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| OBAMA'S UNENDING WARS Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State by Jeremy Kuzmarov ISBN: 978-1-949762-00-6 247 pp. / 2019 EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-949763-01-3 |
SYNOPSIS
Many academics consider Obama to have been a
master foreign policy strategist and shrewd practitioner
of the art of realpolitik. This book demonstrates,
however, that Obama in reality helped to institutionalize
a permanent warfare state that resulted in gross
human rights violations and contributed to America’s
strategic decline. His perpetuation of the War on Terror
created more enemies and prompted the United States
to lose influence in the Middle East. His Pivot to Asia
policy intensified prospects for regional war while his
unnecessary and willful military intervention destroyed
Libya and drew the Russians in to protect Bashir al-
Assad who won Syria’s civil war. The Obama
administration’s heavy-handed interference in Ukraine
led to effective Russian counter-moves, promoting a
strategic alliance with China and regional integration
that is moving the world towards multi-polarity.
Obama’s Unending Wars provides the first
comprehensive critical history of the foreign policy of
America’s forty-fourth president - the drone king who
ordered the bombing of seven Muslim countries,
backtracked on a pledge to reduce America’s nuclear
arsenal, and helped fuel a new Cold War with Russia.
Obama during his years in office provided billions of
dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia as it assisted in
the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrators in
Bahrain and invaded Yemen. He sanctioned a coup in
Honduras which plunged that country into chaos,
perpetuated a failed drug war policy and contributed to
the recolonization of Africa.
While any Democratic Party president would have
faced peril in confronting the Pentagon which had
carried out a slow coup d’état over the decades,
Obama was rather, in many ways, the most perfect
spokesman for the military-industrial complex. Who else
but this articulate constitutional law professor could pull
off a pro-war speech after winning the Nobel Peace
Prize while ramping up drone assassinations and
America's network of military bases in Africa and still
retain the support of liberal-progressives?
As many in the time of Trump now glance nostalgically
back to the Obama presidency, this book will help them
to see the continuity -- and continuous failure -- of
American foreign policy irrespective of the party or
figurehead representing it.
Many academics consider Obama to have been a
master foreign policy strategist and shrewd practitioner
of the art of realpolitik. This book demonstrates,
however, that Obama in reality helped to institutionalize
a permanent warfare state that resulted in gross
human rights violations and contributed to America’s
strategic decline. His perpetuation of the War on Terror
created more enemies and prompted the United States
to lose influence in the Middle East. His Pivot to Asia
policy intensified prospects for regional war while his
unnecessary and willful military intervention destroyed
Libya and drew the Russians in to protect Bashir al-
Assad who won Syria’s civil war. The Obama
administration’s heavy-handed interference in Ukraine
led to effective Russian counter-moves, promoting a
strategic alliance with China and regional integration
that is moving the world towards multi-polarity.
Obama’s Unending Wars provides the first
comprehensive critical history of the foreign policy of
America’s forty-fourth president - the drone king who
ordered the bombing of seven Muslim countries,
backtracked on a pledge to reduce America’s nuclear
arsenal, and helped fuel a new Cold War with Russia.
Obama during his years in office provided billions of
dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia as it assisted in
the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrators in
Bahrain and invaded Yemen. He sanctioned a coup in
Honduras which plunged that country into chaos,
perpetuated a failed drug war policy and contributed to
the recolonization of Africa.
While any Democratic Party president would have
faced peril in confronting the Pentagon which had
carried out a slow coup d’état over the decades,
Obama was rather, in many ways, the most perfect
spokesman for the military-industrial complex. Who else
but this articulate constitutional law professor could pull
off a pro-war speech after winning the Nobel Peace
Prize while ramping up drone assassinations and
America's network of military bases in Africa and still
retain the support of liberal-progressives?
As many in the time of Trump now glance nostalgically
back to the Obama presidency, this book will help them
to see the continuity -- and continuous failure -- of
American foreign policy irrespective of the party or
figurehead representing it.
JEREMY KUZMAROV is author of three previous
books on U.S. foreign policy including:The
Russians are Coming, Again: The First Cold War
as Tragedy, the Second as Farce, with John
Marciano (Monthly Review Press, 2018),
Modernizing Repression: Police Training and
Nation Building in the American Century
(University of Massachusetts Press, 2012) and
The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the
Modern War on Drugs (University of
Massachusetts, 2009). He has been a blogger
with the Huffington Post and contributed articles
to The Progressive Magazine, Counterpunch,
Roar Magazine, Z Magazine, the LA Progressive
as well as academic journals and local
newspapers in Oklahoma. He is also a co-author
of essays on Korean, Vietnam, Reagan's Central
American wars and World War I for a peace
history website.
