51吃瓜

The US blames everyone but itself for the sorry state of global affairs.

Let me try to get this straight: From the moment the Soviet Union imploded in 1991 until recently, just about every politician and mainstream pundit in America assured us that we were the planet鈥檚 indispensable nation, the only truly exceptional one on this small orb of ours.

We were the sole superpower, Earth鈥檚 hyperpower, its designated global sheriff, the architect of our planetary future. After five centuries of听, in the wake of a two-superpower world that, amid the听, seemed to last forever and a day (even if it didn鈥檛 quite make it 50 years), the United States was the ultimate survivor, the victor of victors, the last of the last. It stood triumphantly at the听. In a lottery that had lasted since Europe’s wooden ships first broke out of a periphery of Eurasia and began to colonize much of the planet, the United States was the chosen one, the country that would leave every imperial world-maker from the Romans to the British in its shadow.

Who could doubt that this was now our world in a coming American century beyond compare?

And then, of course, came the attacks of 9/11. A mere听听and 19 suicidal hijackers (mostly Saudis) armed with box cutters and organized from Afghanistan, a country plunged into an Islamic version of the Middle Ages, had听听the greatest power of all time. In the process, they would bring down iconic structures in what would soon be known to Americans as 鈥渢he homeland,鈥� while killing almost 3,000 innocent civilians 鈥� acts so shocking that they really did change the world.

Yet even then, a fervor for world-organizing triumphalism only took firmer hold in Washington. The top officials of President George W. Bush鈥檚 administration almost instantly saw the 9/11 attacks as their very own 鈥�,鈥� the 21st-century equivalent of the moment that had launched the US on the path to post-World War II superpowerdom. As instantly听told听his aides in the rubble of the Pentagon, 鈥淕o massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.” And indeed they would do just that, seizing the moment with alacrity and promptly听launching听the , also known as, among the cognoscenti,听听(the third, in their minds, having been the Cold War).

The Finest Fighting Force

No simple 鈥減olice action鈥� against the modest al-Qaeda organization and Osama bin Laden would do (and those who suggested something so pathetically humble were to be laughed out of the room). At that moment, their newly launched 鈥渨ar鈥� was to be aimed at no less than听.听 The world was to be swept clean of 鈥渢error鈥� and the tool for doing so and for imposing Washington鈥檚 version of a world order on much of the planet would be the听, a force like none ever seen before. It was, would听claim, 鈥渢he greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known.鈥�

It was, as both he and 听affirmed, as became gospel on both sides of the aisle in Washington (until 听arrived听in the presidential race of 2016), 鈥渢he finest fighting force鈥� in history. It was so unquestionably powerful that no enemy could conceivably stand in its path. It would 鈥渓iberate鈥� not just Afghanistan, but Iraq, a country in the Middle Eastern oil heartlands that had nothing to do with either al-Qaeda or Islamic terror but had a ruler despised in Washington.

And that, mind you, would only be the beginning. Syria and Iran would undoubtedly follow and soon enough the Greater Middle East would be brought under the aegis of a听Pax Americana. Meanwhile, globally, no country, or even bloc of countries, would be capable of rising to challenge the United States into the imaginable future. As in 2002, 鈥淎merica has, and intends to keep, military strengths beyond challenge, thereby making the destabilizing arms races of other eras pointless, and limiting rivalries to trade and other pursuits of peace.鈥� In that year, the similarly听called for听the country to “build and maintain” its military power 鈥渂eyond challenge.鈥�

What a soaring dream it all was! In response to the destruction of part of the Pentagon and those towers in New York City, a small group of top officials in Washington,听听for just such an opportunity, were determined to impose their version of order and democracy, military first, on significant parts of the planet and no one would be capable of resisting. Not for long anyway.

Almost 16 years later, you know how that dream of domination turned out, but to Washington鈥檚 power players at the time it all seemed so obvious. Except for a few retrograde Muslim rebels, it was clearly no one else鈥檚 planet but ours to organize as we wished. The Soviet Union was already an instant historical memory, its empire scattered to the winds, and Russia itself largely immiserated. The Chinese had a capitalist economy of no small means (even if run by the Communist Party), but as a military force, as a great power, they were anything but impressive. And if you looked at the rest of the world, there were no other potential great powers, no less superpowers, on any imaginable horizon.

Given the history of the war on terror and of the stunning inability of the US military to impose Washington鈥檚 will, no less its planetary dreams, on more or less anyone, it took an awfully long time for such thinking to begin to die. And before it did, the political class, in a fervor of defensive exaggeration, began insisting in a听听on the 鈥渋ndispensability鈥� and 鈥渆xceptionality鈥� of … well, us. It was as if the sense of decline most Americans had started feeling in their bones wasn鈥檛 happening. Of course, the constant invocation of the country鈥檚 singular specialness should itself have signaled just how wrong things were, because when you’re truly indispensable and exceptional, you don鈥檛 need to repeatedly say so, or even say it at all.

It took a reality-TV star with a curious combover who had run a set of casinos听听to pick up a听, 鈥淢ake America Great Again,鈥� and bodysurf it into the White House. He did so in part on the widespread sense in the American heartland that, a quarter of a century after the Soviet Union imploded, the , even heading for the exit at a creep, not a gallop. The 鈥渁gain鈥� in that slogan was the telltale signal that the billionaire 鈥溾�� (and classic听) had an intuitive handle on an American world of failed war-making and raging inequality, about which both his Republican opposition and his听听in the 2016 election, all still priming the pump of indispensability and exceptionality, seemed clueless.

Who? Us?

Now, here we are on the planet the US was to dominate and run for an eternity with an embattled president surrounded by听听whose skills were honed in America鈥檚 losing wars of the 21st century. If you want a personal gauge of American decline, consider this: Barely half a year into office, is already听threatening听to launch a听听and exploring whether he has the power not just to听听aides, friends and family, but听, in case of future convictions. With the previous decade-and-a-half in mind, here鈥檚 a question for you: Pardon me, but even if he pardons himself, who鈥檚 going to pardon the rest of us?

I mean, am I wrong, or aren鈥檛 we living in the mess of a world the sole superpower had a major hand in creating and was, once upon a not-so-distant time, all too eager to take credit for? So I find it strange that no one who matters here seems to feel the slightest responsibility for the planet鈥檚 dismal state. All the politicians, power players and pundits in Washington who wouldn鈥檛 have hesitated to take complete credit, had the US achieved anything like its fantasy of a听Pax Americana听world, couldn鈥檛 be quicker these days to place the blame for what鈥檚 actually happened elsewhere.

You know the tale. When it comes to the world鈥檚 ills, it鈥檚 Vlad the Ukrainian Impaler, or Vlad the Hacker, who鈥檚 spoiled so much. Among other things, he had, we鈥檙e told, the temerity to mess with the sacrosanct electoral system of the most democratic country on the planet, a place so pure that its denizens had never heard of such a shocking act, except, of course, for the scores of times Washington did听听to other countries. (Who in the US these days even remembers 鈥溾��?) The Russian president now gets much of the blame in Washington for the sorry mess of our world, from Eastern Europe and the unsettled NATO alliance to Syria.

As for where the rest of the blame lands: It鈥檚 the Chinese, of course, who鈥檝e had the nerve to flex their potential great-power muscles by听,听产耻颈濒诲颈苍驳听听and claiming parts of that body of water as their own, while听not pressuring听the harder to stand down. It鈥檚 the Iranians who听听补谤别听听for much of the mess in the Middle East, along with various jihadi successors and spin-offs from the original al-Qaeda. They take the rest of the blame for the world of chaos that continues to spread across the Greater Middle East, parts of Africa and now the听听(not to mention the听听fleeing embattled and desperate lands who are, we are regularly assured, threatening the continental US with disastrous harm).

I don鈥檛 mean to say that such a crew (refugees excepted) shouldn鈥檛 bear some of the blame for our disintegrating world, but just remind me: Wasn鈥檛 the 听born听in an American military prison in Iraq? Weren鈥檛 the Iranian theocrats, those Great-Satan haters, born in the grim crucible of the shah’s rule (and that of his brutal secret police) after the that听overthrew听the elected prime minister of that country in 1953?听 Didn鈥檛 Washington听听promises听made听to former and others and do its damnedest to move NATO鈥檚 line of control into parts of the former Soviet empire and associated satellite states?

