PRINT-Blowback by Chalmers Johnson

"Blowback" is the term the CIA used to describe the unintended consequences of US foreign policy. Chalmers Johnson takes that term as the title of this book written before 9/11 which has gone on to become a bestseller thanks to Ron Paul and others who are critical of the current neoconservative foreign policy. This particular volume focuses on Asia and how it resembles the communist satellites the USSR established in Eastern Europe following World War II. Japan is essentially the US counterpart to East Germany.

The concept of blowback more than the actual book has had a huge impact. Johnson has gone on to write more volumes in a series on this subject which are required reading for anyone who gives a damn about foreign policy. What is so revolutionary about this work is that it criticizes the US role in the world and shows how we are increasingly seen as a bully on the world stage. The result is that America is hated more and more by the people of the world. This results in terrorism like 9/11.

I am just beginning with this series of books, and I will have more reviews as I go along. As I said, this volume is mostly about Asia and US relations there. The USA dictates to South Korea and Japan in almost an identical fashion as the USSR did with Eastern Europe. These two countries do not have autonomy. They are US satellites. They bow to the political and economic dictates of Washington, DC. Both countries chafe under the yoke of what is essentially foreign domination. The result is needless animosity between the two Koreas and with China. As it stands, the region is stable relative to the Middle East. Then again, Eastern Europe was stable as well. What is established in this book is that the US is not exactly the good guy. The US is merely the winner. American exceptionalism is a myth. The only people buying it live within the borders of the USA.

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