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Washington Bullets
Washington Bullets is written in the best traditions of Marxist journalism and history-writing. It is a book of fluent and readable stories, full of detail about US imperialism, but never letting the minutiae obscure the larger political point. It is a book that could easily have been a song of despair – a lament of lost causes; it is, after all, a roll call of butchers and assassins; of plots against people’s movements and governments; of the assassinations of socialists, Marxists, communists all over the Third World by the country where liberty is a statue.
Despite all this, Washington Bullets is a book about possibilities, about hope, about genuine heroes. One such is Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso – also assassinated – who said: ‘You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.’
Washington Bullets is a book infused with this madness, the madness that dares to invent the future.
Despite all this, Washington Bullets is a book about possibilities, about hope, about genuine heroes. One such is Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso – also assassinated – who said: ‘You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.’
Washington Bullets is a book infused with this madness, the madness that dares to invent the future.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2020
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11343 people want to read
About the author
Vijay Prashad
82 books824 followersVijay Prashad is the executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Darker Nations: A Biography of the Short-Lived Third World and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. His most recent book is Red Star Over the Third World. He writes regularly for Frontline, The Hindu, Alternet and BirGun.
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June 3, 2023
“the process of liberation is irresistible and irreversible”
-Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples
(adopted by the UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), 14 December 1960)
Preamble
--I’ve listened to enough hours of Vijay’s lectures to fill several books… such a vibrant story-teller of critical global history, especially when he goes off-script: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS...
--The lens used is crucial, since the “history” and “geopolitics” we receive in English are usually built on layers and layers of imperialist biases; it takes a lifetime of reading diverse sources to uproot, and Vijay gifts us his synthesis. On “ideological censorship”: https://youtu.be/6jKcsHv3c74
…Vijay quips how “globalization” is predominantly one-way, where Western theory is globalized while Eastern/Global South theory remains localized (i.e. theory comes from the West, whereas the South is only used for guerilla manuals).
--Despite this, I’ve only read Vijay’s 2 lengthiest works: The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World and its sequel The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. Recently, Vijay and his publishing house LeftWord Books (https://mayday.leftword.com/) have made an effort to offer shorter, more accessible introductions.
Highlights
--In this accessible overview of US imperialism, Vijay is inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s ability to bring to life human resiliency in the worst of conditions. This overview captures the peaks, valleys and flows, instead of getting lost in a two-dimensional forest of names and dates (we are all too familiar with history textbooks); we can sift through the sand of details elsewhere.
--An outline:
1) Colonial “trusteeship” and “civilizing mission” into the 20th century: colonialism’s continuation, where liberation finally came from (often armed) struggles instead of Enlightenment liberalism.
2) Liberalism and Fascism:
--Liberalism’s failures become most noticeable here. Cesaire’s Discourse on Colonialism highlights that Fascism’s techniques were developed in Liberalism’s backyard colonies, and brought back to Europe during Liberalism’s capitalist crisis (leading to WWII when Fascism got off its leash).
…The liberal so-called democracy victors of WWII quickly revived fascists in order to repress participatory democracy (communists/radicals/anti-colonialists) who were on the front-lines in antifascist struggles.
-Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
-The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
-Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II
3) Not Cold War (East-West), but Anti-colonialism (North-South):
--Western narratives of the 20th century center around liberal so-called democracy’s struggles against Fascism (WWII) and then Communism (Cold War); we have already identified Liberalism’s uses of Fascism (see the end for Liberalism's capitalist crises).
...Vijay challenges this 20th century depiction by centering anti-colonialism as the key struggle, which includes re-framing the 1917 Russian Revolution and its aftermath (Red Star Over the Third World).
--After WWII, the colonial struggle resumed in full force with US seeking “preponderant power” with endless coups on one side vs. anti-colonial struggles for multi-polarity on the other. For more on “exceptionalism”: American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News―From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror
...One such struggle was the Third World project highlighted by the 1955 Bandung Conference, the New International Economic Order (NIEO), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), UNCTAD, G77, etc. I've summarized this, the various conflicting class dimensions, and how these were often coopted by liberalism, in reviewing The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
...Arab Nationalism was another related struggle. Post-WWII US empire was predicated on securing Gulf oil, which meant protecting the puppet despot monarchs against an array of challenges; this includes weaponizing religion (Saudi's World Muslim League, mujahideen, etc.). Vijay goes more into this here: https://youtu.be/LVzso1Tydoc
…also useful: The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump
4) Reaction to anti-colonialism: the “Manual for Regime Change”:
i) Lobby public opinion (i.e. domestic US, world): the evolution beyond conventional warfare into “hybrid warfare” revolves around public relation and propaganda. A striking example is given of propaganda father Edward Bernays hired to sell United Fruit Company’s Guatemala coup.
-Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies
-Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
ii) Appoint the right man on the ground (esp. ambassador): as the joke goes: “Why can there not be a coup in the US? Because there is no US embassy in the US.” ...Here we should note the fascist “Business Plot” against FDR: The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR
iii) Make sure the generals are ready
iv) Make the economy scream: this topic in political economy deserves its entire book series. This ties in with a broader topic of Neocolonialism (esp. IMF, World Bank, NGOs) used to counter the Third World project’s NIEO.
v) Diplomatic isolation
vi) Organize mass protests (i.e. in target country): another massive and messy topic in divide-and-conquer, involving “Colour Revolutions”, weaponizing religion/ethnic divides, the sad collusion between CIA and US trade unions (ex. AFL-CIO, jokingly called "AFL-CIA"), etc.
vii) Green light (from the US)
viii) A study in assassinations: supplying kill lists and training/funding death squads to keep a greater distance.
ix) Deny: interesting critique of Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies - Volume Two: Hegel and Marx definition of “conspiracy theories” (as thinking war/unemployment/poverty are designed by elites) and consequences (paranoia leading to totalitarianism). No wonder Popper was in the Mont Pelerin Society with all the crackpot anti-planning planners/anti-conspiracy conspirators.
5) Post-USSR:
--The fall of the Soviet umbrella leading to more aggressive US regime change, starting with Panama 1989 and Iraq 1990.
--Vijay pivots Harvey’s A Brief History of Neoliberalism into the North-South framework; I’ve summarized this in reviewing The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South
--The book’s chronology ends with COVID19, but does not get into the new Cold War against China. However, included is a curious 1951 document "Proposal to Unite Democratic Nations and Islamic World into an Anti-Communist Force" sent from Taiwan to the US (which previews the aforementioned reactionary weaponizing of religion e.g. Saudi's World Muslim League)
...For Vijay's recent take on China (which has evolved since “The Poorer Nations”): https://youtu.be/8-m-DZHLNGs
The Missing:
--Details must be supplemented, as this book bypasses listing sources in favor of brevity.
--Hero worship? Every anti-imperialist “leader” mentioned has a laundry list of allegations to work through. Once the propaganda is set aside, the remaining critiques can offer crucial lessons; the book's macro view is to highlight the suffocation of imperialist/existing contradictions. The world operates on many levels and with many contradictions. An analogy by Vijay: I can support the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) for geopolitical multipolarity, while being against the current Indian government.
…Why not bypass “leaders” and just talk about movements? Another messy topic (involving “vanguard”, “party”, “spontaneity”, etc.). Try this: https://youtu.be/M-frUMXKcEw
--Political economy? Synthesizing history especially on a macro-level offers numerous frameworks to test theories. Another important framework is of course the abstract structures of capitalism (i.e. booms/busts, contradictions/crises, value systems, externalizing costs, commodity fetishism, alienation, surplus labor, market growth/endless accumulation, profit/rent-seeking/real competition, etc.):
a) intros:
-Vijay on economic bust and the rise of the Right: https://youtu.be/z11ohWnuwa0
-Vijay on capital social relations: https://youtu.be/ZhkA3LVpbxg
-The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions
-Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
-Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails
-Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
-The Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era: Primitive Accumulation and the Peasantry
-Debt: The First 5,000 Years
b) deeper dives:
-Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present
-Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance
-The Veins of the South Are Still Open: Debates Around the Imperialism of Our Time
-Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples
(adopted by the UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), 14 December 1960)
Preamble
--I’ve listened to enough hours of Vijay’s lectures to fill several books… such a vibrant story-teller of critical global history, especially when he goes off-script: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS...
--The lens used is crucial, since the “history” and “geopolitics” we receive in English are usually built on layers and layers of imperialist biases; it takes a lifetime of reading diverse sources to uproot, and Vijay gifts us his synthesis. On “ideological censorship”: https://youtu.be/6jKcsHv3c74
…Vijay quips how “globalization” is predominantly one-way, where Western theory is globalized while Eastern/Global South theory remains localized (i.e. theory comes from the West, whereas the South is only used for guerilla manuals).
--Despite this, I’ve only read Vijay’s 2 lengthiest works: The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World and its sequel The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. Recently, Vijay and his publishing house LeftWord Books (https://mayday.leftword.com/) have made an effort to offer shorter, more accessible introductions.
