Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
Encyclopedia
- This article is about a book by William Blum, for an explanation of the rogue state concept, see Rogue stateRogue stateRogue state is a controversial term applied by some international theorists to states they consider threatening to the world's peace. This means meeting certain criteria, such as being ruled by authoritarian regimes that severely restrict human rights, sponsor terrorism, and seek to proliferate...
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Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower (ISBN 1-56751-374-3) is a book by William Blum
William Blum
William Blum is an American author, historian, and critic of United States foreign policy. He studied accounting in college. Later he had a low-level computer-related position at the United States Department of State in the mid-1960s. Initially an anti-communist with dreams of becoming a foreign...
first published in 2000. The 3rd revision updates events covered in the book to the year 2005. It examines and criticizes United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
during and following the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The book's first chapter is titled "Why Do Terrorists Keep Picking on the United States". Subsequent chapter titles include "America's Gift to the World — the Afghan Terrorist Alumni", "The U.S. Versus the World at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
" and "How the CIA Sent Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
to Prison for 28 Years".
"Endorsement" by Osama bin LadenOsama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
It was mentioned in a speech attributed to Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
broadcast on January 19, 2006. Bin Laden stated: "If Bush carries on with his lies and oppression, it would be useful for you to read the book The Rogue State." Sales subsequently soared.
When asked if he was disturbed by Bin Laden's endorsement of his book, Blum replied "I was glad. I knew it would help the book's sales and I was not bothered by who it was coming from. If he shares with me a deep dislike for the certain aspects of U.S. foreign policy, then I'm not going to spurn any endorsement of the book by him. I think it's good that he shares those views and I'm not turned off by that." Prior to bin Laden's statement, the book was ranked at 209,000 on Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
's sales list. By the following Sunday it was number 12.
Bin Laden allegedly quoted the following passage: "If I were president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize - very publicly and sincerely - to all the widows and orphans, the impoverished and the tortured, and the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. Then I would announce to every corner of the world that America's global military interventions have come to an end." The quote is from Blum's 2004 book Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire.