On today’s show host Esty Dinur speaks again with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson about the decline of the American empire. Wilkerson says that on both the global and domestic fronts, the nation is doing very badly. 

We’re less secure and safe than we’ve ever been in a general sense. In a national security sense, we’re doing better than ever, but there’s one major exception: nuclear weapons. The US has destroyed every nuclear treaty created during the Cold War and he worries about how the nation may deploy them again as it loses power on a global scale. Wilkerson says that the US made a grave mistake by getting involved in Ukraine and Iran and in so doing forcing Russia and China together.

Internally, the nation is also in deep trouble because since 9/11 we’ve surrendered a great many of our civil liberties, and thus our democracy. He says that 9/11 was used as an opening for anti-democratic legislation and we’re “paying the piper” because the billionaires behind Trump are taking advantage. Wilkerson says the technocrats are intent on their own security and would rather see a corporate board running the country than democracy. 

They also talk about the US’s involvement in proxy wars, how Christian nationalism helps the administration “sanctify” their actions, the situation in Gaza, ICE raids, and more. 

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired US Army Colonel who worked for the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and, after retirement from the military, for the U.S. Secretary of State. He taught national security affairs for six years at the George Washington University and for 16 years at the College of William & Mary. Today, he’s affiliated with the Eisenhower Media Network.

Featured image: “A Thing Well Begun Is Half Done” by Victor Gillan from 1899, via Wikimedia Commons.

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