Highlights
--In this accessible overview of US imperialism, Vijay is inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s ability to bring to life human resiliency in the worst of conditions. This overview captures the peaks, valleys and flows, instead of getting lost in a two-dimensional forest of names and dates (we are all too familiar with history textbooks); we can sift through the sand of details elsewhere.
--An outline:
1) Colonial “trusteeship” and “civilizing mission” into the 20th century: colonialism’s continuation, where liberation finally came from (often armed) struggles instead of Enlightenment liberalism.
2) Liberalism and Fascism:
--Liberalism’s failures become most noticeable here. Cesaire’s Discourse on Colonialism highlights that Fascism’s techniques were developed in Liberalism’s backyard colonies, and brought back to Europe during Liberalism’s capitalist crisis (leading to WWII when Fascism got off its leash).
…The liberal so-called democracy victors of WWII quickly revived fascists in order to repress participatory democracy (communists/radicals/anti-colonialists) who were on the front-lines in antifascist struggles.
-Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
-The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
-Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II
3) Not Cold War (East-West), but Anti-colonialism (North-South):
--Western narratives of the 20th century center around liberal so-called democracy’s struggles against Fascism (WWII) and then Communism (Cold War); we have already identified Liberalism’s uses of Fascism (see the end for Liberalism's capitalist crises).
...Vijay challenges this 20th century depiction by centering anti-colonialism as the key struggle, which includes re-framing the 1917 Russian Revolution and its aftermath (Red Star Over the Third World).
--After WWII, the colonial struggle resumed in full force with US seeking “preponderant power” with endless coups on one side vs. anti-colonial struggles for multi-polarity on the other. For more on “exceptionalism”: American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News―From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror
...One such struggle was the Third World project highlighted by the 1955 Bandung Conference, the New International Economic Order (NIEO), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), UNCTAD, G77, etc. I've summarized this, the various conflicting class dimensions, and how these were often coopted by liberalism, in reviewing The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
...Arab Nationalism was another related struggle. Post-WWII US empire was predicated on securing Gulf oil, which meant protecting the puppet despot monarchs against an array of challenges; this includes weaponizing religion (Saudi's World Muslim League, mujahideen, etc.). Vijay goes more into this here: https://youtu.be/LVzso1Tydoc
…also useful: The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump
4) Reaction to anti-colonialism: the “Manual for Regime Change”:
i) Lobby public opinion (i.e. domestic US, world): the evolution beyond conventional warfare into “hybrid warfare” revolves around public relation and propaganda. A striking example is given of propaganda father Edward Bernays hired to sell United Fruit Company’s Guatemala coup.
-Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies
-Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
ii) Appoint the right man on the ground (esp. ambassador): as the joke goes: “Why can there not be a coup in the US? Because there is no US embassy in the US.” ...Here we should note the fascist “Business Plot” against FDR: The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR
iii) Make sure the generals are ready
iv) Make the economy scream: this topic in political economy deserves its entire book series. This ties in with a broader topic of Neocolonialism (esp. IMF, World Bank, NGOs) used to counter the Third World project’s NIEO.
v) Diplomatic isolation
vi) Organize mass protests (i.e. in target country): another massive and messy topic in divide-and-conquer, involving “Colour Revolutions”, weaponizing religion/ethnic divides, the sad collusion between CIA and US trade unions (ex. AFL-CIO, jokingly called "AFL-CIA"), etc.
vii) Green light (from the US)
viii) A study in assassinations: supplying kill lists and training/funding death squads to keep a greater distance.
ix) Deny: interesting critique of Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies - Volume Two: Hegel and Marx definition of “conspiracy theories” (as thinking war/unemployment/poverty are designed by elites) and consequences (paranoia leading to totalitarianism). No wonder Popper was in the Mont Pelerin Society with all the crackpot anti-planning planners/anti-conspiracy conspirators.
5) Post-USSR:
--The fall of the Soviet umbrella leading to more aggressive US regime change, starting with Panama 1989 and Iraq 1990.
--Vijay pivots Harvey’s A Brief History of Neoliberalism into the North-South framework; I’ve summarized this in reviewing The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South
--The book’s chronology ends with COVID19, but does not get into the new Cold War against China. However, included is a curious 1951 document "Proposal to Unite Democratic Nations and Islamic World into an Anti-Communist Force" sent from Taiwan to the US (which previews the aforementioned reactionary weaponizing of religion e.g. Saudi's World Muslim League)
...For Vijay's recent take on China (which has evolved since “The Poorer Nations”): https://youtu.be/8-m-DZHLNGs
The Missing:
--Details must be supplemented, as this book bypasses listing sources in favor of brevity.
--Hero worship? Every anti-imperialist “leader” mentioned has a laundry list of allegations to work through. Once the propaganda is set aside, the remaining critiques can offer crucial lessons; the book's macro view is to highlight the suffocation of imperialist/existing contradictions. The world operates on many levels and with many contradictions. An analogy by Vijay: I can support the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) for geopolitical multipolarity, while being against the current Indian government.
…Why not bypass “leaders” and just talk about movements? Another messy topic (involving “vanguard”, “party”, “spontaneity”, etc.). Try this: https://youtu.be/M-frUMXKcEw
--Political economy? Synthesizing history especially on a macro-level offers numerous frameworks to test theories. Another important framework is of course the abstract structures of capitalism (i.e. booms/busts, contradictions/crises, value systems, externalizing costs, commodity fetishism, alienation, surplus labor, market growth/endless accumulation, profit/rent-seeking/real competition, etc.):
a) intros:
-Vijay on economic bust and the rise of the Right: https://youtu.be/z11ohWnuwa0
-Vijay on capital social relations: https://youtu.be/ZhkA3LVpbxg
-The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions
-Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
-Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails
-Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
-The Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era: Primitive Accumulation and the Peasantry
-Debt: The First 5,000 Years
b) deeper dives:
-Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present
-Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance
-The Veins of the South Are Still Open: Debates Around the Imperialism of Our Time
October 1, 2020
A great high level overview of US intervention in the third world. Pair with Blackshirts and Reds and Against Empire by Parenti to complete your Joker-pilling about the US.
October 23, 2022
liberty is the name of a statue in New York harbour.
As one of the foremost intellectuals of our times from the global south, Vijay Prashad seems to carry a great burden, the burden of telling and propogating the truth while fighting against western imperialist propoganda. It shouldn't be so, but it is. Can the subaltern speak, Gayatri Spivak asks and Vijay Prashad responds with a resounding yes. We are the oppressed, the downtrodden and yet, we are also the torch bearers, we pass it on from generation to generation and hope we'll be heard.
Prashad's is one of those voices that is heard, and the west hopes we'll count ourselves fortunate for that. Oh no sir, we are not done speaking. We still have to scream, because that's the only way you seem to hear us.
The sheer amount of research this book must have required amazes me. But truth eventually speaks for itself. And from people like Prashad, we learn courage to speak the truth.
This book is peppered with insights I got from these men, who did nasty things, hated talking about them, but were honest enough to say towards the end of their lives that they helped to make a mess of the world.
As one of the foremost intellectuals of our times from the global south, Vijay Prashad seems to carry a great burden, the burden of telling and propogating the truth while fighting against western imperialist propoganda. It shouldn't be so, but it is. Can the subaltern speak, Gayatri Spivak asks and Vijay Prashad responds with a resounding yes. We are the oppressed, the downtrodden and yet, we are also the torch bearers, we pass it on from generation to generation and hope we'll be heard.
Prashad's is one of those voices that is heard, and the west hopes we'll count ourselves fortunate for that. Oh no sir, we are not done speaking. We still have to scream, because that's the only way you seem to hear us.
The sheer amount of research this book must have required amazes me. But truth eventually speaks for itself. And from people like Prashad, we learn courage to speak the truth.
This book is peppered with insights I got from these men, who did nasty things, hated talking about them, but were honest enough to say towards the end of their lives that they helped to make a mess of the world.
January 18, 2021
It is a testimony to the power of American propaganda and its hegemony over all cultural production that despite being the one country which has carried out the most number of coups in other countries, despite being the country which has assassinated the most number of leaders and which has pushed the must number of people to poverty through crippling sanctions, it is still celebrated as the land of the free and home of the brave.
In 'Washington Bullets', Vijay Prashad accurately describes it as the country where liberty is just a statue. The book becomes a useful reference guide to all the US interventions in countries across the world in the past century, the planned coups, the assassinations of leftist national leaders, the mass murders and the many devious methods it still continues to employ to force other countries to toe their line, especially the ones who nationalise their resources, which American corporates have an eye on.
One only need to name the leaders and the countries which they preyed on and describe the method once, because the modus operandi has been faithfully replicated in almost every other country. In the early 1950s, Jacobo Arbenz tried to implement a moderate land reform agenda in Guatemala, which also undercut the land holdings of the United Fruit Company, a US conglomerate. Before long, the CIA engineered a coup, seized the presidential palace and sent him to exile. In the following years, they directly or indirectly assassinated tall leaders of several third world countries, all of them with a leftist inclination - Patrice Lumumba in Congo (1961. Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of that assassination), Mehdi Ben Barka of Morocco (1965), Che Guevara in Bolivia (1967), Salvador Allende in Chile (1973), Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso (1987), Amilcar Cabral in Cape Verde (1973) and many others. Not to forget the many failed assassinations.
