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The Age of Nonpolarity: What Will Follow U.S. Dominance
Foreign Affairs ^ | May/June 2008 | Richard N. Haass

Posted on 06/06/2008 10:44:26 PM PDT by eekitsagreek

Summary: The United States' unipolar moment is over. International relations in the twenty-first century will be defined by nonpolarity. Power will be diffuse rather than concentrated, and the influence of nation-states will decline as that of nonstate actors increases. But this is not all bad news for the United States; Washington can still manage the transition and make the world a safer place.

RICHARD N. HAASS is President of the Council on Foreign Relations.

(Excerpt) Read more at foreignaffairs.org ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: superpower
I keep hearing how the US position of being the lone superpower will eventually decline as other nations (i.e. China) continue to rise. Call me a homer, but I would much rather see the US continue to be THE top dog forever. Other nations may like to criticize or bash the US, but I'm sure they would rather have us at the top spot than say, China.
1 posted on 06/06/2008 10:44:27 PM PDT by eekitsagreek
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To: eekitsagreek

When the liberals are through with us we will be a 3rd rate country....


2 posted on 06/06/2008 10:56:17 PM PDT by KoRn (CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
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To: eekitsagreek

The demonising of the American began before there was even an independent US of A.

The filthy intellectual inbreeds of France have been pissing and moaning about the American being less than human or some other such crap from the day there were “new worlders” to differentiate from the tired old, used up, beaten down, worthless, feckless, spineless, degenerate nothings of european peasant and their sister marrying aristocrat over lords.


3 posted on 06/06/2008 10:56:50 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: eekitsagreek

This is not a prediction by Richard Haass; it is a statement on the intent of CFR. The idea is to let colorful idiot politicians serve as lighting rods on the world stage, while wealthy elite quietly steer the organs of society to their idea of the not so common good.


4 posted on 06/06/2008 11:01:27 PM PDT by LoneRangerMassachusetts
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To: eekitsagreek
From National Public Radio (NPR):
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764

From the Russian News and Information Agency:
"'I am determined to expand relations with Russia,' Chavez, known as an outspoken critic of what he calls the United States' unilateralism, told the Russian leader, adding that his determination stemmed from their shared vision of the global order.":
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060727/51913498.html

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html

From a 2003 Washington Post article:

"...a statement [Bill] Clinton made in February 2002, in which he told an audience in Australia, 'This is a unique moment in U.S. history, a brief moment in history, when the U.S. has preeminent military, economic and political power. It won't last forever. This is just a period, a few decades this will last.'

Clinton continued...

'In all probability, we won't be the premier political and economic power we are now' in a few decades, he said, pointing to the growth of China's economy and the growing economic strength of the European Union.

Whether the United States maintains its military supremacy, he said, depends in part on how much those other entities invest in their militaries, and Clinton said working cooperatively is essential to U.S. interests.

But he said he did not want to be misunderstood. 'I never advocated that we not have the strongest military in the world...I don't think a single soul has thought I was advocating scaling back our military.'

Source: Washington Post article from May 2003:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A62253-2003Apr30&notFound=true

or find his remarks here (Talon News):
Clinton Predicts America's Decline:
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/nw03/talonnews/0503/newswire-tn-050503d.htm

"'We like your president. We want to see him reelected', former Chinese intelligence chief General Ji Shengde told Chinagate bagman Johnny Chung. Indeed, Chinese intelligence organized a massive covert operation aimed at tilting the 1996 election Clinton’s way."

The Idiot's Guide to Chinagate

By Richard Poe
May 26, 2003

CHINA WILL LIKELY replace the USA as world leader, said Bill Clinton in a recent Washington Post interview. It is just a matter of time. Clinton should know. He has personally done more to build China’s military strength than any man on earth.

Most Americans have heard of the so-called "Chinagate " scandal. Few understand its deadly import, however. Web sites such as "Chinagate for Dummies" and its companion "More Chinagate for Dummies" offer some assistance. Unfortunately, with a combined total of nearly 8,000 words, these two sites – like so many others of the genre – offer more detail than most of us "dummies" can absorb.

For that reason, in the 600 words left in this column, I will try to craft my own "Idiot’s Guide to Chinagate," dedicated to all those busy folks like you and me whose attention span tends to peter out after about 750 words. Here goes.

When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, China presented little threat to the United States. Chinese missiles "couldn’t hit the side of a barn," notes Timothy W. Maier of Insight magazine. Few could reach North America and those that made it would likely miss their targets.

Thanks to Bill Clinton, China can now hit any city in the USA, using state-of-the-art, solid-fueled missiles with dead-accurate, computerized guidance systems and multiple warheads.

China probably has suitcase nukes as well. These enable China to strike by proxy – equipping nuclear-armed terrorists to do their dirty work, while the Chinese play innocent. Some intelligence sources claim that China maintains secret stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons on U.S. soil, for just such contingencies.

In 1997, Clinton allowed China to take over the Panama Canal. The Chinese company Hutchison Whampoa leased the ports of Cristobal and Balboa, on the east and west openings of the canal respectively, thus controlling access both ways. A public outcry stopped Clinton in 1998 from leasing California’s Long Beach Naval Yard to the Chinese firm COSCO. Even so, China can now strike U.S. targets easily from their bases in Panama, Vancouver and the Bahamas.

How did China catch up so fast? Easy. We sold them all the technology they needed – or handed it over for free. Neither neglect nor carelessness are to blame. Bill Clinton did it on purpose.

