Tony Judt: The US is on the verge of choosing to be irrelevant

Dreams of Empire
By Tony Judt


http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17518

The challenge facing American voters in the coming elections is not to find a president who can convince the world that the US isn't an empire—or else, if it is an empire, that its intentions are honorable. That argument has been lost and is now beside the point. Nor is it even a question of choosing between being loved and being feared. Thanks to America's performance in Iraq—and our evident inability to plan one war at a time, much less two—we are neither loved nor feared. We have shocked the world, yes; but few now hold us in awe.

And yet the election of 2004 is the most consequential since 1932, if not since 1860. Is John Kerry the man for the moment? I doubt it. Does he fully grasp the scale of America's crisis? I'm not sure. But what is absolutely certain is that George W. Bush does not. If Bush is reelected much of the world (and many millions of its own citizens) will turn away from America: perhaps for good, certainly for many years. On November 2 the whole world will be looking: not to see what America is going to do in future years, but to find out what sort of a place it will be.

With our growing income inequities and child poverty; our underperforming schools and disgracefully inadequate health services; our mendacious politicians and crude, partisan media; our suspect voting machines and our gerrymandered congressional districts; our bellicose religiosity and our cult of guns and executions; our cavalier unconcern for institutions, treaties, and laws—our own and other people's: we should not be surprised that America has ceased to be an example to the world. The real tragedy is that we are no longer an example to ourselves. America's born-again president insists that we are engaged in the war of Good against Evil, that American values "are right and true for every person in every society." Perhaps. But the time has come to set aside the Book of Revelation and recall the admonition of the Gospels: For what shall it profit a country if it gain the whole world but lose its own soul?

:kick:

Targeted by the neocons, terrorists and the rest of the world who will band together to marginalize the US.

The US will be relevant as long as it has the most guns. But it will be in a strange position in the world, standing counter to the direction of history. And as Judt points out, while it will continue to be viewed as dangerous, the Bushists have exposed it as being less of a threat and more of a big, fat vulnerable target, as you suggest, than most Americans are probably comfortable with it being.

Kerry will by the end of his term be one of the most respected if not most loved Presidents in the world. People haven't made enough of how progressive he is on internationalism and the need for a true "global community."

aka the Wolfowitz = PNAC Doctrine does not appear to be concerned with old-fashioned notions of America or its relevance in that respect.

I sum up the agenda as Imperial America, maybe Pax Americana as well.

The most potent leverage tool being used to engage this doctrine is the word "terrorism". It is used both internally and externally to suppress any opposition.

The Administration has made it clear that they will not tolerate any county's attempt to develop the means to represent a threat, (even if the means are typical military defense measures) to American military power. Even contemplating it is a serious risk.

In that case, with a preemptive policy and the biggest box of WMD's and conventional weapons anybody could ever hope to have, the US puts the ultimate threat on the table and declares that it is perfectly willing to strip offenders of their sovereignty. In the case of individuals internally, it threatens to strip them of any rights and even their citizenship.

In that sense, terrorism boils down to a simple, clear definition: We have the power and are strong. You don't have the power and are weak. All terrorists fall into the second category. The message is: cooperate or die! To earn the title of terroist, any opposition to the Empire is all that is required.

This now vague word is a catch-all phrase of convenience and a tool of the information war. Rejecting its misuse and broad application is important.

than itself. Far weaker. Look at the list of nations the US has gone to war with since WWII: North Korea, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Haiti, Somalia, Serbia, Iraq. Do we think the world hasn't noticed this? Do we think the world hasn't noticed what is happening in our fight with the last weakling we've picked on? We pick on weaklings, but sometimes they fight back. Talk about shock and awe!