Prashad poignantly notes that in the assassinations of such leaders, the biggest price is paid by the people. "For in these assassinations, these murders, this violence of intimidation, it is the people who lose the leaders in their localities. A peasant leaders, a trade union leader, a leader of the poor. The assassiantions become massacres, as people who are in motion are cut down. Their confidence begins to falter. In Indonesia, the price of the bullets was in the millions. In Guatemala, in the tens of thousands. The death of Lumumba damaged the social dynamic of the Congo, muzzling its history."
He goes back to the US's early days of occupying nations, especially the "great myth" of the American Revolution of 1776, which was marked by a genocidal attitude towards the native Americans, and the period after the Monro Doctrine of 1923, which the country saw as its right for the hemisphere. Prashad notes how even some of the UN's policies like its Article 41, became a legal justification for the inhuman sanctions policy of the US. However, during the period from 1945 to 1989, the USSR as one of the permanent members of the UN security council acted as an umbrella against the usage of these UN loopholes. It is a little known fact that the USSR made the first 56 vetoes in the UN Security council.
Prashad has an interesting manual for regime change, which operates in nine common steps - lobbying of public opinion through capitalist media, appointment of the right men on the ground (Juan Guaido in Venezuela, for instance), making sure the Generals are ready, making the economy scream (through sanctions), diplomatic isolation, fuelling of mass protests, the green light from the CIA, assassinations, denial and production of amnesia (This last one is pretty successful, since there is really no recollection of these events across the world now, which is why the world still invests hope in men like Obama and Biden. How many of you have even heard about the murder of close to a million communists in Indonesia in 1965, in a US-aided operation?).
These days, right wingers often point at Venezuela as the example of a leftist country that has "failed", without mentioning the fact that the US's stringent sanctions are directly responsible for the state of that country. In 1996, when the then US State Secretary Madeleine Albright was asked about the death of 5.67 lakh Iraqi children due to US sanctions, she replied - "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it". In 2019, the supply of essential medicines and critical drugs including that for epilepsy patients and chemotherapy medicines to Iran was cut off, putting the lives of many in peril. Through "secondary sanctions", the US penalises even the countries who deal with the countries which are facing US sanction.
Vijay Prashad points at the hypocrisy of the liberals who close their eyes to these mass murders. "If the US sanctions regime could be shown to have been responsible for the death of half a million children, that was not to be seen as the operations of a rogue state or of a terrorist - that was simply unfortunate. If a rogue state or a terrorist killed a few hundred or even ten people, it was a human rights catastrophe. The sequestering of the narrative of human rights and liberalism by the US was as significant a triumph as its overwhelming military superiority."
For those who raise a hue and cry about the situation in Venezuela, this is what the William Brownfield, the former US ambassador to Venezuela said in 2018 - "We have to accelerate the collapse of Venezuela. We should do it understanding that it's going to have an impact on millions and millions of people who are already having great difficulty finding enough to eat." Neither Venezueala nor Iran can easily buy medical supplies, nor can they easily transport them into their countries, not can they use them in their largely public sector health systems. This embargo, which counts as a war crime under the Geneva conventions, continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Vijay notes that due to the US sanctions google removed an app that Iran had developed for its population following the COVID-19 crisis.
He also connects the fake corruption cases that were fabricated against Brazilian leftist national leaders Dilma Rousseff and Lula of the Workers' Party, to the attempts by American firms to gain control of Brazilian oil and airline companies. Judge Sergio Moro who brought a case of corruption against Lula was in touch with US Department of Justice officials. Moro later joined the cabinet of right wing loony Jair Bolsonaro. This part reminded me of the likes of our own Judge Ranjan Gogoi and the many others waiting in the wings, looking at plum posts after retirement. "The persecution of Lula is a story that is not merely about Lula, nor solely about Brazil. This is a test case for the way oligarchies and imperialism have sought to use the shell of democracy to undermine the democratic aspirations of the people," writes Prashad ominously. That line also brought to my mind the attempts being made now in Kerala, through central agencies and a sanghified media to tarnish and bring down a left Government, which has been reviving public sector undertakings and vastly improving public health and education. These are actions that corporates would want to stop at all costs. Back in 1959, caste-religious and capitalist forces did manage to do just that when they pulled down the first Communist ministry in Kerala headed by EMS.
'Washington Bullets' is a rather small volume that packs some punch in each of its pages. It is essential reading for those who invest hope in the likes of Biden and Obama. (The fact that Evo Morales and Roger Waters have written glowingly about this book should be reason enough to read it! )
In 'Washington Bullets', Vijay Prashad accurately describes it as the country where liberty is just a statue. The book becomes a useful reference guide to all the US interventions in countries across the world in the past century, the planned coups, the assassinations of leftist national leaders, the mass murders and the many devious methods it still continues to employ to force other countries to toe their line, especially the ones who nationalise their resources, which American corporates have an eye on.
One only need to name the leaders and the countries which they preyed on and describe the method once, because the modus operandi has been faithfully replicated in almost every other country. In the early 1950s, Jacobo Arbenz tried to implement a moderate land reform agenda in Guatemala, which also undercut the land holdings of the United Fruit Company, a US conglomerate. Before long, the CIA engineered a coup, seized the presidential palace and sent him to exile. In the following years, they directly or indirectly assassinated tall leaders of several third world countries, all of them with a leftist inclination - Patrice Lumumba in Congo (1961. Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of that assassination), Mehdi Ben Barka of Morocco (1965), Che Guevara in Bolivia (1967), Salvador Allende in Chile (1973), Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso (1987), Amilcar Cabral in Cape Verde (1973) and many others. Not to forget the many failed assassinations.
Prashad poignantly notes that in the assassinations of such leaders, the biggest price is paid by the people. "For in these assassinations, these murders, this violence of intimidation, it is the people who lose the leaders in their localities. A peasant leaders, a trade union leader, a leader of the poor. The assassiantions become massacres, as people who are in motion are cut down. Their confidence begins to falter. In Indonesia, the price of the bullets was in the millions. In Guatemala, in the tens of thousands. The death of Lumumba damaged the social dynamic of the Congo, muzzling its history."
He goes back to the US's early days of occupying nations, especially the "great myth" of the American Revolution of 1776, which was marked by a genocidal attitude towards the native Americans, and the period after the Monro Doctrine of 1923, which the country saw as its right for the hemisphere. Prashad notes how even some of the UN's policies like its Article 41, became a legal justification for the inhuman sanctions policy of the US. However, during the period from 1945 to 1989, the USSR as one of the permanent members of the UN security council acted as an umbrella against the usage of these UN loopholes. It is a little known fact that the USSR made the first 56 vetoes in the UN Security council.
Prashad has an interesting manual for regime change, which operates in nine common steps - lobbying of public opinion through capitalist media, appointment of the right men on the ground (Juan Guaido in Venezuela, for instance), making sure the Generals are ready, making the economy scream (through sanctions), diplomatic isolation, fuelling of mass protests, the green light from the CIA, assassinations, denial and production of amnesia (This last one is pretty successful, since there is really no recollection of these events across the world now, which is why the world still invests hope in men like Obama and Biden. How many of you have even heard about the murder of close to a million communists in Indonesia in 1965, in a US-aided operation?).
These days, right wingers often point at Venezuela as the example of a leftist country that has "failed", without mentioning the fact that the US's stringent sanctions are directly responsible for the state of that country. In 1996, when the then US State Secretary Madeleine Albright was asked about the death of 5.67 lakh Iraqi children due to US sanctions, she replied - "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it". In 2019, the supply of essential medicines and critical drugs including that for epilepsy patients and chemotherapy medicines to Iran was cut off, putting the lives of many in peril. Through "secondary sanctions", the US penalises even the countries who deal with the countries which are facing US sanction.
Vijay Prashad points at the hypocrisy of the liberals who close their eyes to these mass murders. "If the US sanctions regime could be shown to have been responsible for the death of half a million children, that was not to be seen as the operations of a rogue state or of a terrorist - that was simply unfortunate. If a rogue state or a terrorist killed a few hundred or even ten people, it was a human rights catastrophe. The sequestering of the narrative of human rights and liberalism by the US was as significant a triumph as its overwhelming military superiority."
For those who raise a hue and cry about the situation in Venezuela, this is what the William Brownfield, the former US ambassador to Venezuela said in 2018 - "We have to accelerate the collapse of Venezuela. We should do it understanding that it's going to have an impact on millions and millions of people who are already having great difficulty finding enough to eat." Neither Venezueala nor Iran can easily buy medical supplies, nor can they easily transport them into their countries, not can they use them in their largely public sector health systems. This embargo, which counts as a war crime under the Geneva conventions, continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Vijay notes that due to the US sanctions google removed an app that Iran had developed for its population following the COVID-19 crisis.
