Sir, –There has been a lot of talk over the last 20 years about the decline of US power.
We have had much commentary pertaining to the rise of China‚ the rise of other Asian nations, and that the US was somehow being left behind.
It’s my contention that so many of those predictions have proven to be untrue.
The American economy still remains extremely dynamic and one has to accept that it’s still the largest in the world.
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I believe that the ability of the US to project military power remains unmatched by any competitor.
The threat to US omnipotence and hegemony and therefore western security is not coming from US external power, it is coming from its own internal political problems.
When American presidential elections become inflection points resulting in political polarisation or violence, one has to conclude that such outcomes have to mean that it will become impossible for the US to retain its role as either the world’s policeman or certainly the guarantor of western security and so we might need to prepare ourselves for such a future reality. Where such internal political problems are so profound‚ it basically prevents the US from having and executing that role on which we have relied upon them for decades and decades.
Despite all of the US warning signs, the West appears to be floundering when it comes to dealing with this new phenomenon. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’BRIEN,
Clonmel,
Co Tipperary.