Testing the currents of multipolarity (loss of US geostrategic influence)

[Nancy Waterman]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FL17Aa01.html

This story about 6 meetings this week, taken with Canada's recent refusal to participate in the missile shield, shows a definite trend.

The tendency toward a multipolar configuration of world politics, in which a number of regional power centers compete for hegemony over their spheres of influence within a framework of international agreements and institutions, is a long-term process involving incremental gains and losses for the major players.

The transition to multipolarity - if it prevails - has been set off by the severe problems confronted by the United States in its occupation of Iraq and by the decline of the dollar in international currency markets. The former has revealed the limitations and vulnerabilities of US military power and the latter has brought forward underlying weaknesses in the US economic system that are symbolized by persistent trade and budget deficits and are rooted in changes in the world balance of economic power.

At present, the US has lost the position that it was perceived to have after the fall of the Soviet Union as the undisputed global superpower presiding over an economic order integrating a world of market democracies. Contemporary global politics are structured primarily by a struggle of regional powers to assert themselves against efforts by Washington to reclaim at least some of its dominance.

snip

During the week of December 5, the drift toward multipolarity was confirmed at six international meetings - with one special exception - at which Washington's power was challenged to the detriment of its perceived interests.

[wishbone]

1. the neoCONs LOST the post COLD WAR

:argh:

if they ain't work'n for ubl then they are the WORST blowhards since musolini, tojo and hitler.


Japanese aircraft bombed south Shanghai Station Aug.28,1937.
About 200 people in the waiting room were dead or wounded by the bombing.
A crying baby was left alone after the bombing. "Life" Oct.4,1937


Chinese 'illegal cobatants' (ie. TERRORIST) in falluja... i mean NANKING!

psst... pass the word

peace

[nashville_brook]

2. thank goodness some checks to power still exist

[VegasWolf]

3. Exactly, how many years does it take for what the world considers

a barbaric, illiterate redneck to be voted off the
island. Thanks bush for making america an also ran in the
world.

[Nancy Waterman]

4. This could ultimately be a good thing

With one country having so much power, abuse was inevitable to come. Our own government no longer seems capable of checks and balances, but with globalization, other courtries may now perform the task. I think a new homeostasis is forming that will bring an ew kind of balance with us no longer number one.

[Hosnon]

5. I have faith in the system our founders made - it's pretty damn good, even

someone like Bush can't ruin what we have in the long run.

[nashville_brook]

11. wouldn't it be ironic if our hubris launched

Venezuela and Spain into being global powers?

[kodi]

6. the cause of this is the decline in US ecomomic power and China' rise

the powers that be in washington think of power in exclusively military terms and think in a symmetric fashion when recognizing foes and friend. asymmetric strategic thinking includes economic warfare as just another battlefield

fully supported by their nationalist government, chinese businesses have maintained a concerted attack on the US economy for a decade. the impact of these economic attacks have weakened american economic strength and are comparable to the physical destruction found in actual war.

[struggle4progress]

7. Real leaders help everybody discover where we want to go and ...

... how to get there. The Bushistas, on the other hand, are just thugs who want to bully everyone else into doing things the Bushista way.

[bhikkhu]

8. "the US has lost the position..."

good news. I never wanted to belong to an imperial master race anyway. Now if we could just accept it, start trying to get along with our neighbors in the world, regain sanity....

[aikido15]

9. It's finally happening

My prediction that these neocon bastards will self-destruct...Oh thank you for this post...Happy Holidays everyone, hopefully it will be "Bushless"

[Nancy Waterman]

10. kick!

This is long but well worth the read, imo.

[depakid]

12. The 21st Century= the decline and fall of the United States

both as an economic and a military power. In another 20 years, the US will be about as important as Brazil in the scheme of things.