He also connects the fake corruption cases that were fabricated against Brazilian leftist national leaders Dilma Rousseff and Lula of the Workers' Party, to the attempts by American firms to gain control of Brazilian oil and airline companies. Judge Sergio Moro who brought a case of corruption against Lula was in touch with US Department of Justice officials. Moro later joined the cabinet of right wing loony Jair Bolsonaro. This part reminded me of the likes of our own Judge Ranjan Gogoi and the many others waiting in the wings, looking at plum posts after retirement. "The persecution of Lula is a story that is not merely about Lula, nor solely about Brazil. This is a test case for the way oligarchies and imperialism have sought to use the shell of democracy to undermine the democratic aspirations of the people," writes Prashad ominously. That line also brought to my mind the attempts being made now in Kerala, through central agencies and a sanghified media to tarnish and bring down a left Government, which has been reviving public sector undertakings and vastly improving public health and education. These are actions that corporates would want to stop at all costs. Back in 1959, caste-religious and capitalist forces did manage to do just that when they pulled down the first Communist ministry in Kerala headed by EMS.
'Washington Bullets' is a rather small volume that packs some punch in each of its pages. It is essential reading for those who invest hope in the likes of Biden and Obama. (The fact that Evo Morales and Roger Waters have written glowingly about this book should be reason enough to read it! )
December 6, 2020
finishing my trilogy of current books in the "How the USA overthrows other governments" genre. AS the joke goes, "Why hasn't there ever been a coup in the USA? Because there isn't a US embassy in the USA." Which leads one to ponder the question, Why are there 20 FIDF chapters (https://www.fidf.org/act-local/our-ch...) inside the USA? What Vijay does mention is that most dictators, para/military and other right wing militias involved in coups , are trained and supplied by the USA . Vijay also explained things that were not covered in the other books; or if they were, Vijay's blunt approach (aspect), style and borrowed phrasing ; "lawfare", using a country's laws as warfare, against its government; "Ungovernment", when an "IMF Coup" is imposed by policies.; He quotes Yanis Varoufakis; " nowadays coups are fought by banks instead of tanks". filled in the cracks between the puzzle pieces, adding branches to my tree of knowledge. He describes the UN Charter in the beginning and the UN today; details the debacles in Guatemala, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Central America, Caribbean, Grenada, Cuba, Haiti, and Africa. Decribes the ongoing situation with Iran and Venezuela.
August 23, 2021
The book promises to provide a history of the CIA, coups, and assassinations. I have been researching the US government's involvement in assassination for the past few years and I am writing a book on the topic. Hence, I was very interested in this book. It is, however, a hard book to review, and a disappointing one. It is very short; more a pamphlet than a book. There are no references. At the end of the book, what seems to be a list of sources that have informed the book, is actually a brief discussion of the invasion of Grenada. We are only told that the author interviewed some former CIA officers, read Stockwell's memoirs, and, presumably did research at the National Security Archives. In the analysis, claims are simply made, not substantiated.
The book consists of three parts. The first part is divided into two main sections. The first section looks like a history of international law (from the 'divine right' of kings to the US charter and decolonization). The second section moves into a discussion of US foreign policy during the Cold War. It shows how the US intervened both politically and militarily to both prevent Communists from taking power and to exploit resources of the rapidly decolonizing "third world." There are, however, three main problems with this account. First, considering the long time span covered, the analysis is necessarily superficial. Second, there is nothing new here. The events discussed have been covered at length in international politics books, US history books, or histories of the CIA. Third, while I am all for a more objective analysis of the Soviet Union, there are some very partisan claims. Sure, the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and 1950s used its veto to protect the 'third world' but presenting it as a saviour as the book does is a bit much. I can think of some problems with Stalin's Russia. The author seem to have some admiration for Stalin since later on (p. 91) we are told that a propaganda campaign helped portray Stalin as similar to Hitler, something Stalin, apparently did not deserve. Similarly, Castro's revolution in Cuban is described solely in glowing terms. Everything the revolution did, we are told, was 'rational and logical.' There are also some factual errors (e.g. the leader of the Italian Communist Party was Palmiro Togliatti, not Fausto Gullo, the latter was Minister of Agriculture in the Badoglio and first De Gasperi government and, later, Minister of Justice; the US did not "invade" Guatemala in 1954, it used covert operations).
Part two, again, is divided into two sections. The first section provides an interesting rulebook for regime change. Rules include gathering the support of public opinion and the military, appointing hard-liners on the ground, and undermining the economy. This is an interesting section and each rule is discussed with historical examples. The second section looks at some general US practices and policies during the Cold War. The strongest account here is perhaps that of the US efforts to undermine Liberation theology in Latin America and the relationship between the CIA, US allies and former Nazi assets. Part three looks at the post-Cold War world (from the Panama invasion towards the end of the Cold War, to the present day). The analysis tends to jump chronologically back and forwards and the themes identified are not always convincing. Again, while a critique of US foreign policy of the era is more than justified, some of the author's choices are debatable. Saddam Hussein's Iraq is presented in very rosy tones. More recently, Russia's invasion of Crimea and its war in Syria are presented as defensive endeavours.
Overall, and frustratingly for me, there is actually almost no discussion of assassinations. There is some brief reference to assassinations in Guatemala in the 1950s and to the CIA's 'A Study of assassination.' The debate surrounding the kidnapping and assassination of General Rene Schneider in Chile is quickly brushed aside and the assassination of Sankara is implied without providing much evidence. One could agree or disagree with the author's political stance. I think critiques of US foreign policy from a left-wing perspective are very much needed and can be done well (e.g. The Jakarta Method). This is not the case here.
The book consists of three parts. The first part is divided into two main sections. The first section looks like a history of international law (from the 'divine right' of kings to the US charter and decolonization). The second section moves into a discussion of US foreign policy during the Cold War. It shows how the US intervened both politically and militarily to both prevent Communists from taking power and to exploit resources of the rapidly decolonizing "third world." There are, however, three main problems with this account. First, considering the long time span covered, the analysis is necessarily superficial. Second, there is nothing new here. The events discussed have been covered at length in international politics books, US history books, or histories of the CIA. Third, while I am all for a more objective analysis of the Soviet Union, there are some very partisan claims. Sure, the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and 1950s used its veto to protect the 'third world' but presenting it as a saviour as the book does is a bit much. I can think of some problems with Stalin's Russia. The author seem to have some admiration for Stalin since later on (p. 91) we are told that a propaganda campaign helped portray Stalin as similar to Hitler, something Stalin, apparently did not deserve. Similarly, Castro's revolution in Cuban is described solely in glowing terms. Everything the revolution did, we are told, was 'rational and logical.' There are also some factual errors (e.g. the leader of the Italian Communist Party was Palmiro Togliatti, not Fausto Gullo, the latter was Minister of Agriculture in the Badoglio and first De Gasperi government and, later, Minister of Justice; the US did not "invade" Guatemala in 1954, it used covert operations).
Part two, again, is divided into two sections. The first section provides an interesting rulebook for regime change. Rules include gathering the support of public opinion and the military, appointing hard-liners on the ground, and undermining the economy. This is an interesting section and each rule is discussed with historical examples. The second section looks at some general US practices and policies during the Cold War. The strongest account here is perhaps that of the US efforts to undermine Liberation theology in Latin America and the relationship between the CIA, US allies and former Nazi assets. Part three looks at the post-Cold War world (from the Panama invasion towards the end of the Cold War, to the present day). The analysis tends to jump chronologically back and forwards and the themes identified are not always convincing. Again, while a critique of US foreign policy of the era is more than justified, some of the author's choices are debatable. Saddam Hussein's Iraq is presented in very rosy tones. More recently, Russia's invasion of Crimea and its war in Syria are presented as defensive endeavours.
Overall, and frustratingly for me, there is actually almost no discussion of assassinations. There is some brief reference to assassinations in Guatemala in the 1950s and to the CIA's 'A Study of assassination.' The debate surrounding the kidnapping and assassination of General Rene Schneider in Chile is quickly brushed aside and the assassination of Sankara is implied without providing much evidence. One could agree or disagree with the author's political stance. I think critiques of US foreign policy from a left-wing perspective are very much needed and can be done well (e.g. The Jakarta Method). This is not the case here.
December 13, 2020
The latest book from Indian Marxist Vijay Prashad is a passionate critique of the “US-led liberal international order,” in which Washington has fired — and still fires — its bullets at the peoples of the Global South and the socialist world.
In Guatemala, Congo, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Haiti, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Yemen, Sudan, Grenada, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Angola and so many other countries, Washington’s bullets have been deployed in the pursuance of regime change, the protection of US hegemony and opposition to the emergence of truly sovereign post-colonial nations, all in flagrant violation of international law.
