‘The American Century’ has Plunged the World Into Crisis. What Happens Now?

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/06/28/the-american-century-has-plunged-the-world-into-crisis-what-happens-now/

So what is it about the world that requires a change in our outlook? A few observations come to mind.

First, our preoccupation with conflicts in the Middle East — and to a significant extent, our tensions with Russia in Eastern Europe and with China in East Asia — distract us from the most compelling crises that threaten the future of humanity. Climate change and environmental perils have to be dealt with now and demand an unprecedented level of international collective action. That also holds for the resurgent danger of nuclear war.

Second, superpower military interventionism and far-flung acts of war have only intensified conflict, terror, and human suffering. There’s no short-term solution — especially by force — to the deep-seated problems that cause chaos, violence, and misery through much of the world.

Third, while any hope of curbing violence and mitigating the most urgent problems depends on international cooperation, old and disastrous intrigues over spheres of influence dominate the behavior of the major powers. Our own relentless pursuit of military advantage on every continent, including through alliances and proxies like NATO, divides the world into “friend” and “foe” according to our perceived interests. That inevitably inflames aggressive imperial rivalries and overrides common interests in the 21st century.

Fourth, while the United States remains a great economic power, economic and political influence is shifting and giving rise to national and regional centers no longer controlled by U.S.-dominated global financial structures. Away from Washington, London, and Berlin, alternative centers of economic power are taking hold in Beijing, New Delhi, Cape Town, and Brasilia. Independent formations and alliances are springing up: organizations like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa); the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (representing 2.8 billion people); the Union of South American Nations; the Latin American trade bloc, Mercosur; and others.

Beyond the problems our delusions of grandeur have caused in the wider world, there are enormous domestic consequences of prolonged war and interventionism. We shell out over $1 trillion a year in military-related expenses even as our social safety net frays and our infrastructure crumbles. Democracy itself has become virtually dysfunctional.

?

[Betty Karlson]

1. Restructuring society and politics:

just patching up the existing political, social, material, and economic infrastructure is unsustainable.

Sometimes the most "conservative" thing to do (that is: what must be done to preserve what you hold dear and consider valuable)
is to vote for a "radical" candidate (that is: someone who leaves no option off the table).

[Donald Ian Rankin]

2. I'm afraid I think this is simple nonsense motivated by hatred of America.

Firstly and most importantly, on average the world is more peaceful, more prosperous, more liberal and less impoverished than it was a hundred years ago. So if this has been "America's century" then well done America.

Secondly, this has not been "America's century", it's been "80 years in which America was the dominant power". The key event America's rise as the world's clearly dominant power was WWII - the two worst conflicts of the last century happened before America's rise was complete.

And while America has obviously exerted much more influence than any other country over the course of the last 80 years, it's unfair to give it all the credit for how much better in practically every respect the world has become over that period - it deserves some, but the rest of the world deserves a great deal too.

[Democat]

4. If it's bad, it has to be America's fault

If it's good, American had nothing to do with it.

[eridani]

5. No, it's motivated by hatred of imperialism

Don't understand you want 800+ military bases all over the world. If you think it's so great, just hold bake sales to fund them and leave the rest of us out of it.

[malaise]

9. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The best thing America could do for the world is to address her own social crises at home - abandon institutional racism in her own backyard.

[KingCharlemagne]

10. "Well done America": Iran 1954, Vietnam 1954-74, Iraq 1964-2014, El Salvador,

Nicaragua, Indonesia. Why, well done, America!

[Enthusiast]

3. The long term consequences of a reckless Bush doctrine are becoming ever more obvious.

The nation should admit the source of our ills and take corrective measures like doing away with the influence of the Citizens United decision. The nation and the world cannot afford another Neo-Con/Neo-Liberal dominated decade like the last one.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, eridani.

[Surya Gayatri]

7. "delusions of grandeur"... indeed. Destructive, deadly delusions.

[eridani]

8. The Sad, Sad Karma of the Empire

http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/06/30/the-sad-sad-karma-of-empire-2/

Ever ask yourself why our American culture becomes more and more violent every day? Child psychologists can tell you that when the parent is a bully to the child, the child grows up into one as well. When the parent, as role model ( or lack of one ) reveals a life of rage and violence, the child is more apt to parrot that way of living. Please read Elizabeth Holtzman & Cynthia Cooper’s 2012 book Cheating Justice: How Bush and Cheney attacked the rule of law and plotted to avoid prosecution …and begin to understand how rot from the top seeps down. It began with the phony and orchestrated lies to justify pre-emptive war on Iraq, and then the terrible occupation with blatant use of torture, more often than not on individuals later deemed innocent of anything. The book covers the deceptions and outright crimes of trying to use legal mumbo jumbo to circumvent the Geneva Accords and US War Crimes Act of 1996. Men like John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Alberto Gonzales wrote these at the request of Cheney, Rumsfeld and of course Junior Bush ( if they even took the time to tell that jackass about it ). Bybee got his just reward by becoming a federal judge. Woo got his with a professorship and Fredo, Bush Junior’s lapdog Attorney General got his as, are you ready for this, the Dean of Law at Belmont University. The Dean of law!!! Alas, the terrible deeds done by all these men ( and of course the phony Condi Rice ) are , to this writer, resonating with our nation’s increased culture of violence and ‘ what’s in it for me ‘ mentality of many of our young folks. When people see, and more importantly sense that our leaders are literally getting away with murder, or that our corporation Fat Cats are getting mega rich at their expense… **** happens.

Do any of you out there actually think that groups like ISIS would ever exist if not for what America did in Afghanistan and Iraq? Would suicide bombers be so prevalent in Israel if that nation did not continue to treat the Palestinians as they have for over 60+ years? Thus, I make the same bold statement concerning the crazy country we now live in. Yes, there will always be violent, unstable individuals who will do harm to others for no rational reason. Yet, when it is so continuous… we need to see how much bad karma this empire has accrued. Food for thought.