Persian Realm

Christopher Hitchens ( then Columnist of The Nation ) debates with Morton Kondracke ( Then senior editor of The New Republic) on the Realities of Not of American Imperialism in the Middle East, Shortly after the First Gulf War. I guess In retrospect ,depending on one's point of view  , given what has happened in the region 20 years later following Sept 11th attacks, this debate offers interesting insights on the pros and cons of American presence in the Middle East and the "use" and "abuse" of the term "Imperialism" associated to it.
Interestingly Christopher Hitchens "anti American Imperialist" views shifted considerably during the Second Bush Administration's So called "War on Terror" ( See Last Clip On Bill Maher's Show).
Strangely enough given the depth of the debate 20 years earlier What could be dismissed as an arrogant gesture on behalf of Hitchens on Maher's Show  appears to me as a sign of frustration from someone who unlike many US talk show hosts and often clueless audience has at least given serious thought to the geo political  dilemmas of the Middle East before making a comment. And that decades prior to many American's who prior to the "War on Terror" could not even  situate Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan on the Map and many Probably still Don't.   
So paradoxically in my point of view it is precisely because Americans have such an Insular outlook of themselves and the World be it culturally or geographically that it  horrendously reflects on the average American's lack of education ( See Below Miss Teen USA 2007 ) that I don't think America ever was nor will be an  Imperialist Nation like Former Colonial Powers such as Great Britain which ambitioned however wrongly to "Civilize the World" :

Or France:       Not that some Americans may not want to ... But simply because they CAN'T even get their geography Right !  
 
Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question:   The Americanization of Emily: James Garner Vs Julie Andrews "Don't Blame It On Our Coca-Cola Bottles" :   ***************************************************************************************************** *****************************************************************************************************   C-SPAN Debate between Hitchens VS Kondracke on Reality or Fantasy of American Imperialism (1991):
********************************************************************************************************************** **********************************************************************************************************************
Part I: " Hundred-Year Iraq War and Iranian Threat"
Part II: "Oil, the Middle East, and Palestine" Part III: "On the Iraq War, Kurdistan, and the CIA" Part IV: "On Greater Israel and Palestine" Part V: "Morality, War, and the CIA" Part VI: "American Imperialism and the New World Order" ******************************************************************** ********************************************************************               Hitchens Views 20 years Later ******************************************************************** ********************************************************************   Hitchens say's "Who Wants a Third World War ? If Not Ahmadinejad" and upsets Maher's audience by calling them "morons":     
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  Mother Teresa: Saint or Scandal? Christopher Hitchens Vs Bill Donohue (Hardball Debate)

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american* idiot by Niloufar Parsi