Today marks 78 years since the Nakba, the brutal terror campaign waged by Zionist forces against Palestinians to found the state of Israel. British imperialism – having subjected the region to decades of domination, plunder, and division – was central to this catastrophe.

Desperate to maintain Britain’s relevance, successive governments have pledged to ramp up military spending – a promise that British capitalism cannot afford. The Iran war is now exposing that Britain has no independent military role to play on the world stage.

Today, we are witnessing the relative decline of US imperialism. This crucial subject is outlined in John Peterson’s fantastic book ‘Colossus: The Rise and Decline of US Imperialism’. Here, we reproduce extracts from the book alongside a review from a reader.