Most of these bullets hit their targets, which is why we continue to live in a world dominated by imperialism. As Evo Morales observes in the preface: “If the salvation of humanity is far away, it is because Washington insists on using its bullets against the world's people.”
Prashad offers a distinctive perspective of the cold war, which is typically understood to have been an ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism and hence oriented along an East-West axis with the Soviet Union and its allies on one side and the US and its allies on the other.
But in reality the cold war was waged not only against socialism but against any attempt at achieving independence from the US-led system. Non-alignment did not protect the countries of the Global South such as Indonesia, Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina, Congo and Iran from the murderous assault of those that sought to preserve the imperial status quo.
The elaborate hybrid warfare post-1945, exclusively directed against the Soviet Union and its allies, ended with the dismantling of the USSR in 1991. The peoples of the world ought to be reaping George W Bush’s much-vaunted “peace dividend.” But this was pure illusion.
In fact, the decline and fall of the Soviet Union facilitated the rise of an untrammelled and invigorated US-led militarism, which has thought nothing of destroying Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.
Literal bullets have been accompanied by metaphorical bullets in the form of sanctions, destabilisation, structural adjustment, blackmail, privatisation and suffocating debt.
The very existence of the Soviet Union placed restrictions on the activities of the US. Prashad points out that, for example, the first 56 vetoes at the UN Security Council were invoked by the Soviet Union. “It was the USSR that used its veto to defend the process of national liberation, from the struggles of the Palestinians to the struggles in South Rhodesia, from the South African freedom struggle to the liberation war in Vietnam,” he asserts.
With the USSR and the Eastern European people's democracies out of the way, “the shield at the UN disappeared and the interventions from the West came like a tsunami.”
The hegemonic project continued, and continues. Those nations that tried to defend their sovereignty and to determine their own future were labeled as “rogue states.” George W Bush said that the US didn't need a “permission slip” to defend its interests, while Dick Cheney talked openly about the need to prevent “the emergence of any potential future global competitor.”.
The US now has around 800 military bases around the world, and continues to develop its strategy of hybrid warfare, described by Prashad as “a combination of unconventional and conventional means, using a range of state and non-state actors that run across the spectrum of social and political life.”
Some hoped in 2016 that Donald Trump’s putative isolationism would put the brakes on this hybrid warfare. And yet the Trump administration has vastly ramped up the pressure against Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe, in addition to its crazed devotion to a new cold war against China. Sanctions against Venezuela alone are estimated to have caused tens of thousands of deaths.
So much for Trump’s isolation. And yet many are hoping that, with Joe Biden in the White House, the US can return to its “leadership” role, with its “liberal international order” restored. Reading Washington Bullets, it becomes crystal clear that this order has been decidedly “illiberal” for the millions of people that have died and suffered under its blows. Prashad brings these people back to life and gives them a history that has long been denied them.
The book ends on a pessimistic note. “No new system to counter the US stranglehold on the world's economic and political foundation is available as yet.” True, but a multipolar world is becoming visible and progressive forces should be working to help bring it into existence.
Washington Bullets tells harrowing stories that needed to be told and, as such, it is mandatory reading. Complementary texts include Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II, Beyond US Hegemony: Assessing the Prospects for a Multipolar World and The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/artic...
In Guatemala, Congo, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Haiti, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Yemen, Sudan, Grenada, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Angola and so many other countries, Washington’s bullets have been deployed in the pursuance of regime change, the protection of US hegemony and opposition to the emergence of truly sovereign post-colonial nations, all in flagrant violation of international law.
Most of these bullets hit their targets, which is why we continue to live in a world dominated by imperialism. As Evo Morales observes in the preface: “If the salvation of humanity is far away, it is because Washington insists on using its bullets against the world's people.”
Prashad offers a distinctive perspective of the cold war, which is typically understood to have been an ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism and hence oriented along an East-West axis with the Soviet Union and its allies on one side and the US and its allies on the other.
But in reality the cold war was waged not only against socialism but against any attempt at achieving independence from the US-led system. Non-alignment did not protect the countries of the Global South such as Indonesia, Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina, Congo and Iran from the murderous assault of those that sought to preserve the imperial status quo.
The elaborate hybrid warfare post-1945, exclusively directed against the Soviet Union and its allies, ended with the dismantling of the USSR in 1991. The peoples of the world ought to be reaping George W Bush’s much-vaunted “peace dividend.” But this was pure illusion.
In fact, the decline and fall of the Soviet Union facilitated the rise of an untrammelled and invigorated US-led militarism, which has thought nothing of destroying Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.
Literal bullets have been accompanied by metaphorical bullets in the form of sanctions, destabilisation, structural adjustment, blackmail, privatisation and suffocating debt.
The very existence of the Soviet Union placed restrictions on the activities of the US. Prashad points out that, for example, the first 56 vetoes at the UN Security Council were invoked by the Soviet Union. “It was the USSR that used its veto to defend the process of national liberation, from the struggles of the Palestinians to the struggles in South Rhodesia, from the South African freedom struggle to the liberation war in Vietnam,” he asserts.
With the USSR and the Eastern European people's democracies out of the way, “the shield at the UN disappeared and the interventions from the West came like a tsunami.”
The hegemonic project continued, and continues. Those nations that tried to defend their sovereignty and to determine their own future were labeled as “rogue states.” George W Bush said that the US didn't need a “permission slip” to defend its interests, while Dick Cheney talked openly about the need to prevent “the emergence of any potential future global competitor.”.
The US now has around 800 military bases around the world, and continues to develop its strategy of hybrid warfare, described by Prashad as “a combination of unconventional and conventional means, using a range of state and non-state actors that run across the spectrum of social and political life.”
Some hoped in 2016 that Donald Trump’s putative isolationism would put the brakes on this hybrid warfare. And yet the Trump administration has vastly ramped up the pressure against Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe, in addition to its crazed devotion to a new cold war against China. Sanctions against Venezuela alone are estimated to have caused tens of thousands of deaths.
So much for Trump’s isolation. And yet many are hoping that, with Joe Biden in the White House, the US can return to its “leadership” role, with its “liberal international order” restored. Reading Washington Bullets, it becomes crystal clear that this order has been decidedly “illiberal” for the millions of people that have died and suffered under its blows. Prashad brings these people back to life and gives them a history that has long been denied them.
The book ends on a pessimistic note. “No new system to counter the US stranglehold on the world's economic and political foundation is available as yet.” True, but a multipolar world is becoming visible and progressive forces should be working to help bring it into existence.
Washington Bullets tells harrowing stories that needed to be told and, as such, it is mandatory reading. Complementary texts include Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II, Beyond US Hegemony: Assessing the Prospects for a Multipolar World and The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/artic...
November 4, 2023
Yessssssss
April 6, 2025
My frustration with this book is a function of how excited I was to read it. I really like and respect Vijay Prashad, and I'm always fascinated by the topic of coups and assassinations (especially those committed by the U.S.). So I was understandably looking forward to this book, but then it read like a breezier Chomsky lecture.
"Breezier Chomsky lecture" isn't a bad thing in and of itself, because Chomsky gives great lectures that are often overly-dense. The problem in this case is that I've read plenty of Chomsky lectures and I didn't need, expect or want this book to be another one of them. So again, it's a question of disappointed expectations. But also I chose the term "breezier Chomsky lecture" carefully, because that phrase encapsulates all of the problems I had with this book. It was (in descending order of problematic) unsourced, cursory, unoriginal and unstructured.
Unsourced
There are no footnotes, endnotes, or citations at all in this book. It was shocking to me when I realized. Prashad basically says at the end, in his "Sources" section, that he has read too much and spoken with too many people to be able to catalog them all for us. Which... that's not really okay with me. I don't doubt the veracity of what he's telling me, but this book is far less useful to me if I can't cite it or its sources in discussions and debates about its content. The subject matter already rings the conspiracy alarm bells to political ignorants.
My wife told me this is a problem of whiteness and white standards, and I can somewhat respect that. But that's not the stance Prashad takes, and the way he explains himself it kinda feels like he just didn't want to bother. I really wish he would have.
Cursory
The book is so short and covers so much ground that Prashad can't devote much space to anything. It feels almost stream-of-conscious. There are several passages that covered no more than a page but would have been fascinating books in themselves, or at least entire chapters. On p. 92, for example, he talks about the CIA's use of religion as a bulwark against communism. Fascinating point that I wanted to hear more about (and also see sources for...). But no. On p. 126 there's a tantalizing reference to how oil-seeking ventures in the Amazon seem to coincide with the prosecution of drug wars. Again he moves on before you can really stop and ponder.
Unoriginal
There's nothing of substance here that Chomsky (or Galeano, or many others I'm sure) hasn't already explained in more detail and with at least the same level of analysis.
Unstructured
Related to being cursory, Prashad flits from topic to topic so quickly and with apparently little rhyme or reason, so it's difficult to follow a through-line apart from the very vague "U.S. does some fucked up shit around the world." The stream-of-conscious style did not work for me at all. This was a more minor complaint than the others, but it still detracted from the reading experience.
