Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower

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Rogue State - Book cover
This article is about a book by William Blum, for an explanation of the rogue state concept, see Rogue state.

Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower (ISBN 1-56751-374-3) is a book by William Blum first published in 2000. The 3rd revision updates events covered in the book to the year 2005. It examines and criticizes United States foreign policy during and following the Cold War. 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" and "How the CIA Sent Nelson Mandela to Prison for 28 Years".

"Endorsement" by Osama bin Laden

It was mentioned in a speech by Osama bin Laden - allegedly - broadcast on 19 January 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. [1] [2] [3]

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 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's sales list. By the following Sunday it was number 12.

'Bin Laden' 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 - ISBN 1567513069 .

Other editions

  • ISBN 1842778277 Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, Zed Books Ltd 2006

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bin Laden plug boosts book sales", Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 2006
  2. ↑ "Osama 'plug' boosts book's sales", BBC News, 22 January 2006,
  3. ↑ "The Author Who Got A Big Boost From bin Laden", Washington Post, January 21, 2006
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