speaking truth to power. If all truth-statements are power-statements, the attempt to point out the failings and dangers of empire, to unmask the spin and lies by which people attain power and sustain themselves in it, is itself easily deconstructed. Empires themselves can easily co-opt postmodern techniques to brush off challenges: ‘Global warming? You only say that because you’re relying on science, which we know is Darwinian and anti-Christian’ (I have had that one said to me), or ‘Problems about