Conclusion
I'm not sure how to say this nicely but I do not understand why this book exists. If Prashad was intending this as an update to Chomsky, then he failed by refusing to organize it better or source it at all. If he was intending this as a novel argument then he failed almost completely, because the couple of novel tangents he presented he spent very little time on. If Prashad had some other aim than these then he still failed, because I'm confused after the fact, meaning he did not communicate it effectively.
I'll stop there because the more I write the meaner I tend to get. I'll just say that I wish Prashad would have devoted more time and attention to this book. He might consider becoming less prolific. I think for someone who knows very little about the U.S.'s foreign interventions this book would be good. But then again I'd still recommend Chomsky over it (e.g. any of the essays in Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky).
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
"Breezier Chomsky lecture" isn't a bad thing in and of itself, because Chomsky gives great lectures that are often overly-dense. The problem in this case is that I've read plenty of Chomsky lectures and I didn't need, expect or want this book to be another one of them. So again, it's a question of disappointed expectations. But also I chose the term "breezier Chomsky lecture" carefully, because that phrase encapsulates all of the problems I had with this book. It was (in descending order of problematic) unsourced, cursory, unoriginal and unstructured.
Unsourced
There are no footnotes, endnotes, or citations at all in this book. It was shocking to me when I realized. Prashad basically says at the end, in his "Sources" section, that he has read too much and spoken with too many people to be able to catalog them all for us. Which... that's not really okay with me. I don't doubt the veracity of what he's telling me, but this book is far less useful to me if I can't cite it or its sources in discussions and debates about its content. The subject matter already rings the conspiracy alarm bells to political ignorants.
My wife told me this is a problem of whiteness and white standards, and I can somewhat respect that. But that's not the stance Prashad takes, and the way he explains himself it kinda feels like he just didn't want to bother. I really wish he would have.
Cursory
The book is so short and covers so much ground that Prashad can't devote much space to anything. It feels almost stream-of-conscious. There are several passages that covered no more than a page but would have been fascinating books in themselves, or at least entire chapters. On p. 92, for example, he talks about the CIA's use of religion as a bulwark against communism. Fascinating point that I wanted to hear more about (and also see sources for...). But no. On p. 126 there's a tantalizing reference to how oil-seeking ventures in the Amazon seem to coincide with the prosecution of drug wars. Again he moves on before you can really stop and ponder.
Unoriginal
There's nothing of substance here that Chomsky (or Galeano, or many others I'm sure) hasn't already explained in more detail and with at least the same level of analysis.
Unstructured
Related to being cursory, Prashad flits from topic to topic so quickly and with apparently little rhyme or reason, so it's difficult to follow a through-line apart from the very vague "U.S. does some fucked up shit around the world." The stream-of-conscious style did not work for me at all. This was a more minor complaint than the others, but it still detracted from the reading experience.
Conclusion
I'm not sure how to say this nicely but I do not understand why this book exists. If Prashad was intending this as an update to Chomsky, then he failed by refusing to organize it better or source it at all. If he was intending this as a novel argument then he failed almost completely, because the couple of novel tangents he presented he spent very little time on. If Prashad had some other aim than these then he still failed, because I'm confused after the fact, meaning he did not communicate it effectively.
I'll stop there because the more I write the meaner I tend to get. I'll just say that I wish Prashad would have devoted more time and attention to this book. He might consider becoming less prolific. I think for someone who knows very little about the U.S.'s foreign interventions this book would be good. But then again I'd still recommend Chomsky over it (e.g. any of the essays in Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky).
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
June 10, 2022
The United States can behave as a global anti-democratic rogue state.
Are you a United States politician with stock in a company that is being threatened by a democratically elected foreign leader? Is that leader trying to nationalize their own sovereign resources away from your company, minimizing your profits? Then this book is for you. Prashad gives us a step by step guide of how to go about and orchestrate a coup to oust this leader by fabricating communist panic without you ever getting your hands dirty.
First, create your own propaganda about that leader through US media. Make sure journalists are using the word "militant" or "regime" instead of "democratically elected leader". Then make sure you have CIA agents on the ground already exerting influence. Get your Generals in order within that country with bribes. Then you've got to demonize that leader by throwing harsh sanctions on them, starving the people and really just making their economy scream. Next you must completely diplomatically isolate that leader, making them an international pariah. Now fund and organize mass riots within that country against the leader. Once you've got all the in place, give the green light, assassinate whoever is still in the way, put up your feet and watch the social implosion from the other side of the globe.
None of this is hyperbole. This is what the US has done over and over and over again.
In 1954 Operation PB Success, the CIA deposed Arbenz (first democratically elected election), and installed a military dictatorship with General Armas. Arbenz did land reform which granted land to landless peasants, introduced a minimum wage and near-universal suffrage. He also legalized the communist Guatemalan Party of Labor. The United Fruit Company was a highly profitable American business (many WH staff members had ownership in the company) which exploited labor practices all over Guatemala and persuaded the US government to overthrow Arbenz. Truman authorized the coup. Armas instituted banning opposition parties, imprisoning and torturing political opponents and reversing the social reforms of Arbenz. Four decades of civil followed.
Iran, 1953. Overthrow of the democratically elected Mosaddegh in favor of monarchical rule of the Shah. Orchestrated by the US in Operation Ajax and the UK. Mosaddegh tried to audit a British Oil company to limit that company’s control over oil reserves. The company refused to cooperate so the Iranian parliament voted to nationalize Iran’s oil industry and expel foreign corporate representatives. Fearing a communist takeover, Churchill and Eisenhower orchestrated the coup. CIA staged pro-Sha riots and bribed Iranian politicians as well as high-ranking army officials, all of which has been admitted by the CIA.
I don't have the time and wherewithal to innumerate the other countries where this has happened: Chile, Indonesia, Congo, Panama, Costa Rica and on and on and on and on. The US is a pointilist empire using both global military dominance and economic lawfare through the IMF and World Bank to bring any country to its heels at any moment who opposes this world order.
Now I'm no communist, I'm not even a socialist, but books like this really clarify what is going on in the whole "capitalist v communist" narrative. This isn't about ideology it's about power. Ideology is a rhetorical vehicle for power structures to protect themselves. When a "socialist" country appears like a dumpster fire in the US media, that portrayal is on purpose. It convinces the public that socialist policies are bad. But here's really what's going on: poorer countries that use socialist policies, like nationalization or government subsidies, are trying to protect their infant industries before they can compete on the global market. Guess who else does and has used this same socialistic policies? ---->The United States.
From subsidies, to nationalization in the New Deal era, government-private contracts, the US got the jump start on the global stage to protect their industries and which have now been expanded into a globalized world order that asserts its corporate control over the globe and prohibits countries from using the exact same strategy to gain an economic advantage. So today, socialism correlates with failed states but it's not socialism that is failing these states, it's US foreign policy.
Please read these related books to learn more:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Are you a United States politician with stock in a company that is being threatened by a democratically elected foreign leader? Is that leader trying to nationalize their own sovereign resources away from your company, minimizing your profits? Then this book is for you. Prashad gives us a step by step guide of how to go about and orchestrate a coup to oust this leader by fabricating communist panic without you ever getting your hands dirty.
First, create your own propaganda about that leader through US media. Make sure journalists are using the word "militant" or "regime" instead of "democratically elected leader". Then make sure you have CIA agents on the ground already exerting influence. Get your Generals in order within that country with bribes. Then you've got to demonize that leader by throwing harsh sanctions on them, starving the people and really just making their economy scream. Next you must completely diplomatically isolate that leader, making them an international pariah. Now fund and organize mass riots within that country against the leader. Once you've got all the in place, give the green light, assassinate whoever is still in the way, put up your feet and watch the social implosion from the other side of the globe.
None of this is hyperbole. This is what the US has done over and over and over again.
In 1954 Operation PB Success, the CIA deposed Arbenz (first democratically elected election), and installed a military dictatorship with General Armas. Arbenz did land reform which granted land to landless peasants, introduced a minimum wage and near-universal suffrage. He also legalized the communist Guatemalan Party of Labor. The United Fruit Company was a highly profitable American business (many WH staff members had ownership in the company) which exploited labor practices all over Guatemala and persuaded the US government to overthrow Arbenz. Truman authorized the coup. Armas instituted banning opposition parties, imprisoning and torturing political opponents and reversing the social reforms of Arbenz. Four decades of civil followed.
Iran, 1953. Overthrow of the democratically elected Mosaddegh in favor of monarchical rule of the Shah. Orchestrated by the US in Operation Ajax and the UK. Mosaddegh tried to audit a British Oil company to limit that company’s control over oil reserves. The company refused to cooperate so the Iranian parliament voted to nationalize Iran’s oil industry and expel foreign corporate representatives. Fearing a communist takeover, Churchill and Eisenhower orchestrated the coup. CIA staged pro-Sha riots and bribed Iranian politicians as well as high-ranking army officials, all of which has been admitted by the CIA.
