America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq - Book Report/Review Example

Response Paper 1. Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq Stephen Kinzer in Overthrow analyzes and evaluates the impact of the United States toppling regimes since 1893 in fourteen different nations. Kinzer transforms each event into a captivating and energizing brief story. Among all the 14 tales, only a solitary event or story has a positive ending. The others all have tragic endings. As such, this part will analyze and evaluate Kinzer’s book Overthrow. The list of foreign governments that have been overthrown by the American government is quite long according to Kinzer. The list ranges from Cuba, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Iran, Honduras, Chile, Guatemala, South Vietnam, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Panama. The reasons advanced by America to justify its intervention in these states are mostly unsubstantiated and unjust. Although the book seems to be quite superficial to acknowledge its conclusions completely, American actions and military interventions rarely led to the achievement of its objectives and goals. Kinzer is a brilliant and good author since he came up with the books idea. Additionally, he shows how American involvement in overthrowing regimes around the globe has led to negative results. Moreover, in his book, the author illustrates how unjust or bunk the reasons advanced by the United States to justify its intervention were. To aid the reader comprehend the book easily, Kinzer divides it into three parts in relation to the types of American intervention involved. Indonesia, Congo, brazil, Dominican republic, Mexico, and Haiti are left out majorly because America did not play a significant role in the toppling of the regimes or it invaded but dint topple the governments. Also, the author lists some of the villains/people involved in influencing the spread of us hegemony over the world (henry Kissinger, john foster, President George bush and most of his administration). In the first section, American interventions were based on imperialistic grounds. Kinzer suggests that the primary aim of toppling these governments was to protect American businesses abroad in addition to expanding American influence and power. However, to the public, it was justified differently. Countries with this type of intervention include Cuba, Hawaii, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Of these nations, the Philippines, Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua had peaceful periods before American intervention. The second section focuses on covert missions sanctioned by the USA government against communism leaning leaders. Guatemala, Iran, Chile and Vietnam are grouped in this section. American intervention was necessitated by the need to counter the spread of communism in these countries. Nevertheless, this was used as an excuse to advance American imperialist interests. Various American business interests were threatened by nationalist or socialist governments in Chile and Guatemala (rail road, telephone and united fruit). Also, Mossadegh in Iran was intent and determined to wrestle back control of Iranian oil from foreign control. As such, the United States overthrew Mossadegh regime. In Chile, America supported a violent movement which led to the overthrow of a popularly elected government. The third part looks at actual American military invasions. America out rightly invaded nations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama and Grenada. Although most of these interventions were justified, the nations were mismanaged after American invasion. For instance, Noriega was ruining and destroying his country. As such, American intervention was necessary. In most cases, America’s main aim for intervention was to advance its economic gains or influence abroad. For instance ‘some argued that the united states had to take new territories in order to prevent European power or perhaps even japan from taking them’ (33). I chose this passage from the book since it seems to summarize America's agenda easily in toppling foreign governments. In the reading, I found the reason for Iranians hating America to be new. Iranian hatred emanated from American toppling the Mossadegh regime. 2. Planet Of The Slums by Mike Davis Davis an exemplary social commentator and historian who mainly analyses and evaluates how industrialization affects societies. Additionally, he is a noted critic of neoliberal policies. This part will be a response to the Planet of the Slums. Davis in a Planet of slums advocates or champions for the adoption of a Marxist ideology. Davis perfectly describes a gloomy and grim future characterized by people living in squalid cities. Thus, majority of the population will be pushed to live in slums with an informal economy. ‘The cities of future rather than being made out of glass and steel as envisioned by earlier generations of urbanites, are instead largely constructed out of crude brick, straw, recycled plastic and cement blocks’ (13). This passage gives the stark reality of how future cities according to Davis will look like. So as to reach his conclusions, the author analyzed data from the United Nations habitat and other reputable organizations. By analyzing and evaluating this data, the author figures out population or urbanization trends and consequently envisions a future where the majority of urban dwellers will reside in slums. With the present day economic, political and social structures, the concept of an increase in slums globally will only continue. As such, the emergence of slums is unavoidable. Davis