Posted on 02/02/2013 11:41:53 AM PST by Olog-hai
US Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Germany this week in an effort to strengthen trans-Atlantic ties. Global politics have come to a standstill in recent years, with the United States unwilling to show leadership and Europe and other major powers unable to fill the vacuum. …
You would think it were high time for Obama to jump back into the saddle before he gets reduced to a lame-duck status. But no matter how many blinding smiles the notoriously perky Biden flashes in Berlin and Munich, this is probably too much to expect.
Of course, this gives rise to the question: Which country could step in and replace the United States? China is panicking about whether its economy is losing steam, Russia has degenerated into a petro-dictatorship, and Brazil and India are faltering. At the same time, international institutions, such as the United Nations, NATO and the European Union, are suffering from an identity crisis about what they’re supposed to do.
As political scientist Ian Bremmer suggested in his recent book “Every Nation for Itself,” we currently find ourselves in an era marked by a global “leadership vacuum.” This could turn out to be a time of forward progress, especially for the Europeans, who may ultimately become the new global police. …
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Doesn’t mean they’ve gone away, though.
True. I wonder if China will begin the return to more localized/national politics...or Iran...or...
Those entities? They are permanently global, as is the European Union. Only the USA is turning inward.
France is stepping up to the plate so is Russia—look to see Germany and Japan set to advance onto the world stage and play the Great Game. New Players, China & India are well positioned as is Brazil and others. New fight will be over the resources of Africa and South America. How to see who is getting ready? look to the nations that are modernizing their navies. I would not be surprised to see Jolly old England swinging in sometime soon. As for America, we are just in a lull—this will pass with Obama and his corrupt minions. Nothing is forever despite what people say. Remember Hitler’s Thousand year Reich? —it died in 12 years.
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