I don't have the time and wherewithal to innumerate the other countries where this has happened: Chile, Indonesia, Congo, Panama, Costa Rica and on and on and on and on. The US is a pointilist empire using both global military dominance and economic lawfare through the IMF and World Bank to bring any country to its heels at any moment who opposes this world order.
Now I'm no communist, I'm not even a socialist, but books like this really clarify what is going on in the whole "capitalist v communist" narrative. This isn't about ideology it's about power. Ideology is a rhetorical vehicle for power structures to protect themselves. When a "socialist" country appears like a dumpster fire in the US media, that portrayal is on purpose. It convinces the public that socialist policies are bad. But here's really what's going on: poorer countries that use socialist policies, like nationalization or government subsidies, are trying to protect their infant industries before they can compete on the global market. Guess who else does and has used this same socialistic policies? ---->The United States.
From subsidies, to nationalization in the New Deal era, government-private contracts, the US got the jump start on the global stage to protect their industries and which have now been expanded into a globalized world order that asserts its corporate control over the globe and prohibits countries from using the exact same strategy to gain an economic advantage. So today, socialism correlates with failed states but it's not socialism that is failing these states, it's US foreign policy.
Please read these related books to learn more:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
July 24, 2020
Decolonization is very much an incomplete process. After political independence, many newly independent nations found themselves thrust into a world of political and economic systems that had not been designed for them. Economic independence has been all too difficult to come by. Even the few opportunities that governments have to alleviate some of the misery their populations face are constricted by those systems and, as the book's title implies, by 'Washington Bullets.'
This is a book about *how* US-backed coups have been carried out across the globe, and it serves as an interesting analysis of the US Empire's political machinery. Prashad lays out 9 steps that make up a broad template that can be applied to many of the coups that took place in Latin America, Africa, and Iran during the Cold War and up to this day. It is because of the recent coup in Bolivia, and the attempts to implement regime change in Venezuela, that this book takes on more immediate relevance.
As usual, Vijay Prashad's writing is lively and eminently readable, and the book is relatively short. It's more polemical than academic, and that may turn some people off from the book, but I quite enjoy his honesty and his refusal to attempt"a false sense of dispassion." He's honest about his viewpoints and where they are coming from.
I liked his presentation of the US and its allies as the constituent parts of a "hubs-and-spokes" system, with the US as the hub and the governments, forces, or classes that they ally with as spokes. He makes clear that these coups often act upon existing forces within a country, and there is thus a domestic angle to be mindful of. I think I would have liked a bit more analysis on that front.
Nonetheless, I think people interested in learning about the machinery of regime change and coups will find things to like here. It is timely, well-written, and reveals some startling quotes from those involved in deploying the Washington Bullets themselves.
"You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future." -Thomas Sankara
This is a book about *how* US-backed coups have been carried out across the globe, and it serves as an interesting analysis of the US Empire's political machinery. Prashad lays out 9 steps that make up a broad template that can be applied to many of the coups that took place in Latin America, Africa, and Iran during the Cold War and up to this day. It is because of the recent coup in Bolivia, and the attempts to implement regime change in Venezuela, that this book takes on more immediate relevance.
As usual, Vijay Prashad's writing is lively and eminently readable, and the book is relatively short. It's more polemical than academic, and that may turn some people off from the book, but I quite enjoy his honesty and his refusal to attempt"a false sense of dispassion." He's honest about his viewpoints and where they are coming from.
I liked his presentation of the US and its allies as the constituent parts of a "hubs-and-spokes" system, with the US as the hub and the governments, forces, or classes that they ally with as spokes. He makes clear that these coups often act upon existing forces within a country, and there is thus a domestic angle to be mindful of. I think I would have liked a bit more analysis on that front.
Nonetheless, I think people interested in learning about the machinery of regime change and coups will find things to like here. It is timely, well-written, and reveals some startling quotes from those involved in deploying the Washington Bullets themselves.
"You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future." -Thomas Sankara
November 19, 2020
Compact at 150 pages, dense but readable. Prashad gives us a history lesson in US imperialism — spanning the globe from decades, pre- and post-Soviet Union. The war against communism/socialism (in my estimation the only threat to capitalism) has been strong and feverish. Prashad identifies the “preponderant power” initiative the US undertook in greater urgency after studying the devastating effects of dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan. From there, the CIA backed many coups around the world, either directly or semi-indirectly, including many in Latin America, but also in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. This is an overview, but not without deep study and research. With help from indebted/supportive Western European powers, as well as the right-wing extremists willing to carry out US-led coups with vicious brutality, Prashad also shows the more modern coups — dominance through the central bank, the IMF, sanctions, through “lawfare” — that has been especially effective in contemporary hotspots like Venezuela and Bolivia. Guatemala, Grenada, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Chile, Indonesia, the Congo, Haiti, Vietnam, Korea; basically anywhere where Communism or socialism popped up, the US has worked to crush it. A heartfelt book.
From pg. 117, an infamous Madeleine Albright quote: when asked if a 1990s bombardment on Iraq, including sanctions deemed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to be responsible for the death of some 567,000 Iraqi children under the age of five (more than died in Hiroshima), if the price of the sanctions was “worth it,” Albright replied, “we think the price was worth it.”
Read this book to understand the world we live in, and more importantly to not forget the world that could be but isn’t, who decides so, and why.
From pg. 117, an infamous Madeleine Albright quote: when asked if a 1990s bombardment on Iraq, including sanctions deemed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to be responsible for the death of some 567,000 Iraqi children under the age of five (more than died in Hiroshima), if the price of the sanctions was “worth it,” Albright replied, “we think the price was worth it.”
Read this book to understand the world we live in, and more importantly to not forget the world that could be but isn’t, who decides so, and why.
June 15, 2025
4.25; z większości z opisanych mechanizmów zdawałam sobie już sprawę i wiedziałam o wielu opisanych przewrotach, ale i tak - ja pierdolę!!!!!!1
May 20, 2024
the moment you start realising that at some point (often more than once) the us was meddling in some way (more or usually less legally) in the affairs of virtually every country on the planet, there's no going back to sleeping peacefully at night
December 3, 2023
Cracking summary of US imperial involvement and how it harms the development of socialist democracy. Give it your normie friends to redpill them on great Satan america
February 23, 2025
رصاصات واشنطون، كتاب للمؤلف فيجاي برشاد، ينتقد السياسات الإمبريالية الأمريكية وتدخلاتها في شؤون الدول الأخرى المجاورة لها ككندا والمكسيك وبنما وكوبا، وفي الدول البعيدة عنها لاسيما بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية وكذلك بعد انتهاء الحرب الباردة وانهيار الاتحاد السوفيتي. من الواضح أن فصول الكتاب تنقل وجهة النظر اليسارية الماركسية تجاه سياسات الولايات المتحدة التي من جهة تلوح دائما بعصا الأزمات الداخلية والحصار الاقتصادي والعقوبات وبحاملات الطائرات تجاه خصومها، ومن جهة أخرى تغازل حلفاءها بالليبرالية والديموقراطية والمنظمات غير الحكومية والحرب الناعمة. أعجبتني عبارة وردت في الكتاب، أن الولايات المتحدة هي الدولة الوحيدة التي حولت الحرية إلى تمثال.
April 4, 2023
Written in the wake of the US-orchestrated military coup d'etat of the MAS government of Bolivia in 2019, it is a brilliant work that is essential for understanding the brutality and horror of the atrocities the United States has committed, is committing and will commit in the future. Prashad paints a picture of the United States from it's conception as a colonial state to its modern day obsession with maintaining preponderant power and murderous sanctions across the globe.
Prashad has said previously that it is the responsibility of left wing writers to condense large amounts of information, and that is certainly achieved here. At 150 pages it chronicles an immense body of history with real clarity and depth of understanding, while remaining highly readable. It is stunningly introduced by President Evo Morales of Bolivia who was still in exile at the time of printing, but has since returned home following the landslide victory of MAS in the 2020 general election and the reinstatement of Bolivian democracy.
This is key and instills hope in anyone who wishes to view this book as a tour de force in futility and suffering. While the details are horrifying and the realities stark, it reads as an informed guide to the heroic struggles that have been waged by oppressed peoples, always against the odds, throughout the last two centuries and the techniques used by the most powerful to assassinate their leaders, undermine them, divide them and destroy them. And yet it is clear from the book that this never deters future struggles, time and time again people's movements return to demand power and dignity wherever it is denied.
The information here is essential to understand the political and economic realities of the countries currently out of favour with the United States and the present day hybrid wars against them and their people. As President Morales puts plainly: "What will future researchers say who take up the work of reading the CIA documents that are classified today?"
Read this book then buy 10 more copies and give them to 10 more people. The information here is indispensable.
Prashad has said previously that it is the responsibility of left wing writers to condense large amounts of information, and that is certainly achieved here. At 150 pages it chronicles an immense body of history with real clarity and depth of understanding, while remaining highly readable. It is stunningly introduced by President Evo Morales of Bolivia who was still in exile at the time of printing, but has since returned home following the landslide victory of MAS in the 2020 general election and the reinstatement of Bolivian democracy.
