Superpowers Do Not Die
They commit suicide.
Though it’s a perennial favorite among left-wing enclaves, any (serious) talk of the demise of the US as the world’s sole superpower is so out of whack with reality that it’s normally not worth engaging your brain. When you’ve heard how the story goes once, you’ve heard it a thousand times.
Particularly when it’s Deepak Chopra (apologies, linked to a slightly aged piece in the Huff Po), who does nothing more than slightly re-heat all the tepid and vapid arguments of yesteryear about why a multi-polar world would be so, so nice.
Except, genius, that we’ve already had a multi-polar world on many previous occasions. And it resulted in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, World War I and World II (and, less directly, the Cold War), to name the biggies of the last two centuries alone.
Is even recent history that forgettable, now?
Significant state power, once gained, dissipates very slowly: few countries have lost their status as a superpower. Spain, Portugal and Holland are examples of this in the modern age, but, despite their deep problems, the United Kingdom, France and Russia still cling to their superpower standing, at least for now.
There has, however, never before been a power like the United States.
The (former) empires of France, Britain, Persia, Russia, China and Rome do not even come close to the military might of the US. Short of the entire world teaming up against America, none could take her down – and even then, my money would be on the US. It’d be like Hulk Hogan fighting a room full of toddlers: unpleasant, to be sure, but more irritating than anything else (for the Hulkster, anyway).
Not that the US’ authority comprises only military means. Combined with the twin allures of its (usually) dynamic economy and open society, the US towers over the rest of the world.
The real stake in the heart of this soft-intellectualism, however, is the most basic point: who would take over?
For as much as the Left loves to imagine it, there would be no orderly division of labor between America and the wannabees. There never has been and there never will be, until (God forbid) we have some kind of global governance rule.
That aside, intense (and violent) competition will emerge among those nation-states covetous of American influence. Historically, the world is at its most dangerous when states seek to change the prevailing order.
Which is precisely what is happening today. The ascension of a young and inexperienced president has afforded nefarious regimes the world over another opportunity to see how far they can push America back and expand their own influence. China is challenging the US Navy in the South China Sea. Latent Russian hostility is on the rise, as they achieve feats such as ousting the US from its only Central Asian air base in Kyrgyzstan. Iran is as belligerent as usual and closer than ever to obtaining nuclear weapons. North Korea, behaving true to form despite Kim Jong-il’s incapacity, is conducting nuclear tests without a care in the world. Serial basket-case Pakistan is nowhere nearer becoming the theoretical stable democracy that some analysts think not only possible, but also a panacea for their many problems. Finally, the mini-me Castros of Latin America are still nipping at America’s heels, but let’s leave them to their own plots and schemes while we focus on the big boys.
Within the last week alone – not that you’d know it from a domestic media that has focused exclusively on the riveting spectacle of Democrats blanketly defaming tens of millions of conservatives as racists – Russia has concluded pacts with the Georgian regions of Abkhazian and South Ossetia, allowing it to maintain military bases in both places for nearly a half-century to come. Everyone, please welcome back the Russian Empire. That, of course, is in addition to Russian warnings that it will seize (Georgian) ships in the Black Sea. Iran, meanwhile, is delirious with self-satisfaction now that its pure intransigence has led to its being dropped from the agenda for a September 24th meeting of the UNSC chaired by President Obama, a moratorium on further UNSC sanctions and the grand prize, bi-lateral negotiations with the United States. The DPRK, ever desperate to ensure that the world takes note of its pitiful existence, has been similarly rewarded with one-on-one talks, after it decided to renounce the 1953 armistice with South Korea.
More so even than acts of great strength, acts of weakness on this scale are never forgotten.
It is so dangerously naive to believe that we can all just get along, as Chopra and so many other left-wing flyweights unquestioningly do (with not the least among them being President Obama), that it defies comprehension.
Can they truly believe that China or Russia would be content with sharing global predominance with the US and do not harbor ambitions of usurping the US entirely? That they wouldn’t subsequently transpose their oppression from the domestic to the international level?
And do they really want to see that happen?
I’m not sure that I want to know the answer.
July 21st, 2009 at 13:34
[...] The Republican National Committee is giving the strategy its official stamp of approval. Superpowers Do Not Die – trackacrat.com 07/21/2009 They commit suicide. Though it’s a perennial favorite among left-wing [...]
July 21st, 2009 at 13:47
Keep your powder dry and be at the ready
July 21st, 2009 at 13:53
An interesting tangential counterpoint can be observed if you peruse the comments that accompany some of the posts or articles on the “bigger” blogs — like PJM, etc. — or even the MSM sites.
There used to be a fairly intense infestation of Kool-aid drinking drive-by trolls who would spout the party line and then scoot. The reaction would be relatively mild, quoted refutations, some ad homonym arguments, etc. but nothing severe.
Now, the troll traffic on conservative and Republican sites is wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-y down and the blow-back is ferocious! I mean we’re talking mortar rounds, heavy artillery salvos, and full-on 50-cal fusillades to those who even try and ply their juvenile trolling.
If you want a real education, I suggest you go to one of the cited WaPo articles that pop up on Drudge more frequently nowadays. and read those comments. The ratio of Obama-haters and bomb-throwers to Boy King butt-smoochers and “Blame Bushies” has risen to about 10:1; the vitriol and intensity is incredible.
It’s like the former are really pissed because of what this clown is attempting to do to this country and the latter realize they backed a schlumpf, and tuck their tail between their legs.
July 21st, 2009 at 13:54
J,
No offense intended by the use of the phrase “..the bigger blogs..”.
~West-Coast, Under-Assistant Promo Man
July 22nd, 2009 at 09:33
I wonder how many times since 1776 has some talking head announced that America’s downfall was imminent…
And yet here we are, still a shining beach on a hill. We may be hitting a rough patch that will take decades to repair – but repair it we will and be stronger for it.
It’s what makes us American – it’s not about geography or power. It’s about a philosophy.
July 22nd, 2009 at 09:45
Voyska, you bring good news and there’s no offense at all – I am but a minnow among conservative bloggers. For now, at least.
Kris, got it in one. Germany was supposed to overtake the US at the top of the pile. Didn’t happen. Ditto Japan. Now China.
China’s problems make those of the US seem simple by comparison. That country is headed for nothing but meltdown.
July 22nd, 2009 at 14:04
Well, they have not being scared at all by this… in some cases, they are thrilled of a “global government” to act against climate change. So, no, they think US is the Great Satan. You just have to consider their treatment of Hugo Chávez, while he was shutting down MSM which were not supporting of “Bolivarianism”…