Didn鈥檛 the Bush administration lump North Korea with Iraq, a nation it was eager to invade, and Iran, which it planned to take down sooner or later, in the infamous 鈥�,鈥� even though the North Koreans had nothing to do with either of those countries? In the most public manner possible, in a State of the Union address to the nation, the American president linked all three of those countries to terrorism and evil in what was unmistakably a 鈥渞egime change鈥� package. (If you were eager to convince the North Korean leadership that possessing a nuclear arsenal was the only way to go, that certainly was a good start.) In the process, didn鈥檛 George W. Bush and his officials functionally shred the Clinton-negotiated agreement by which the North Koreans had indeed frozen their nuclear program, in part by听listing听that country in its 鈥渁s one of the states that might become the target of a preventive strike鈥�?

And that鈥檚 just to begin to explore what it meant to be in the world of the sole superpower from 2001 to 2017. Remind me, for example, which country only recently announced its听, the crucial global architecture for protecting the planetary environment, and so humanity鈥檚 future, from a grim kind of dismemberment?

Who鈥檚 Going to Sanction Us?

So here鈥檚 my next question: If you鈥檙e parceling out blame on this planet of ours, why just dump it on the evildoers? What about us? What about the sole superpower, its changing leadership and the finest fighting force in the history of the universe? Don’t we have any responsibility for the situation we now face globally, from North Korea to the Greater Middle East to Ukraine to Venezuela? Didn鈥檛 the actions of America鈥檚 leaders and its national security state have anything to do with the world that called forth the Trumpian wave, which could now swamp so many ships of state? Maybe President Trump can indeed pardon himself (an issue听听at the moment by constitutional scholars), but who pardoned everyone else who lent a hand, large or small, to the creation of what increasingly looks like a听?

Are there no high crimes and misdemeanors for which we Americans are responsible on a planet of the otherwise guilty?

Here鈥檚 one thing I think about sometimes on bleak nights. I鈥檓 sure you remember the way the Bush administration used听, or WMDs, as an excuse to launch an invasion of Saddam Hussein鈥檚 Iraq and occupy his country.听 In fact, there was indeed a weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, and no one needed to search for it. I’m talking about the US military. It was also a weapon of destructive creation. It cracked Iraq open, set Shia and Sunni at each others鈥� throats, loosed a grim process of religious 鈥溾�� across the region and so provided fertile ground for the worst of the worst. Its 鈥渟uccessful鈥� invasion was the crucial factor in preparing the way for the birth of al-Qaeda in Iraq and then of the Islamic State in a country where no such organizations had previously existed. In truth, in every land across the Greater Middle East and Africa where that military has gotten involved in hostilities, from Libya to Iraq to Yemen to Afghanistan, it has left in its wake shaken or听, untold numbers of听听and听spreading听.听 It has been a major player in a decade-and-a-half of disaster that has helped听听significant parts of the planet. And yet when it comes to apportioning blame, the main people tarred with the disaster that鈥檚 been the war on terror are those who have been made into refugees in its wake, those who, we are听, would be a mortal danger to us, were we to welcome them here.

And while we鈥檙e at it, it might be worth mentioning one other weapon of mass destruction in our world: the rise to glory of the 1% and the widening听听that鈥檚 accompanied their successes. From Ronald Reagan鈥檚 presidency on, a series of administrations, Republican and Democratic, have presided over a听听and a听听growing ever more disastrously unequal, as听the while the poor and working classes labor ever harder for, relatively speaking, ever less. Consider that but another story of devastation on what reputedly was once an American planet.

In such a global context, our Congress has been eager indeed to sanction the Russians, the Iranians and the North Koreans for their roles in spreading misery, but who鈥檚 going to sanction us? Honestly, don鈥檛 you wonder how we got off the hook so easily for the world we swore that we alone would create? Isn鈥檛 the US responsible for anything? Doesn鈥檛 anyone even remember?

We now have a president with the strangest demeanor imaginable, a narcissistic bully spouting a听听that eerily echoes the bellicose threats of North Korea. However, like the spreading terror movements and failed states of the Greater Middle East, he should be seen as a听听of the actions, programs and dreams of the sole superpower in its self-proclaimed glory and of its plans for a military-enforced global听Pax Americana. By the time he鈥檚 done, President Trump may be responsible for high crimes, including nuclear ones, of a sort that even impeachment wouldn鈥檛 cover and who, these days, could ever miss his demeanor?

Blame the evil doers for the devastation visiting this planet? Sure thing. But us? Not for a second. And, while you’re at it, welcome to the post-American world.

*[This article was originally published by .]

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.

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