This is key and instills hope in anyone who wishes to view this book as a tour de force in futility and suffering. While the details are horrifying and the realities stark, it reads as an informed guide to the heroic struggles that have been waged by oppressed peoples, always against the odds, throughout the last two centuries and the techniques used by the most powerful to assassinate their leaders, undermine them, divide them and destroy them. And yet it is clear from the book that this never deters future struggles, time and time again people's movements return to demand power and dignity wherever it is denied.
The information here is essential to understand the political and economic realities of the countries currently out of favour with the United States and the present day hybrid wars against them and their people. As President Morales puts plainly: "What will future researchers say who take up the work of reading the CIA documents that are classified today?"
Read this book then buy 10 more copies and give them to 10 more people. The information here is indispensable.
May 17, 2021
"This is the way of the camp of the coup. It wants to steal the soul of the people so as to reduce people into zombies who must bow their heads down and work, putting their precious labour towards the accumulation of capital for the tyrants of the economy."
Vijay Prashad's Washington Bullets is one of the most powerful bodies of work that I've read all year. This collection of essay-like chapters guides the reader across nations and throughout time, giving us a birds-eye view of the variety of methods that Washington has used to violently squash attempts at self-determination. Washington's decades-old imperialistic quest to acquire and control the resources of nations across the globe has left an endless stream of bodies in its wake - and most Americans are none the wiser.
Utilizing powerful and poetic prose, Prashad presents us with a bloody mosaic illustrating the truth behind Washington's crusade to bring "freedom" and "democracy" to "uncivilized" nations across the globe. In telling their stories, Prashad pays homage to the freedom fighters, to the indigenous and the marginalized peoples who have dared to resist the stranglehold of U.S. imperialism. This is a chilling and gripping narrative driven by the empathy of someone who dares to bear witness to struggle, who seeks to bring into the light the truths that have been purposefully obscured and pushed into darkness.
While this work will inevitably attract readers of particular political leanings, it is necessary reading for all - especially for Americans who still buy into the standard propagandistic good guy/bad guy narrative that is presented in schools and in the media. Though it isn't a very long book (around 150 pgs or so), the material might be dense and heavy for some. It may require reading bits and pieces at a time, even if only to take a moment to breathe and absorb it all.
However one decides to read this book, it is worth reading in its entirety. The information contained within these pages puts both history and current events into perspective, challenging informed and uninformed readers alike to center the oppressed in their view of international politics.
Vijay Prashad's Washington Bullets is one of the most powerful bodies of work that I've read all year. This collection of essay-like chapters guides the reader across nations and throughout time, giving us a birds-eye view of the variety of methods that Washington has used to violently squash attempts at self-determination. Washington's decades-old imperialistic quest to acquire and control the resources of nations across the globe has left an endless stream of bodies in its wake - and most Americans are none the wiser.
Utilizing powerful and poetic prose, Prashad presents us with a bloody mosaic illustrating the truth behind Washington's crusade to bring "freedom" and "democracy" to "uncivilized" nations across the globe. In telling their stories, Prashad pays homage to the freedom fighters, to the indigenous and the marginalized peoples who have dared to resist the stranglehold of U.S. imperialism. This is a chilling and gripping narrative driven by the empathy of someone who dares to bear witness to struggle, who seeks to bring into the light the truths that have been purposefully obscured and pushed into darkness.
While this work will inevitably attract readers of particular political leanings, it is necessary reading for all - especially for Americans who still buy into the standard propagandistic good guy/bad guy narrative that is presented in schools and in the media. Though it isn't a very long book (around 150 pgs or so), the material might be dense and heavy for some. It may require reading bits and pieces at a time, even if only to take a moment to breathe and absorb it all.
However one decides to read this book, it is worth reading in its entirety. The information contained within these pages puts both history and current events into perspective, challenging informed and uninformed readers alike to center the oppressed in their view of international politics.
November 20, 2020
Everyone should read this. Incredibly well written, powerful and informative history. Covers a huge amount of ground in only 150 pages. This is the sick world we live in, but it didn’t have to turn out this way.
November 16, 2020
So good that I read it in one sitting. Pair this with Blackshirts & Reds for anyone and they'll be on your side in no time. This one is an all-timer.
March 25, 2022
Tanks, banks and NGOs.
A great primer to how Washington kills hope across the world.
Prashad writes with passion and immediacy
A great primer to how Washington kills hope across the world.
Prashad writes with passion and immediacy
July 3, 2024
This is definitely a general “starter pack” for people new to how much the U.S. meddles in other countries. It’s a shorter work, with only basics covered, but it’s all vital information and I did still learn a few things. As a fairly seasoned leftist though, 2/3 or so of it was kinda review.
June 11, 2025
depression. fuck the U.S lol.
there were a lot of things in here I already knew like the intervention/coups in Latin America funded by the U.S., but Jesus. the U.S cant keep it's dick in its pants
there were a lot of things in here I already knew like the intervention/coups in Latin America funded by the U.S., but Jesus. the U.S cant keep it's dick in its pants
October 18, 2021
Great analysis of concrete examples of how western imperialism has shaped the world. Good introduction to the thought of Vijay Prashad. Recommend others to listen to his lectures as well.
January 22, 2021
Honestly, this is a must read, specially if you have leftists tendencies and live in a imperialist country.
You must know your own history as it is.
As a brazilian, this book brought me pain - we (brazilians) know all too damn well what is like to live in the chaos of being the backyard of explotation for the USA and Europe.
I feel pain for all my brothers and sisters who have been going through this crazy hybrid wars and whose life is nothing compared to the profit of giant industries. This book shows, very straight to the point, how the USA has all the world on their pocket and how they just keep on doing coup after coup, following the same tatics and it's so sad to see that this is happening like TODAY where I live and in many other places.
Vijay Prashad wrote a beautiful, sad and essencial book - and honestly, a book that should give you all the strenght to keep on fighting and believing in a world that is more humane to everyone - not only the ones who live well because others suffer.
You must know your own history as it is.
As a brazilian, this book brought me pain - we (brazilians) know all too damn well what is like to live in the chaos of being the backyard of explotation for the USA and Europe.
I feel pain for all my brothers and sisters who have been going through this crazy hybrid wars and whose life is nothing compared to the profit of giant industries. This book shows, very straight to the point, how the USA has all the world on their pocket and how they just keep on doing coup after coup, following the same tatics and it's so sad to see that this is happening like TODAY where I live and in many other places.
Vijay Prashad wrote a beautiful, sad and essencial book - and honestly, a book that should give you all the strenght to keep on fighting and believing in a world that is more humane to everyone - not only the ones who live well because others suffer.
July 3, 2021
This book is heartbreaking because it precisely illustrates how the brutality of former and new colonizer nations still suppressing and murdering the people of post-colonial states through a strategic approach designed by giant corporations and facilitated by the US and its allies. Prashad has always been known for his no-bullshit approach in his writing. His love and heartbreak for revolutionaries in the Global South are quite visible in this small little book.
PS: There's a special place in hell for Western Anarchists (cause Liberals, Conservatives, and Soc-Dem are all guaranteed to go to hell inshallah) who willfully reject the struggle of revolutionaries in the Global South and how they opted to run their nations, by parroting CIA and Imperialist talking points to set up potential coups/economic sanctions/warfares. Yes, I am talking about China expert anarchists.
PS: There's a special place in hell for Western Anarchists (cause Liberals, Conservatives, and Soc-Dem are all guaranteed to go to hell inshallah) who willfully reject the struggle of revolutionaries in the Global South and how they opted to run their nations, by parroting CIA and Imperialist talking points to set up potential coups/economic sanctions/warfares. Yes, I am talking about China expert anarchists.
July 12, 2021
This is a phenomenal book. It belongs on your book shelf alongside Galeano, Fanon, and Parenti. Prashad accomplishes so much in just 160 pages. The brutality and moral bankruptcy of U.S. imperialism is laid bare here for all to see. Take for instance Madeline Albright who, when presented with the statistic that 400,000+ children died as a result of U.S. sanctions on Iraq said, "We think the price is worth it." This is just one example amongst dozens in this book. Yet somehow Prashad does not leave the reader hopeless, on the contrary, this book has a hopeful tone to it captured well by the words of Thomas Sankara, "You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future..." This book should be required reading. 5 stars.
August 14, 2021
One of the best books I have ever read, providing a big picture of the systematic US state terror throughout the world, without being too extensive.
For those who don't know much about it, this book offers a perfect introduction to the subject.
Bravo Vijay, bravo!
(read in Huai Yai, Thailand)
For those who don't know much about it, this book offers a perfect introduction to the subject.
Bravo Vijay, bravo!
(read in Huai Yai, Thailand)
August 1, 2023
não pergunte ao autor quais as referencias bibliográficas desse livro.
February 16, 2021
Is there anyone who tells the stories of imperialism like Prashad? Short answer is probably- no.
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