I think America's reckless War on Iraq is producing a counterforce

[KlatooBNikto]

of enormous power, economically and militarily. It is slow to gather steam as these historic forces go but the first sounds of the steps can already be heard. Putin's initiative to form an alliance of Brazil, Russia, India and China ( interestingly, known by the acronym BRIC) will soon be joined by Venezuela,Iran and other oil producing nations.Already that alliance contains over 50% of the world's population and enormous military and economic power.If the EU joins this semi formal alliance, it will become a formidable force against which the U.S. and Britain will have very little influence.

The message seems to be: you have already picked the low hanging fruit with your military adventure in Iraq. From here on, every threat you make against vulnerable countries like Iran or Venezuela will be met with force.

I think we may ironically find ourselves as isolated as the Nazis were in the late thirties.

[indepat]

1. We'll do fine as long as they will buy our paper and what goes around

doesn't come around.

[KlatooBNikto]

4. You forget that the EURO may very well replace the dollar as the

currency of international exchange.At that stage,the paper we keep printing may well become unattractive to the Chinese bankers.

[indepat]

10. I realize this but wonder if those who act as if US were an island to

herself, as if the US can piss off most of the rest of the world with impunity, realize this. Should the Euro ever replace the dollar, should there instead be a petro-Euro, the 90% probability that the US will have an economic Armegeddon, as one Wall Street chief economist has opined, would then likely be a near-100% certainty. But such is but a small price to pay to be made safe and to have a man of man at the helm.

[Maat]

2. I hate the fact that progressives in this country are being ..

punished for the actions of a *-administration. I agree with what you say. We've bullied other nations before, but this time, things are going to be different. Bush broke international rules that had been in effect for a reason, and he undid the effect of negotiations over the years, as well as tacit understandings. His arrogance was unparalleled. But he will reap what he has sown.

[KlatooBNikto]

3. As always in Bush's case, WE will reap what HE has sown.

[Karenina]

12. C'mon now. Can't blame it ALL

on the *sockpuppet. Amis have NOT been paying attention since the Reagan "Me" generation. *Dauphin is just the logical conclusion, reflecting the "vibe" projected by the citizens of a once-promising nation.

[peacetalksforall]

5. What we have done to South and Central America and

what some of their leaders have done to them is coming back to haunt us and history. We have been hypocrites for many decades now - our predatory ways were more indidious then Europe's colonialism and takeover because we did everything while passing ourselves off as having a superior method of government, free speech, freedom, and rights. We started exporting dis-reality a long time ago. We - the people - have been blind. The corporate cabal has not operated seamlessly or transparently, making it easier to figure them out. We now know what they/we are up to and we can condone it or fight it through education of others before any alliance takes us all the way down. It seems our own leaders are trying the hardest to take us down.

Did we really mean Peace on Earth when we wrote our cards and sang our carols?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Personally, I think this is a logical step

by these countries. The US has lost its moral authority and has blatantly sneered at international treaties and conventions. The continuing interference with Venezuela, for example, has moved them to make treaties with China for their oil. I see the EU joining this group soon, and to help with the collapse of the US dollar as we are isolated from the rest of the world, much like a person is isolated for having the plague.

[karlrschneider]

9. DING DING. You have struck the spike on its cranium.

There has always been an end to empires. Ours is approaching its own demise...probably inevitable, but accelerated by the hegemonic crusaders "led" by GWB. I'm not sure if I'd want to know history as recorded in 2050 (certainly after my 'shift' on the 3rd planet) but it would be kinda neat to have some conscious absolution, as it were. I have no children, but I do grieve for what seems to be the futures of my nieces and nephews. Since I was 30 years old in 1972, up until 1/1/2000 I never expected to see the 'new millennium'...but there it went and now 4 years later I'm still around. How absurd. And I'm left with the old questions: why does 'stuff' exist, and what's the point of life? I do ponder those.

edit: extraneous apostrophe removed
:evilgrin:

[KlatooBNikto]

13. It is something of a coincidence but I am of the same age as you but

have six girls and two boys and a truckload of grandchildren about whom I worry each day. I think history will record that our country took the wrong turn sometime in the 60's and has never looked back despite the high sounding platitudes that keep pouring forth from the lips of our rulers and their sycophants in the Press. Other countries are not hampered by delusions dictating their worldview. This alone may be our greatest handicap. When it is added on to the misdeeds of our past in other countries and the misdeeds of our corporations, a future prosecutor would have a field day, a la Judge Jackson at Nuremberg. I dread it.

[The Blue Flower]

7. "After the Empire"

By Emmanuel Todd makes this case very strongly, logically, and with statistics.

[KlatooBNikto]

8. Thanks. I read a brief excerpt and intend to read it. Merry XMas!

[mmonk]

11. Yes, we are in the death throws

of an empire going down (and unfortunately, it will be cheered as much if not more than when the Soviet Union collapsed).