The United States in a Multilateral World
Published in El País
(Spain) on 4 May 2015
by Ignacio Sotelo (link to original)
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, already more than a quarter of a century ago, the USA became the only large power with a will to maintain its global supremacy for good. From a firmly settled financial capitalism in Wall Street it has supported, or at least tolerated the arrival of China, its large creditor, as the first productive power of goods and services.
Economic, but above all political relations between the USA and China form one of the most influential frameworks in world politics, but also one of the least transparent.
After establishing itself as the leading export power, China has extended its presence to a Latin America which long ago ceased to be the USA’s backyard, and to an Africa from which Western influence has almost disappeared, with the exception of the French. However, it remains in the Middle East thanks to Israel, although by rejecting, at least with their actions, a viable Palestinian state which would put an end to an occupation which seems to have an indefinite drive. A conflict remains in effect; one in which merely because of the demographic dynamics, Israel and the West will end up losing in the long run.
The USA has strengthened its influence in Europe via the main economic driving force: a Germany that is completely dependent on U.S. nuclear protection. The U.S. military umbrella is the main protector of the European Union, but is also the main factor in its submission. The treaty being cooked up between the EU and the USA will make it clear how far this will go.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, driven by the very same Russian federation, a catastrophe which, despite its size and wealth of natural resources, seemed to erase it from the list of great powers, the USA succumbed to the temptation of expecting to remain the only world power.
Given the climb of new emerging powers, like Brazil and Mexico in Latin America; Nigeria and South Africa in Africa; or in Asia, as well as China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, we live in a more and more globalized but also multipolar world.
Contrary to U.S. determination to rule over a unilateral world in which only one power dominates, the reality sees a multilateral world with power centers distributed across the five continents. It is a dominating power only because of its military power, however, it has long lost its economic and above all nuclear power, which it only benefited from in the few years following the Second World War.
Certainly the USA was, for a short time, the only world power, a position which it very soon had to share with the Soviet Union. For 45 years they were rivals in every field: weapon, technological, social and economic. Therefore, at the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the U.S.A. believed that it would again become an indisputable first world power, to realize, however, despite the fact it still has not accepted it, that it is part of a multipolar world.
This does not alter the fact that it has tolerated and even supported China’s increasing role as an exporter of goods and services. Perhaps this can be explained because China carries out its operations in dollars, which as a reserve currency, interested in maintaining its value, China has accumulated in large quantities, although then the most indebted country manipulates it to its advantage.
The symbiosis that the U.S.A. and China have managed to create attracts attention; however, it is being undermined at a great pace. With an economic potential which keeps increasing to the point that soon it will overtake the American GDP, China is carrying out an ever more aggressive policy in all fields, but above all in the military realm.
Siege and pressure policies used to prevent Russia from regaining its position as a great world power, which it is with simply its size and natural resources, are now extended against China, with the same intention. This is the price to pay for aspiring to be a world leader.
Economic, but above all political relations between the USA and China form one of the most influential frameworks in world politics, but also one of the least transparent.
After establishing itself as the leading export power, China has extended its presence to a Latin America which long ago ceased to be the USA’s backyard, and to an Africa from which Western influence has almost disappeared, with the exception of the French. However, it remains in the Middle East thanks to Israel, although by rejecting, at least with their actions, a viable Palestinian state which would put an end to an occupation which seems to have an indefinite drive. A conflict remains in effect; one in which merely because of the demographic dynamics, Israel and the West will end up losing in the long run.
The USA has strengthened its influence in Europe via the main economic driving force: a Germany that is completely dependent on U.S. nuclear protection. The U.S. military umbrella is the main protector of the European Union, but is also the main factor in its submission. The treaty being cooked up between the EU and the USA will make it clear how far this will go.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, driven by the very same Russian federation, a catastrophe which, despite its size and wealth of natural resources, seemed to erase it from the list of great powers, the USA succumbed to the temptation of expecting to remain the only world power.
Given the climb of new emerging powers, like Brazil and Mexico in Latin America; Nigeria and South Africa in Africa; or in Asia, as well as China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, we live in a more and more globalized but also multipolar world.
Contrary to U.S. determination to rule over a unilateral world in which only one power dominates, the reality sees a multilateral world with power centers distributed across the five continents. It is a dominating power only because of its military power, however, it has long lost its economic and above all nuclear power, which it only benefited from in the few years following the Second World War.
Certainly the USA was, for a short time, the only world power, a position which it very soon had to share with the Soviet Union. For 45 years they were rivals in every field: weapon, technological, social and economic. Therefore, at the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the U.S.A. believed that it would again become an indisputable first world power, to realize, however, despite the fact it still has not accepted it, that it is part of a multipolar world.
This does not alter the fact that it has tolerated and even supported China’s increasing role as an exporter of goods and services. Perhaps this can be explained because China carries out its operations in dollars, which as a reserve currency, interested in maintaining its value, China has accumulated in large quantities, although then the most indebted country manipulates it to its advantage.
The symbiosis that the U.S.A. and China have managed to create attracts attention; however, it is being undermined at a great pace. With an economic potential which keeps increasing to the point that soon it will overtake the American GDP, China is carrying out an ever more aggressive policy in all fields, but above all in the military realm.
Siege and pressure policies used to prevent Russia from regaining its position as a great world power, which it is with simply its size and natural resources, are now extended against China, with the same intention. This is the price to pay for aspiring to be a world leader.
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