The end of Western hegemony ("..Europeans may well find ourselves missing..Bush before too long.")

The UK Guardian via The News.com ^ | Monday 25 May 2009 16.00 BST | Paddy Ashdown Guardian.co.UK

[2ndDivisionVet]

What say you?

[jmcenanly]

They were saying the same thing 30 years ago, during the twilight of the Carter Administration

[SevenofNine]

I still miss Ronald Reagan

[GeronL]

There is a lot of bluster in that speech, the fact is the EU seems to matter very little in the global scheme of things.

[DoughtyOne]

Islamabad News...

Well the U.S. may not be as powerful as it was, and I’m not at all convinced of that yet, but the muzzi world sure isn’t going anywhere soon as a result.

Let us know when there’s a car, an aircraft, or just about anything else advanced in your nations other than da bomb, you losers.

[mrsmel]

I don’t know why, because I don’t really see it in this article, but the rise of the 10 kingdoms in Revelation popped into my mind. Maybe something to do with the phrase “multi-polar world”.

[coloradan]

Well, at least as far as the Germans go, I think events will eventually lead to a teutonic shift.

Ba-dump chhhhhh!

[coloradan]

The last thing of note they did was invent zero, about a thousand years ago or so. Nothing since then, however.

[eclecticEel]

Too many inconsistencies. The author asserts (correctly) that the U.S. will remain the world's main power, but then follows that up with a weird statement such as this:

The US security guarantee ... no longer exists

What? NATO has been disbanded? I see no moves from any politically relevant leader in that direction.

[DoughtyOne]

And they were so proud, they’ve been stuck on zero ever since. LOL

So is the left in the U.S. for that matter.

[Kakaze]

Obamas 4 or 8 years will cost us a hell of a lot.

How we respond to it in elections and even preserving the union, will be amazingly important for the future of this world.

[unkus]

The last thing of note they did was invent zero, about a thousand years ago or so. Nothing since then, however.
________________________________

The Litter Box?

Probably not even that.

[GreyMountainReagan]

What? NATO has been disbanded? I see no moves from any politically relevant leader in that direction.

perhaps it should be.

[roadcat]

Hard to tell what’s going to happen, but it looks like the U.S. will be in decline the next 4 years while China gets stronger. But... I believe the U.S.A. will bounce back due to a backlash against Obama and liberals. And that China will will stumble and falter badly with their own problems. China was and still is a paper tiger. As for Europe, there’s no saving them.

[Gargantua]

"...the EU seems to matter very little in the global scheme of things."

True. Though, for 1,800 out of 2100 years, Europe and the U.K. were the major militaries and world-shaping forces. It can change pretty quickly nowadays, with our ever-more-intertwined economies, and everything happening globally at the speed of "bytes."

The Antichrist could easily come from Eastern Europe. Or Africa.

;-/

[Darkwolf377]

These prophets of doom seem to forget that there was never a superpower like the US before, and just because the US's power is decreasing on the world stage--temporarily or not--another one of equal power or scale won't step in just because. There is every possibility that other powers WILL become "number one" but that will more likely be by default--they won't surpass the US, but the US may decline.

The US has a unique location, resources (natural and otherwise), and form of government, all of which mean a decline of the US is potential, and potentially temporary. In the meantime, who's going to step into the #1 spot? Of course the French attitude will have all of our former trading and political partners stepping up and doing business with whomever takes the #1 spot, but many of our traditional allies and trading partners aren't going anywhere--Canada, UK, Australia, Japan, others.

The US may slip, but it won't be replaced by another, equal power. It will likely be replaced in that top spot by someone the rest of the world doesn't want there.

[GeronL]

I don’t think the EuroSplat is ever going to go back to being important in our lifetimes.

[stripes1776]

The last thing of note they did was invent zero, about a thousand years ago or so. Nothing since then, however.

They didn't even event that. They borrowed if from the Hindus.

[IndianChief]

The last thing of note they did was invent zero, about a thousand years ago or so

Not even that.

The Zero was invented by the Indians and carried to the Middle East by traders, from where it went to Europe.