American military presence, 2007
The American Empire does not appear on a map like the British or Roman empires. America is more like Athens: a first among equals in a military league in addition to having a string of vassal states.
NATO countries in Europe
Defence: America seems committed to defend:
- NATO allies (pictured right)
- Japan, South Korea, Taiwan
- Australia, New Zealand
- Israel
- The free flow of oil from the Persian Gulf
- The Americas (as a sphere of influence)
Troops: Countries with over 1,000 American troops on their soil at the end of 2011:
- 1,017,418 USA
- 102,200 Afghanistan
- 55,857 South Korea
- 53,526 Germany
- 49,800 Iraq and Kuwait
- 36,708 Japan
- 10,817 Italy
- 9,317 Britain
- 2,135 Bahrain
- 1,504 Turkey
- 1,481 Spain
- 1,207 Belgium
A bit dated: from 2009.
Military bases in 2012:
- Europe: Britain, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Kosovo, Greece, Bulgaria
- Middle East: Israel, Turkey
- Persian Gulf: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman – every single country on the southern shore
- Central Asia: Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan
- Indian Ocean: Diego Garcia
- Africa: Djibouti
- Asia/Pacific: Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Guam, Australia
- Americas: USA, Cuba, Brazil
- Arctic: Greenland
Detroit, 1967
Military intervention, 1890-2010:
- 1890s: South Dakota, Argentina, Chile, Haiti, Idhao, Hawaii, Chicago, Nicaragua, China, Korea, Panama, China, Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Minnesota, Samoa
- 1900s: Philippines, Cuba, Idaho, Oklahoma, Panama, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Korea, Nicaragua
- 1910s: Philippines, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, China, Cuba, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Colorado, Haiti, Texas, Germany, Russia, Yugoslavia
- 1920s: China, Haiti, Russia, Panama, Guatemala, West Viriginia, Turkey, Mexico, Honduras
- 1930s: China, Haiti, El Salvador, Washington DC
- 1940s: China, Japan, Germany, Italy, Detroit, Iran, Yugoslavia, Uruguay, Greece, Philippines
- 1950s: Philippines, Puerto Rico, Korea, Iran, Vietnam, Guatemala, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, China, Panama
- 1960s: Vietnam, Cuba, Germany, Laos, Iraq, Panama, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Detroit, USA, Cambodia
- 1970s: Vietnam, Cambodia, Oman, Laos, South Dakota, Mideast, Chile, Angola
- 1980s: Angola, Iran, Libya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Lebanon, Grenada, Honduras, Virgin Islands, Philippines, Panama
- 1990s: Angola, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Liberia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Los Angeles, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Haiti, Zaire (D.R. Congo), Liberia, Albania, Sudan, Afghanistan
- 2000s: Yemen, Macedonia, USA, Afghanistan, Philippines, Colombia, Iraq, Liberia, Haiti, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria
Those inside the country are mainly to break strikes, fight Indians and stop riots by blacks.
Covert operations to overthrow governments (not always successful), 1950-2010:
- 1950s: Iran, Guatemala, Tibet, Indonesia, Cuba
- 1960s: Tibet, D.R. Congo, Iraq, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Brazil, Ghana
- 1970s: Tibet, Chile, Argentina, Afghanistan
- 1980s: Turkey, Poland, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Angola, Philippines
- 1990s: Iraq
- 2000s: Venezuela, Palestine, Somalia, Iran
Places that appear the most on the last two lists:
- 8: Philippines
- 7: Panama, China
- 6: Nicaragua, Iraq, Haiti
- 5: Iran, Cuba
- 4: Vietnam, Honduras, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Angola, Germany, Tibet
Foreign aid: Countries that received over $0.75 billion in 2010:
- $11.4468 Afghanistan
- $2.8535 Pakistan
- $2.8358 Israel
- $2.0879 Iraq
- $1.6989 Egypt
- $1.4081 Haiti
- $0.9818 Ethiopia
- $0.9759 Sudan
- $0.8637 Colombia
- $0.8187 Kenya
- $0.7671 Jordan
Trade: Countries with America as their leading export market, with % of exports sold there:
- Africa:
- 83.2% Chad
- 58.4% Lesotho
- 49.1% Niger
- 40.9% Gabon
- 28.9% Nigeria
- 23.3% Algeria
- Asia:
- 41.5% Cambodia
- 28.8% Israel
- 23.3% Iraq
- 20.1% Sri Lanka
- 19.7% Bangladesh
- 18.0% Vietnamh
- 17.1% China
- 14.3% Pakistan
- Europe:
- 22.3% Ireland
- Americas:
- 86.0% Honduras
- 83.6% Aruba
- 83.3% Haiti
- 73.7% Canada
- 71.7% Mexico
- 60.2% Nicaragua
- 57.8% St Kitts and Nevis
- 49.3% Dominican Republic
- 44.6% El Salvador
- 43.7% Trinidad and Tobago
- 39.9% Venezuela
- 38.3% Ecuador
- 38.0% Colombia
- 38.0% Guatemala
- 37.7% Belize
- 37.0% Jamaica
- 33.9% Costa Rica
- 24.1% Suriname
Sources: Wikipedia: List of U.S. military bases, Troop deployments, Foreign aid, Covert actions, History of U.S. Military Interventions since 1890, CIA Factbook: Export partners
See also:
- American Empire
- white man’s burden
- banana republic - vassal states, American-style
- Haiti: a brief history
- Philippine-American War
- The 1967 Detroit Riot
- The Sioux today
When was the worst domestic military intervention since the Civil War? 1968? some of those riots came close to the Detroit riots of 1967, or even exceeded Detroit on certain statistical barometers.
Well, the military base stuff in the Netherlands is not THAT large anymore. US military personel is more or less forced to go native, I’ve noticed…
@ Abagond
You presented this information very well. Good job, as usual.
It’s so funny how American politicians keep talking about the growing debt and ongoing deficits, but unwilling to point out the main cause: the U.S. military presence overseas. It’s also the root of the problems with terrorism in the Arabian peninsula. Unless and until Americans demand withdrawal from all these areas, it will continue to face financial and security issues.
I know in the anime Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, they mention the American Empire in their storylines. I personally thought that was cool.
@ resjan
Please get your facts in order
us defense spending = 684 B or 20% of federal spending
the deficit is 1.17 T
You could cut every penny of defense spending and you would 500 B in the hole and I would also suggest you do a little more research on terrorists and their motivations and stop reading the talking points
good post once again
@ BadWolf
Defense spending is not synonymous with the DOD budget, BTW. It doesn’t include VA and DHS budgets, nor does it include military-related expenditures within the DOE, DOS or NASA budgets. I certainly agree that there are other reasons behind the recurring deficits (e.g., SSA and DHHS budgets), but military-related spending is the main cause b/c it has increased both nominally and as a share of total federal spending since the last budget surplus (prior to 9/11).
Bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders have expressed on numerous occasions their disgust with the US military’s presence in Arabia and its attacks on Muslims around the world. Obviously you’ve not heard of bin Laden’s “Declaration of War against the Americans OCCUPYING the Land of the Two Holy Places.”