American power: Still No.1

The Economist ^ | 6/29/07 | Economist

[voletti]

Wounded, tetchy and less effective than it should be, America is still the power that counts.

EVEN the greatest empires hurt when they lose wars. It is not surprising then that Iraq weighs so heavily on the American psyche. Most Americans want to get out as soon as possible, surge or no surge; many more wish they had never invaded the country in the first place. But for a growing number of Americans the superpower's inability to impose its will on Mesopotamia is symptomatic of a deeper malaise.

Nearly six years after September 11th, nervousness about the state of America's “hard power” is growing (see article). Iraq and Afghanistan (another far-off place where the United States, short of troops and allies, may be losing a war) have stretched the Pentagon's resources. An army designed to have 17 brigades on active deployment now has 25 in the field. Despite bringing in reservists and the National Guard, many American troops spend more than half their time on active duty; the British spend a fifth.

Other demons are jangling America's nerves. There is the emergence of China as a rival embryonic superpower, with an economy that may soon be bigger than America's (at least in terms of purchasing power); the re-emergence of a bellicose, gas-fired Russia; North Korea's defiance of Uncle Sam by going nuclear, and Iran's determination to follow suit; Europe's lack of enthusiasm for George Bush's war on terror; the Arabs' dismissal of his democratisation project; the Chávez-led resistance to Yankee capitalism in America's backyard.

[voletti]

Read it all.

[SevenMinusOne]

A tremendous amount of hyperbole BS (though it at least has the ability to end with the only conclusion possible...that if America was a stock it would be under the "buy" category. No sh*t!).

Premise after premise within the article is BS. The notion that we are weaker today then in 2000 is absurd. Our enemies have suffered one strategic defeat after another since 01, our military is stronger and more battle tested (with more gadgets) then prior, our military has grown in number, in 2000 we were in a recession, with a stock market built up on mostly smoke and mirrors, today we are in the 6th straight year of solid expansion, a stock market where value is truly there (price to earning ratios), we have the values of freedom and self-worth looking to take root in the ME....the only way to drag the ME out of the dark ages...

One could go on and on....

The Economist has long past the days of being anything worth reading..