It is more than oceanic hegemony; all that does is provide security of international shipping. We have some military presence in a vast majority of the countries worldwide. We have military consuls (so-called combatant commanders, not of course commanding combat operations) overseeing every corner of the planet; who are of greater political authority - both within our government and in conducting foreign relations - than State's ambassadors.
It is very true that our empire is not the classical model, but we impose our law (and values) anywhere in the world we feel like it at any time. The entirety of containment of communism rested on that Wilsonian conceit. Assange shouldn't be subject to U.S. prosecution because he never broke the law while in American sovereign space. We threaten Israel not as a country protecting its own territory and people, but as though we have a right to decide for them.
It is more than oceanic hegemony; all that does is provide security of international shipping. We have some military presence in a vast majority of the countries worldwide. We have military consuls (so-called combatant commanders, not of course commanding combat operations) overseeing every corner of the planet; who are of greater political authority - both within our government and in conducting foreign relations - than State's ambassadors.
It is very true that our empire is not the classical model, but we impose our law (and values) anywhere in the world we feel like it at any time. The entirety of containment of communism rested on that Wilsonian conceit. Assange shouldn't be subject to U.S. prosecution because he never broke the law while in American sovereign space. We threaten Israel not as a country protecting its own territory and people, but as though we have a right to decide for them.