The Impotent Superpower
How the USA ended up as a powerless superpower, and what happens next
At the end of the Cold War, which by convention occurred with the collapse of the USSR at the end of 1991, the USA was left as the world’s only superpower. This position actually grew stronger in relative terms over the following twenty years because Western European nations abandoned all pretense in having any interest in self-defense while China’s rapid enhancement of its forces had not yet commenced in earnest. For its part, Russia still had a Soviet-style military that in 2008 struggled to invade tiny Georgia.
Today, however, it’s clear the USA has no capacity to respond meaningfully to existential threats. Thanks to terminal political dysfunction (aided in part by Kremlin funds and Kremlin-directed Internet activities) the USA resembles a prize-fighter who won’t get up from his stool when the bell rings. Sure, he waves one gloved fist around occasionally, but he remains firmly seated while members of the audience (often paid by his opponent) climb into the ring and gleefully punch and kick and stab him with sharpened sticks. If the giant rose to fight, these Lilliputian adversaries would stand no chance but he remains seated while his own trainer ties his ankles to the legs of his stool because the trainer thinks this will appeal to the audience and thereby…
