“The country that wishes to supplant America must possess a huge population, abundant resources, a universal ideology and the political will to succeed. The most obvious candidate is the Muslim world under the Caliphate ...”

By Abid Mustafa

December 5, 2006
Pakistan - Frontier Post - Home Page (English)    

President George W. Bush arrives for a 'day after' election press
conference at the White House, Nov. 8. (above and below).

—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Hugo Chavez wins again,
in his words, 'another defeat of the empire,'
Dec. 4, 00:02:10

[LATEST NEWS PHOTOS: Venezuela Elections].

President Hugo Chavez after voting, and
showing his ink-covered pinky, Dec. 3.





President Bush, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, right, and
Chinese dictator Hu Jintao, bottom, sporting their traditional
Vietnamese tunics, at the APEC Summit in Hanoi, Nov. 20.



Presidents Hugo Chavez and Vladimir Putin
make a multi-billion dollar weapons deal last July.





Pakistan is not what one would call 'Bush Country.' Pakistani tribesman
(above) chant 'Death to Bush,' after a recent attack on a school said to
have been linked to al-Qaeda. At least 80 tribespeople were killed.

—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Protests erupt in Pakistan after
an attack on a religious school that killed 80 people.
Protesters blame Washington, Oct. 31, 00:01:29
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Barely six years have elapsed since President Bush took office and the much anticipated 21st America century is abruptly ending. Across the four corners of the world, America's preeminence is being challenged by friends and foe alike.

In America's own backyard - Latin America - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is spearheading a crusade to undermine U.S. interests across the region. He has garnered the support of leaders in Cuba, Bolivia and Ecuador to propagate his cause, and together they have challenged American supremacy by campaigning to reclaim their oil and gas fields from Western corporations, putting them under direct state control.

Across the Atlantic, a Europe that was opposed to the Iraq War and deeply hostile to the unilateralist agenda of the Bush Administration has offered nominal assistance at best. Rather, whenever they have been given the opportunity, Europeans and notably the French, Germans and British have behaved more like foes than U.S. allies. French intransigence in Lebanon, Europe's refusal to commit significant troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, Britain's interference in Palestine, and French and British hostility toward a settlement in Darfur have damaged America's standing in the world and eroded her legitimacy.

Russia and China, which were subdued for twenty years or so by American power, have reawakened to counter the American-inspired revolutions sweeping Central Asia. Uzbekistan has returned to Moscow's sphere of influence, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus have successfully thwarted U.S.-backed uprisings; America has been unable to press home political gains made in Ukraine, and Georgia has experienced a potent backlash from Russia over its ties with Washington.

Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - the two minnows of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO ) - have become emboldened enough to demand the closure of American bases on their soil. American gains in this region almost stand at naught.

Worse still, the War on Terror has inadvertently solidified China's relationship with Russia - undoing years of American strategic planning to keep the two erstwhile allies apart. The China-Russian alliance - reinvigorated by economic growth and a common desire to see a bipolar world - has spread its tentacles across the globe, damaging U.S. interests.

Unfazed by American threats, Russia is equipping Venezuela and Iran with modern weaponry. Chinese energy companies are signing oil deals in places that have traditionally been the preserve of American oil giants. In the Middle East, both Russia and China have strongly objected to America's position over Iran. On the Korean peninsula, Beijing's unfettered support for Pyongyang has exposed Washington's inability to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power.

Throughout the Muslim World, America's credibility has plummeted to an all-time low. The ferocity of the resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan has broken the back of the U.S. Army and forced President Bush to abandon his plans to advance democracy. Bush, unable to extricate America from Iraq and Afghanistan, has had to revert to the Truman Doctrine and seek the help of secular autocracies like Syria, Iran and Pakistan.

So instead of reshaping the Muslim world in America's image, the nefarious policies of the Bush Administration have Islamized the region, politicized the Muslim masses, awakened them from their spiritual slumber and galvanized the Muslim intelligentsia into a powerful force for political Islam. To sum up the last six years, suffice it to say that America has precipitated the birth of the Caliphate.

After two decades of dominating global affairs, America finds itself at the mercy of her friends and enemies. Graham Fuller , former vice chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, described America's predicament correctly when he wrote in the latest issue of the National Interest, "diverse countries have deployed a multiplicity of strategies and tactics designed to weaken, divert, alter, complicate, limit delay or block the Bush agenda through death by a thousand cuts."

So what happens after America has fallen from its perch as the world's sole super power? Europe is too divided to take up the mantle of a leading state. Russia has yet to translate her economic strength into political capital to position herself as the pre-eminent power. Both China and India lack the political will and the experience to affect world politics. For the foreseeable future, both countries will be confined to their respective spheres of influence.

But the country that wishes to supplant America must possess a huge population, abundant resources, a universal ideology and the political will to succeed. The most obvious candidate is the Muslim world under the Caliphate, which Bush has often spoken about.