OK, I read the article.
I think the author is partly correct and partly incorrect. He says that the rising force of Russia and China is being counterbalanced by a potential alliance of the US with Japan and India (Vietnam would fit in, too). That might turn out to be so, but it wouldn’t be unipolar.
After WW II, it really was a unipolar world. The US was undamaged, and a huge industrial capacity, and the most powerful army, especially when you count its overwhelming advantage in nuclear weaponry at the time. It also had a world-dominating economy. For many years, it could influence events all over the world, practically dictating them.
I think the initial impetus for this was noble—we didn’t want another Great War. But, over time, it was painted as imperialism, military, cultural, and economic. Also over the years, the US lost its industrial dominance through off-shoring. We may have the best first punch military and military equipment, but China’s got the steel forges. Furthermore, they have manpower. Russia is probably ahead of us in nuclear weapons because we’ve sat on our hands for at least a generation. They have ten times as many tactical nukes as we do. Who knows what advantages they might have in bio/chem weapons?
So, the author is confusing the rise of a US-led alliance with the dominant strength of the unipolar US of the post-war years. This new alliance may or may not be stronger than the Russia-China axis, but even if it is stronger, its not unipolar. The situation is more like pre-World War I than post-World War II.
My take, FWIW.
Interesting. Well i believe the biggest battle is for moral hegemony...meaning whether American *values* triumph. And I believe with Trump, the momentum is on our side. The stirrings of freedom are being felt in places like Iran, with their recent protest/uprisings for example
And the pro-sovereignty and anti-EU sentiments in Europe seem to be pushing countries like France and Austria in a more free market driven direction...Countries want to rediscover themselves and their capacities- not just sell out to China I would hope.
I don’t think communism will make a Cold War level comeback. Islam is not taking over, and Chinese/Russian models of govt and repressive cultures are not what people with blank pages aspire to and dream for. At the end of the day, people the world over respect and look up to America most.
And the more China/Russia try to undermine that reality, the more they undermine their own opportunities to attain genuine respect and appreciation from the world.