books on U.S. foreign policy including:The
Russians are Coming, Again: The First Cold War
as Tragedy, the Second as Farce, with John
Marciano (Monthly Review Press, 2018),
Modernizing Repression: Police Training and
Nation Building in the American Century
(University of Massachusetts Press, 2012) and
The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the
Modern War on Drugs (University of
Massachusetts, 2009). He has been a blogger
with the Huffington Post and contributed articles
to The Progressive Magazine, Counterpunch,
Roar Magazine, Z Magazine, the LA Progressive
as well as academic journals and local
newspapers in Oklahoma. He is also a co-author
of essays on Korean, Vietnam, Reagan's Central
American wars and World War I for a peace
history website.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Ch. 1: In Woodrow Wilson’s Shadow: Obama and the
Liberal Internationalist Tradition
Ch. 2: Black Skin, White Mask: Barack Obama and
the Recolonization of Africa
Ch. 3: The Liberals Have Their War: The Illegal
Attack on Libya
Ch. 4: Zeus the Avenger: Obama - Drone Warrior
and Assassin
Ch. 5: Obama’s Vietnam: The Surge into Afghanistan
and His War in Iraq
Ch. 6: In Douglas McArthur’s Shadow: Obama’s Pivot
to Asia
Ch. 7: Too Many Lies: Igniting a New Cold War with
Russia
Ch. 8: If Words Only Had Meaning: Obama and the
Betrayal of His Cairo Vision
Chapter 9: Bad Neighbor Policy: Beating Back the
Left in Latin America
Conclusion
Introduction
Ch. 1: In Woodrow Wilson’s Shadow: Obama and the
Liberal Internationalist Tradition
Ch. 2: Black Skin, White Mask: Barack Obama and
the Recolonization of Africa
Ch. 3: The Liberals Have Their War: The Illegal
Attack on Libya
Ch. 4: Zeus the Avenger: Obama - Drone Warrior
and Assassin
Ch. 5: Obama’s Vietnam: The Surge into Afghanistan
and His War in Iraq
Ch. 6: In Douglas McArthur’s Shadow: Obama’s Pivot
to Asia
Ch. 7: Too Many Lies: Igniting a New Cold War with
Russia
Ch. 8: If Words Only Had Meaning: Obama and the
Betrayal of His Cairo Vision
Chapter 9: Bad Neighbor Policy: Beating Back the
Left in Latin America
Conclusion
REVIEWS
“For all those liberals who have romanticized Barack
Obama as an enlightened leader of the people,
Jeremy Kuzmarov busts through such myths with a
well-documented book showing Obama for what he
was and is — the kind face of US imperial aggression.
This is a must-read for anyone believing that simply
getting rid of Trump and returning to “normal” is a way
forward. As Kuzmarov demonstrates, the “normal”
represented by Democratic standard-bearers such as
Barack Obama is no less evil and cruel than the more
in-your-face presidency of Donald Trump.”
—DAN KOVALIK
"Kuzmarov’s impeccable and extensive research
reveals the reality of Barack Obama’s eight
presidential years favoring the economic and military-
warring interests of the rich. Obama, the drone
president, stood for seven aggressive wars, more than
any other US president.
The author peals the imperial white mask off the
black skin in an analogy to Frantz Fanon’s classic
work. Racism, colonization and contemporary neo-
colonialization have distorted the psyches of all colors
of peoples. Obama’s black Kenyan roots allowed him
to do the white man’s bidding throughout Africa, and
many other nations. While George Bush founded the
US African Command (AFRICOM), in 2007, it was
Obama, who set about implementing military (and
economic) domination to 53 African governments.
Speaking to white and black readers sans
condensation, Kuzmarov shows how many white
progressives, who, in their anxiety to reject any racist
appearance, embraced this warmongering president.
Obama also convinced most African-Americans to give
him leeway to do them justice, which he never did."
—RON RIDENOUR,
author of The Russian Peace Threat
“For all those liberals who have romanticized Barack
Obama as an enlightened leader of the people,
Jeremy Kuzmarov busts through such myths with a
well-documented book showing Obama for what he
was and is — the kind face of US imperial aggression.
This is a must-read for anyone believing that simply
getting rid of Trump and returning to “normal” is a way
forward. As Kuzmarov demonstrates, the “normal”
represented by Democratic standard-bearers such as
Barack Obama is no less evil and cruel than the more
in-your-face presidency of Donald Trump.”
—DAN KOVALIK
"Kuzmarov’s impeccable and extensive research
reveals the reality of Barack Obama’s eight
presidential years favoring the economic and military-
warring interests of the rich. Obama, the drone
president, stood for seven aggressive wars, more than
any other US president.
The author peals the imperial white mask off the
black skin in an analogy to Frantz Fanon’s classic
work. Racism, colonization and contemporary neo-
colonialization have distorted the psyches of all colors
of peoples. Obama’s black Kenyan roots allowed him
to do the white man’s bidding throughout Africa, and
many other nations. While George Bush founded the
US African Command (AFRICOM), in 2007, it was
Obama, who set about implementing military (and
economic) domination to 53 African governments.
Speaking to white and black readers sans
condensation, Kuzmarov shows how many white
progressives, who, in their anxiety to reject any racist
appearance, embraced this warmongering president.
Obama also convinced most African-Americans to give
him leeway to do them justice, which he never did."
—RON RIDENOUR,
author of The Russian Peace Threat