Andrews, the “Home of Air Force 1” is the only base in the state known to poison both the Patuxent and the Potomac. PFAS may travel for miles. It contaminates fish and sickens people who consume it. Who knew?
The US has roughly 6,000 military personnel scattered throughout the continent with military attachés outnumbering diplomats in many embassies across Africa.
David Vine is Professor of Anthropology at American University whose books include Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. David Vine’s latest book is called The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, From Columbus to the Islamic State.
November 11, 2020, is Armistice Day 103 — which is 102 years since World War I was ended at a scheduled moment (11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 — killing an extra 11,000 people after the decision to end the war had been reached early in the morning).
Over the past two years, the United States has dramatically increased the number of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and destroyers sent into the South China Sea as a freedom of navigation show of force missions to remind the Chinese government that the U.S. considers the Western Pacific and the South China Sea as a part of the oceans of America and its allies.
U.S. permawars consist largely of coating various countries with bases, and the goals include the maintenance of some number of permanent bases and over-sized embassy-fortresses. But what if the wars are not only motivated by the goal of new bases, but also driven in significant part by the existence of current bases?
