ROUND THE WORLD
New Delhi, 14 February 2006
Beginning Of The End
American
Empire Post Cold War
By Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra,
School of International Studies, JNU
There are signs that the American empire has been slowly on
the decline and unless the US
abandons military approach and adopts peaceful diplomatic approach to
international issues, the decline may further accelerate.
With a robust economy, more than the combined GDP of any
combination of major powers; defence expenditure more than the combined defence
expenditure of next thirteen big defence spenders; a military with most
sophisticated and state-of-the-art weapons with truly global reach; the United
States has been able to shape the events and issues of the globe in the
post-Cold War era. During the eight years of the Clinton Administration, the
American economy and its commercial competitiveness grew at a consistently
positive rate and filled the US
treasury with several billion dollars of surplus money.
Indeed, in the aftermath of the Soviet disintegration, no
second country in the world maintains a global presence and influence except
the United States.
No single country appears to have the potential to rival the US power and
influence in the foreseeable future. Some Americans saw the international
system in the post-Soviet era as a unipolar structure and advised the US
Government to seize the moment and transform the shape and the image of the
world after American ideals and virtues and, of course, keeping in mind the
country’s national interests.
Actually, the world was more unipolar in the post-World War
II period than the post-Cold War era. The US then accounted for about half of
the world production of goods, possessed monopoly over the nuclear weapons and
saw the pitiable economic and political conditions in most of the former
imperial powers and had the luxury of donating capital for the reconstruction
of war-devastated European economies.
In less than five years, the US
lost its nuclear monopoly to the former Soviet Union
and in less than twenty years there were a total of five nuclear weapon powers.
In about fifteen years’ time since the end of Second World War, the West
Europeans and Japanese indulged the Americans in fierce competition in the
international market place. In about thirty years, the mighty USA had to concede defeat in the Vietnam War and
withdraw all its military operations from Indochina.
About 14 years ago the powerful Soviet
Union collapsed and its empire had begun to crumble a few years
prior to that. Consequently the US
emerged as the sole superpower in the world and several countries in the
world—the neutrals, non-aligned and former adversaries-- began to bandwagon
with the remaining superpower. But notwithstanding the songs of glory sung by a
few American strategic analysts, world events, one after another, indicated
that the US
would not be able to maintain its empire, unless it avoided behaving like Roman
emperors.
The American intervention in Haiti, withdrawal of its peacekeeping
forces from Somalia after a few US casualties, intermittent bombing of Iraq,
raining down of missiles in Afghanistan to retaliate terrorist bombing of US
embassies in Africa, aerial bombardment of Kosovo, show of force in South China
Sea and many more US military approaches indicated that Washington adopted
ancient Roman approach to deal with international issues. Without consulting
the major powers, with the consent and cooperation of a handful of traditional
allies and often bypassing the UN system, the US sought to conduct international
affairs by frequently resorting to its muscle power.
The 9/11 incident is partly the response of non-state actors
to perceived unbridled hegemony of the US, particularly in the Muslim
World. Almost the entire international community sided with the sole superpower
in its declared global war against Islamic terrorism. The massive bombing of Afghanistan to
eradicate Al Quaeda took place with political, territorial and intelligence
assistance by several countries, including some Muslim countries. And, that
included even Pakistan, the
creator of Taliban forces in Afghanistan,
which in turn had housed Osama Bin Laden and his organization.
Before, Afghanistan
could see some stability and peace; the Bush Administration began to resort to
old American ways of handling political issues through military means. The best
demonstration of it was the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and removal of
Saddam Hussein from power. The rationale of this invasion was not adequate. The
number of supporters to this military misadventure in the world was scant. The
legitimacy of this action was almost zero.
The consequences have been devastating for the US. Iraq had no terrorists earlier, but the country
soon witnessed terrorist violence as has been admitted by the US. The US forces led an international coalition force
and entered Iraq
as a liberating force, but soon came to be viewed as a foreign occupying force.
The Iraqi resistance shows no signs of ending after about three years of the
US-led invasion.
The pressure on Syria in the wake of an alleged Syrian
connection to a political assassination in Lebanon, the relentless pressure on
Iran on the nuclear issue, the widening differences with Saudi Arabia, the Abu
Ghraib prison mistreatment issue, alleged excesses committed in Guantanamo Bay
prison camp, flushing of Quran in the toilet and the current controversy
surrounding “inappropriate” depiction of Muhammad in a cartoon published in
Denmark and reprinted in other European media together have generated an
impression that the West-led by the US is on a path of confrontation with the
Muslim World.
Notwithstanding the cooperative attitude of many Muslim
governments, the US
has come to realize that anti-Americanism as a force has taken deep root in the
Muslim World and has been consistently on the rise. In the backdrop of
continuing US military operations in Afghanistan
and Iraq, it is safe to
presume that anti-Americanism will create enormous hurdles for the US role in the
world and may become one of the forces that would be responsible for the
decline of US Empire.
Today, North Korea
has emerged as new nuclear weapon power in East Asia.
The US
multilateral diplomacy has not achieved its desires result in the Korean
peninsula. Iran has decided
to confront the US on the
nuclear issue, despite Washington’s success in
roping in four other nuclear weapon powers to get the Iran nuclear
question shifted to the UN Security Council from the IAEA. Venezuela in the Western Hemisphere has been
loudly defying the US
power.
The Soviet Union’s demise, end of Euro-communism,
China’s economic openness
and liberalization and the continuing US
embargo have not been able to bring Cuba on to its knees. The US specialists
and political leaders are increasingly looking frustrated over the unstoppable
march of the Chinese economic juggernaut. Germany
and France vehemently
opposed the US policy
towards Iraq
bringing the political differences within NATO to the surface.
All these demonstrate the decline of US power and
influence around the globe. Unless, the US adopts diplomatic and economic
means to conduct its international affairs, sooner than later the decline is
going to pick up speed and momentum. Anti-Americanism in the Muslim World will
most likely provide the spark that would induce the Americans to start some
soul-searching.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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