Least of all, the modern world needs a hegemon to impose his position.
The American “Foreign Policy” publications wrote about this.
If the XX century in the United States was called the “American century”, then the XXI century has become the complete opposite. It can be overly aggressive towards the United States. And at the same time, the anti-American century is exactly what is needed in the conditions when the three pillars of American power have collapsed.
“The United States, with more prosperity and even more disadvantages, must admit that it is not mandated to lead and that its past performance, as investors like to say, is no guarantee of future success”, – writes FP.
The first pillar of the American power to be destroyed was the military factor. If the US invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks was considered justified and even found international support, the invasion of Iraq was different. International criticism, clumsy occupation and years of guerrilla warfare are the realities of the Iraqi intervention. The situation worsened after the facts of Washington-sanctioned torture and the existence of secret CIA prisons surfaced.
“Add to this the revelations about spying on the country’s citizens in the name of national security and the war on terrorism, and many pieces of American power have collapsed”, – the publication said.
The second pillar of American greatness to collapse is economic. In the United States, the idea that the unique merits of the American economic system is a “powerful reproach” against communism was actively replicated. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, attempts were made to introduce this system in Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe, which only suffered as a result.
“China was a notable exception. China’s economic success has undermined American dominance, but it was the 2008-2009 financial crisis that really knocked out the economic foothold”, – the publication continues.
For years, investors have been waiting for loans to destroy China’s state-owned banks. As it turned out, the problem was not with the Chinese banks, but with the American ones. The US-led financial system survived, but “the economic reputation of the United States was devastated”.
The last pillar was democracy, which the United States had boasted for many decades. In 2016, American democracy began to fall apart. When the Americans elected Donald Trump as president, the US could no longer say that their system was “capable of withstanding the pressure of populism”. Nevertheless, as the publication emphasizes, “Trump did much less damage than his many critics”.
In December 2019, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced that a unipolar world no longer exists, and a multipolar world has been created instead. And Foreign Policy, in turn, agrees on the importance of such transformations.
“In a world of about 7.8 billion people, multiple nodes of support are required, not one hegemon. Many in the United States and around the world may believe that the end of the American century is tragic, but the dawn of the anti-American century promises better times for the world and an opportunity for Americans to finally confront the structural problems of their own country”, – the newspaper writes.