Chalmers Ashby Johnson is an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He served in the Korean war, was a consultant for theCIA from 1967–1973, and led the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley for years.[1] He is also president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute (now based at the University of San Francisco), an organization promoting public education about Japan and Asia.[2] He has written numerous books including, most recently, three examinations of the consequences of American Empire: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.
With more than 2,500,000 U.S. personnel serving across the planet and military bases spread across each continent, it’s time to face up…
History tells us that one of the most unstable political combinations is a country — like the United States today — that…
There is something absurd and inherently false about one country trying to impose its system of government or its economic institutions on…
As he and his wife Sheila drive me through downtown San Diego in the glare of mid-day, he suddenly exclaims, ‘Look at…
Tomdispatch: You were discussing the lunacy of the 2007 Pentagon budget… Chalmers Johnson: What I don’t understand is that the current defense…
In the months before he ordered the invasion of Iraq, George Bush and his senior officials spoke of preserving Iraq’s ‘patrimony’ for…
I recall forty years ago, when I was a new professor working in the field of Chinese and Japanese international relations, that…
Two weeks after George Bush’s reelection, Porter J. Goss, the newly appointed Director of Central Intelligence, wrote an internal memorandum to all…
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to 10 September 2001, by Steve…
It is hardly news to anyone who pays the slightest attention to American politics that Congress is no longer responsive to the…
All the latest from Z, directly to your inbox.
Institute for Social and Cultural Communications, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit.
Our EIN# is #22-2959506. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.
We do not accept funding from advertising or corporate sponsors.Ā We rely on donors like you to do our work.
You keep coming back for a reason: serious political analysis, movement reporting, and debate beyond the priorities of corporate media. Today, Z is in a precarious financial position. If Z is part of how you understand the world, help keep it going. The readers who give monthly are the reason this work survives between fundraisers.
Z is in a precarious financial position. If it’s part of how you understand the world, help keep it going.
Sustainers at $9/month or more receive the digital Z Magazine.
Already a sustainer? Click here and we won’t ask again. Thank you!
Your reading count is stored only in your browser and is never sent to us.Sound is muted by default.Ā Tap š for the full experience
Critical Action is a longtime friend of Z and a music and storytelling project grounded in liberation, solidarity, and resistance to authoritarian power. Through music, narrative, and multimedia, the project engages the same political realities and movement traditions that guide and motivate Zās work.
If this project resonates with you, you can learn more about it and find ways to support the work using the link below.
Z is a place to think beyond the limits of the present.
For decades, Z has brought together political analysis, movement reporting, debate, and visions of a different future from writers and activists around the world. That work is more than journalism. It is movement infrastructure: movements need places to develop ideas, test arguments, learn from experience, and imagine what comes next.
In the first two days of this fundraiser, 19 donors and 8 new monthly sustainers stepped up. Help us reach 1,000 donors who keep Z independent, for everyone.
For decades, Z has published the analysis, debate, and visions movements need, free of paywalls, ads, and billionaire owners. If that work should continue, Z needs your support now.
Sustainers at $9/month or more receive the digital Z Magazine.
Join the Z Community ā receive event invites, announcements, a Weekly Digest, and opportunities to engage.
