limits of empire questions

1) Does McMahon place too much emphasis on the US aid programs? Does he ignore how the money was used or other aid programs used? It seems as if he simply describes the US throwing money into various countries blindly without giving the reader an understanding of how these programs were used. In the appendix section charts are given showing the amount of money given as part of US aid as well as each individual country's imports and exports. Can we attribute the rise in nations exports to a growing economy or was the US aid simply propping these economies up?

2) Can we draw any parallels between the failure of US interventions in Asia with more current affairs in the Middle East? Why was the US so concerned with not having a country be called communist that they missed opportunities to gain real relationships with some of the communist leaders who were often the best option for a ruler? How much of our failures can be blamed on the fact that we often supported candidates who were not the best choices and did not have the majority support, just because they were democratic and loyal to US interests?