The Precipice Quotes

“I don't incidentally suggest that the deceit is conscious. Much more likely, it's just the enormous power of conformity to convention, to what Gramsci called hegemonic "common sense." Some ideas are not even rejected; they are unthinkable. Like the idea that US aggression is aggression; it can only be "a mistake," "a tragic error," "a strategic blunder." I also don't want to suggest this is "American exceptionalism." It's hard to find an exception to the practice in the history of imperialism.”
― Noam Chomsky, The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic, and the Urgent Need for Radical Change

“Any thought of soft power has been pretty much abandoned, but US reserves of hard power are enormous. No other country can impose harsh sanctions at will and compel third parties to honor them at cost of expulsion from the international financial system; and, of course, no one else has hundreds of military bases around the world or anything like Washington's advanced military power and ability to resort to force at will and with impunity.”
― noam chomsky, The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic, and the Urgent Need for Radical Change