An affirmative answer has been assumed without challenge at least since World War II. But too much is at stake in American lives and liberties to ignore the advice of Bertrand Russell: "In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted." Daily news stories speak volumes about the United States conviction that its national security interests require a muscular military profile everywhere in the planet. The United States is evicted from Manas air base in Kryghyzstan in a cat-and-mouse game with Russia. The United States spars with Russia … Continue reading Is an Empire Necessary?