This question is the primary focus of an interview of Dr. Jan Øberg: Dr. Jan Øberg: The REAL Reason U.S. Hegemony Is Collapsing (Highlights), Lena Petrova Highlights – World Affairs In Context | May 23, 2026
Jan Øberg: Peace studies professor, PhD in sociology, peace and future researcher. Associate professor (docent) at Lund University, thereafter visiting or guest professor at various universities, Former director of the Lund University Peace Research Institute (LUPRI), former secretary-general of the Danish Peace Foundation, former member of the Danish government's Committee on security and disarmament, Visiting professor at ICU (1990-91) and Chuo Universities (1995) in Japan, Visiting professor for three months at Nagoya University in 2004 and 2007 and four months in 2009 – at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.
Øberg has taught peace courses for more than 10 years at the European Peace University (EPU) in Schlaining, Austria and teaches MA courses twice a year at the World Peace Academy (WPA) in Basel, Switzerland.
With his wife, Dr. Christina Spännar, Jan Øberg is the co-founder of TFF – Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future, Research.Chairman of the board 1997-2003 and interim chairman 2007-2008, director of the TFF and head of its Conflict-Mitigation teams to ex-Yugoslavia, Georgia, Burundi and Iraq. Source: Jan Øberg CV
From the interview:
(at 8:59+) Jan Øberg: There's 43 American bases in Scandinavia, a membership of NATO for Finland and Sweden, and you know, the whole thing is going to fall apart because these are decisions that won't last because NATO is falling apart too. So yes, more dangerous, but also that dangerous period is going to be short. And if we survive it, and if you and I see and the rest of the world sees a world without the U.S. Empire and without NATO, it's going to be a fantastic world. Think about the kind of world we could have when these two factors are gone. I'm not talking about America. I never mean anti-American. I'm saying the empire. There's no empire that has lasted forever and this one is going down. It will be the last one in human history. The Chinese are not that stupid.
Lena: There is an argument to be made that any state that hosts U.S. military bases is not truly sovereign. Do you feel that there is any substance to that argument?
Jan Øberg: Absolutely, absolutely. [Long discussion follows]
OK, so here is the patient, America, lying on the table in the OR, and we are going to excise the tumour of Empire from this patient. Upon more thorough examination, the tumour has a greater mass than the patient, and has metastasized into almost every organ. It appears that removal would terminate the patient. Patient is referred to palliative care, in isolation in case this condition is contagious.
So, just how does one "end" the U.S. Empire if you cannot separate Empire from the body politic? America IS war, always has been. Every arm of government focuses on control of all aspects of all other nations through its various agencies, such as their clandestine armed forces (the CIA) and outright military activities through the various Military Commands around the world, the leaders of which make regular visits to the vassal states in their Command areas.
The cancer of Empire reaches into every cell of the patient, particularly into their minds. America is the world's largest arms dealer with the highest military funding of all nations, all provided by sucking in the savings of the rest of the world. So there is one possible point of starving the tumour - end the flow of savings (investment) into this Empire, the flip-side of which is the pushing of America's debt onto the rest of the world. A U.S. Government Bond is a debt instrument, not an true asset like property. But the deeper root is in the minds of the people.
Everyone working in the arms industry is actually complicit. Don't say "If I refuse to do the work, someone else will be paid to do it anyway." That doesn't fly at a Nuremberg Trial. You each have personal responsibility. And that is where the foundation of Empire sits - at that point of cognitive dissonance in your mind, where, even though you do not want to be killed yourself, you stand there processing artillery shells that WILL kill someone else. It is at that point, where either you put down your tools and go home, or YOU are part of the problem in this world if you continue. That is the point where Empire ends. Or not.
Leave a comment! This is a re-direct to my Substack page.
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