Reset those geopolitical calendars, folks. It's not post-1991 anymore. It may not be post-1945 anymore. Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are interacting more in the pre-WWII (WWI-era?), pre-American-superpower mode every day. Things are happening so fast now it's hard to keep up with them.
And the time for lament is past. Too many things are changing; we cannot recapture the post-WWII, post-Cold War Pax Americana along its old outlines. But neither will the world leave us alone, or retain its generally beneficial features -- such as peaceful tradeways and uncoerced agreement to borders -- without the use of American power. No other aspirant to international leadership even has those things as objectives. With the exception of the British Empire, no other aspirant ever has. The old Pax Americana is gone; our task now is to get to work on the new one. |