is an excellent author since his writing style is readily available and understood by the reader. However, he tends to lean his arguments towards those individuals who tend to detract his Marxist ideas. Davis provides vivid and precise descriptions of slums which are densely populated in developing nations and argues that they live in an informal sector that has been entirely abandoned by both their governments and the aid organizations such as the IMF Unlike in prior periods where people moved to urban areas to participate and engage themselves in the improving the economy, people now days move to urban areas without substantial reasons. Nevertheless, rural-urban migration continues as a result of structural readjustment of programs meant to help the urban poor. The ever expanding global or city slums instead of being addressed by their respective governments and aid agencies are left to continue to exist on the world’s margins. Therefore, most slums in the world are embracing religion while maintaining a vibrant informal economy. Majority of the population worldwide live in abject poverty, dispossessed, starving and oppressed. A lot of people know this fact. Nevertheless, very few people understand why the majority of people in the world continue to reside in deplorable conditions. So, the author tries to explain this complex element. The author commences his arguments by presenting real statistics and data from reputable international sources that imply that cities are going to house more people than the rural areas. To strengthen his claim further, the author gives country level statistics and data. The additional information reassert his claim further. It can be seen from the first few sections of the book that the author mostly focuses his analysis on poor developing nations. To present this data to the reader in a comprehensible manner, the author draws charts and tables. Charts and tables act as a visual aid to readers. Lastly, Davis’s arguments match the evidence provided by nations or international organizations. 3. Terrorism and War" by Howard Zinn The acts of terrorism, violence and war have always been there since time immemorial. Terrorism has been a hotly contested topic since September 11. In western nations and the United States, the topic of terrorism has been widely discussed. Despite the always constant debates, western nations lack an intensive, fair and balanced view of terrorism. Subsequently, president barrack Obama has resorted to commence and undertake open military interventions in the Arab world/middle east. Zinn’s book although published more than twelve years ago is still relevant. The book can be used to explain the failings and virtues of recent events in the war against terrorism. As such, this part will evaluate and analyze Howard Zinn’s book terrorism and war. Zinn states that ‘it is not right to respond to terrorism by terrorizing other people’ (12). I picked this passage mainly because it conveys the author’s thesis in a simple but clear manner. The author in terrorism and war attempts to differentiate between an unjust war and a just war. Zinn in his book illustrates the impact war has on citizens or civilians from the corruption and curtailment of liberties, human rights oppression in foreign nations and the increase in collateral damage( for instance, thousands of civilians have been killed by American military interventions and actions. Additionally, the American government has been accused of torturing and detaining suspected terrorists/enemies abroad. Zinn in tackling this topic shows a high level of humanity and internationalism, however in an idealist way. This is primarily because war morally is always brutal and ugly. Zinn in his research tries to determine whether a war can be just or unjust. In relation to the 9/11 attacks and American interventions abroad are both described as being unjust by the author. The author goes further to suggest that the Muslim world possesses more legitimate reasons and grievances than the United States, which is only focusing to increase her imperialist agenda. Zinn is a brilliant author since he basically appeals to universal human morality and common sense. Zinn later states that a war is only just if it’s against another war. Although the description ‘war against war’ is hazy, Zinn acknowledges that some situations necessitate the use of violence. Nevertheless, he argues that all armed struggles that commence on a good note/cause always end up getting out of hand leading to indiscriminate violence. Consequently, he advocates for a non-violent direct action. Most people in western nations fail to look at and analysis the primary causes of terrorism or take into account the negative effects of American/western terrorism. Instead of following the negotiation route, the united states of America preferred military action in Afghanistan as a result of the 9/11 attacks. American military intervention in Afghanistan did little to reduce terrorism but rather increased the scale of violence and suffering. The justification of World War II is a new concept. Zinn states that World War II was just and necessary since it was aimed at freeing the world from fascist powers. This is new to me since any war is unjustified. Negotiation routes would have been followed to end the crisis amicably. However, Zinn implies that World War II was necessary. Works Cited Davis, Mike. "Planet of slums." New Perspectives Quarterly 23.2 (2006): 6-11. Print. Kinzer, Stephen. Overthrow: America's century of regime change from Hawaii to Iraq. Macmillan, 2007. Print. Zinn, Howard. Terrorism and war. Seven Stories Press, 2011.Print. Read More