American Empire

In the Gits universe, USA was split into two parts, one of which was named the American Empire

Probably there is as much as the viewer wants to read into it. The earlier flashback into the Fourth World War, with American soldiers in some foreign land, and then the malign role of the CIA - yup, plenty of scope for subtext if the viewer wished. I personally just rolled with the plot and didn't try to read too much into it - the CIA are such generic villains anyway that they can be used without a specific anti-American critique, and plenty of American authors have already toyed with the idea of a futuristic American empire.

When darkness overcomes the heart, Lil' Slugger appears...

America split 3 ways in the world of Ghost in the Shell.

Wikipedia has a picture of continental US as 3 countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Ghost_in_the_Shell#Setting

I think this dropping of any pretenses is apt in the future. Almost everything political in the show has had its own real world precedence.

If you saw the last episode, the CIA who administered the lethal nanites said to Kuze "Your county has no need for charismatic leaders that can't be controlled, Docile consumers, that's the ticket." CIA has done the same type of assassination (real or economic) all over Latin America, Middle-East, parts of Africa, and has "close ties" with Japan of today. The only "charismatic leader" to escape this fate in the Western hemisphere, we know him as Fidel Castro.


OH THE HUGE MANATEE!!!