military bases. The U.S. uses hundreds of installations to project it's numerically and technologically superior naval presence--and through that it's air presence. It's more like a thalassocracy, in the spirit of Athens' Delian League.The simple definition of empire is a centralized government using a powerful military to enforce control over disparate cultures and ethnicities. Historically, empires have violently crushed dissent from rebellious subjects and "allies", something the U.S. has NEVER done. Ever. Especially in the modern era.
More or less agreed.
The point he makes in the longer version of this clip was that America is in its early stages of becoming the Empire, though.
Actually Friedman postulates that a necessary condition is for Americans to fully realize that they are in fact that, an empire, and embrace it.
He also says that US is rather clumsy at handling its military force, claiming that many wars could have been avoided had the US took the *Roman* way of sneaky diplomacy and very well calculated political maneuvering. On the other hand, much has changed since the Roman times.