A closer analysis of recent events on the international scene, combined with a thorough study of what is happening in the United States, reveals that the American star has begun to fade. While gradually declining on all economic, political, military and social levels, the United States has begun to scramble on its way down.
Once Washington dominated the world stage, and ruled and guided in every nook and cranny. Now, it has slowly receded at several levels. Furthermore, it is facing the rise of new states and alliances in the international arena, which are now assuming the role the United States played for a century.
One of the biggest challenges facing Washington is the strong return of Russia on the international scene, which has assumed the role once played by the Soviet Union. It appears to be a return to the Cold War all over again, as Russia begins to ignore that the United States has dominated the unipolar world since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The signs of the rise of the Russian Federation became clear once President Vladimir Putin came into power in 2000 and began instituting a renaissance, at all levels, to lift the country from the deterioration it experienced after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia will continue to rise, as made evident in recent years, in light of the launch of the Arab Spring, which revealed America’s decline and the rise of new powers such as Russia and China.
Furthermore, China has also taken on a role of great global significance with its economic recovery. In light of the global financial crisis, which continues to shake America and Europe in particular, China has been leading the economic landscape, which is inherently linked with the political scene. All the while, Washington is flooded in debt exceeding a trillion dollars, including billions in loans to rescue Europe from the economic crisis still plaguing it, as the European Union and the young Euro verge on collapse.
China’s new role will make her the ruler in the region and a global force to be reckoned with, especially at the political level. It has demonstrated mastery of this role when, with Russia, it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution backed by Washington and the West during the Syrian crisis, preventing the West from monopolizing the political arena there. Other instances include China’s role in ending the crisis in Sudan after South Sudan’s occupation of the Heglig oil fields.
Add to this the regional alliances, which began to form in defiance of American hegemony and the European role in the world, which have seen both Washington and Europe lose most of their strongholds in Latin America. The world has witnessed the recent alliances in economic policy, including BRICS, represented by China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa, which has begun to assume a role in the international arena.
Therefore, Washington’s star is already fading. Its complex and compounded crises will eventually force it to give up its hegemony and withdraw into itself to face the specter of disintegration, which may come at any moment.
With respect to Russia, the US and its vassal states are reaping what they have sown. When the USSR fell, what the Russians needed was a Marshall Plan. What they got was a parade of Western carpetbaggers ready to take advantage of the perpetually sozzled Russian PM. The Russians got lots of help on how to collect taxes but none on how to establish a democracy. Putin may not be 100 percent fond of democracy, but he did put the federation back together again after all that “help”.
That incident should have told us all how the US was going to handle its new role as “the only superpower.” Because from that point forward, it was nothing so much as a series of hubristic mistakes. Reagan set the stage for the decline, but the US people still don’t understand that.
I don’t know anything about Russia or the supposed exploitation of it after it’s ill advised government collapsed, but my impression from America was that the Russian mafia and oligarchs used the chaos to secure massive wealth and power, and rules over what they could for as long as they could after.
In regard the the decline of the US, I would disagree about the inevitability of this. Nothing has changed in the real sense, indeed after suffering from two unfunded wars, a massive terrorist attack, several natural disasters, the BP oil spill in the gulf, the collapse of the European economy, and the collapse of the real estate market, I would argue the US has maintained and reinforced it’s position as the most powerful and resilient country on the planet. The economy is back to growing, the deficit is the only real obstacle, but that will settle itself out soon enough. Reagan was an effective communicator but a bad politician, he didn’t implement sustainable policies, but thankfully his policies were for the most part revised. I would be more concerned about Russia, they apparently have not taken note of the world wide information revolution, that makes it nearly impossible to impose the will of few on the many. Representative democracy is the only proven way to ensure social stability.