empire down

2002.07.17
Political Link of the Moment
Reasonably deep article The Eagle Has Crash Landed from Foreign Policy magazine about the decline of the United States, from Vietnam on. It takes some positions that make a lot of sense, others that I'm not sure I accept. (Like viewing both World Wars as a single general conflict for power between the United States and Germany.) I sense a certain agenda on behalf of the author, but besides the general point against the hawks who want us to "Attaq Iraq" (and I still can't get my head around the public indifference to this upcoming event) I'm not sure what it is. And you have to keep perspective, the loss of American power isn't the same as the nation in ruins, though our relations with the rest of the world can help determine if we go through something more like the Soviet Union or like the United Kingdom.

We are not a nation that is able to see humbleness as a virtue.


Quote of the Moment
It's like Vegas. You're up, you're down, but in the end the house always wins. Doesn't mean you didn't have fun.