The U.S. base network exceeds any prior empire’s footprint

Evidence

More broadly still, the Middle East base buildup reflects the continuation of a millennia-old strategy for pursuing power around the world. Like empires from ancient Egypt to imperial Britain, the United States has come to use its foreign bases to assert influence and dominate far-off lands, resources, and markets. But even more than its predecessors, including the empire upon which the sun never set, the United States since World War II has become defined by its unprecedented collection of bases encircling the planet. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 104

Categorization

• XREF: Comparable to the reader’s earlier base-nation framing in prior chapters; supports the scope claim driving the whole book. — connects to: The pre-1900 base network presaged later American global military dominance. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 70
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 104