Our own nemesis

I just watched professor and author Chalmers Johnson on C-SPAN2's BookTV, and it was a sobering hour. He said a number of things that were noteworthy, including that there are 737 American military bases outside the United States and that, at any moment, China, Japan or Saudi Arabia could refuse to accept US dollars, which are worth less and less, precipitating the crash of our economy.

Johnson has written a trilogy that examines the consequences of American imperialism. The third volume, published recently, has the subtitle The Last Days of the American Republic, and he spoke about his beliefs that -- because of our out-of-control military-industrial complex and consumption in the face of massive debt -- the end really is near.