As a globalist, Clinton promotes "multipolarity"– the doctrine that no country (such as the USA) should be allowed to gain decisive advantage over others.

To this end, Clinton appointed anti-nuclear activist Hazel O’Leary to head the Department of Energy. O’Leary set to work "leveling the playing field," as she put it, by giving away our nuclear secrets. She declassified 11 million pages of data on U.S. nuclear weapons and loosened up security at weapons labs.

Federal investigators later concluded that China made off with the "crown jewels" of our nuclear weapons research under Clinton’s open-door policy – probably including design specifications for suitcase nukes. Meanwhile, Clinton and his corporate cronies raked in millions.

In his book The China Threat, Washington Times correspondent Bill Gertz describes how the system worked. Defense contractors eager to sell technology to China poured millions of dollars into Clinton’s campaign. In return, Clinton called off the dogs. Janet Reno and other counterintelligence officials stood down while Lockheed Martin, Hughes Electronics, Loral Space & Communications and other U.S. companies helped China modernize its nuclear strike force.

"We like your president. We want to see him reelected," former Chinese intelligence chief General Ji Shengde told Chinagate bagman Johnny Chung. Indeed, Chinese intelligence organized a massive covert operation aimed at tilting the 1996 election Clinton’s way.

Clinton’s top campaign contributors for 1992 were Chinese agents; his top donors in 1996 were U.S. defense contractors selling missile technology to China.

Clinton received funding directly from known or suspected Chinese intelligence agents, among them James and Mochtar Riady who own the Indonesian Lippo Group; John Huang; Charlie Trie; Ted Sioeng; Maria Hsia; Wang Jun and others.

Commerce Secretary Ron Brown served as Clinton’s front man in many Chinagate deals. When investigators began probing Brown’s Lippo Group and Chinagate connections, Brown died suddenly in a suspicious April 1996 plane crash.

Needless to say, China does not share Clinton’s enthusiasm for globalism or multipolarity. The Chinese look out for Number One.

"War [with the United States] is inevitable; we cannot avoid it," said Chinese Defense Minister General Chi Haotian in 2000. "The issue is that the Chinese armed forces must control the initiative in this war." Bill Clinton has given them a good start.

The Idiot's Guide to Chinagate:
http://www.richardpoe.com/column.cgi?story=125

or,
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/26/214938.shtml

5 posted on 06/06/2008 11:03:45 PM PDT by ETL
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To: eekitsagreek
The last time there was a non polar world was the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Great Powers, such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and the neutral US, along with lesser powers, such as Austria-Hungary, the Ottomans, China, Italy, took part in a series of shifting alliances, with smaller states, constantly approaching war and backing away. Smaller wars (Spanish - American, Russo - Japanese, Austrian - Prussian, the Balkans) flared up, killed tens of thousands and faded away. This system ended in Sarajevo, in Bosnia in the Austro - Hungarian Empire, in August, 1914. Tens of millions were killed, and more than half a century of horror was started. I do not recommend a repeat of this.
6 posted on 06/06/2008 11:05:30 PM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Obama "King of Kings and Lord of Lords")
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To: eekitsagreek

My dad kept hearing during the 70’s and 80’s that the US will be bought out by Japan...

Did it happen? Nope.

Unless China dislodges us from our overseas bases, they can posture all they want. We’re still top dog. If one country can do that, then we’re probably done.


7 posted on 06/06/2008 11:06:45 PM PDT by max americana
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To: eekitsagreek

Someday the lion may indeed lie down with the lamb,...but when that happens I want the United States to always be the lion.


8 posted on 06/07/2008 12:17:09 AM PDT by Mogollon (Vote straight GOP for congress....our only protection against Obama, or McCain.)
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To: eekitsagreek

What Will Follow U.S. Dominance?

Elect me President, and what will follow is

MORE US DOMINANCE !!


9 posted on 06/07/2008 12:26:07 AM PDT by Eccl 10:2 (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem - Ps 122:6)
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To: KoRn

When the liberals are through with us we will be a 3rd rate country....

I have a secret: that is exactly their intent.


10 posted on 06/07/2008 12:28:05 AM PDT by Eccl 10:2 (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem - Ps 122:6)
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To: eekitsagreek
Nately could scarcely believe his ears. He had never heard such shocking blasphemies before, and he wondered with instinctive logic why G-men did not appear to lock the traitorous old man up. "America is not going to be destroyed " he shouted passionately.

"Never?" prodded the old man softly. "Well..." Nately faltered.

The old man laughed indulgently, holding in check a deeper, more explosive delight. His goading remained gentle. "Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed. All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you really think your own country will last? Forever? Keep in mind that the earth itself is destined to be destroyed by the sun in twenty-five million years or so."

Nately squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, forever is a long time, I guess."

"A million years?" persisted the jeering old man with keen, sadistic zest. "A half million? The frog is almost five hundred million years old. Could you really say with much certainty that America, with all its strength and prosperity, with its fighting man that is second to none, and with its standard of living that is the highest in the world, will last as long as... the frog?"

Joseph Heller - Catch-22

It is inevitable. I don't think it will happen soon or as so oft predicted, and I believe America will be able to influence their successor, just as Britain effectively crowned America by giving you their tech secrets in 1939/40 and half or more of your forward bases. this hailing of China/India/substitute other as required is preemptive and laughable by at least two decades minimum. Probably five.

11 posted on 06/07/2008 6:18:02 AM PDT by Androcles (All your typos are belong to us)
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