alt Hacker NewsNo, this is hyperbole.
Even with the terrible shenanigans of the last 1.5 years - the US is actually still the only thing that holds the world together.
The reason it's hard to grasp is because we see 'horrible Trump regime' - and previous failures in Iraq but don't look at the underlying tectonic security foundation.
DJT is Humpty Dumpty on a very entrenched wall.
We live in a 'Post World War 2' system of relative peace which hasn't really happened in history.
The US could have occupied and controlled 1/2 the world after World War 2 - it choose not to.
This is the one of the most meaningful geopolitical actS in history - that framework actually still exists.
Here are some Eisenhower quotes that capture the ideology [1], worth a read ('no nation before another' etc.).
That's still the foundation.
We mostly accept the notion of sovereignty because of this order.
Freedom of navigation for example - is something that we take for granted, but that only exists because of a Western-led order with the US as the base of that.
Even Vietnam - it was acted upon for the same reasons as Korea, but it was a mess and the US failed, were they to have been successful, we would look at it differently.
There is no way to be an 'entirely benevolent power in all affairs' - it's always going to be a bit murky.
It is a paradox that DJT has threatened Greenland (which is really all about him, nobody actually supports that) but the actions in Venezuela are not totally inconsistent with 'order' - it just so happens to be done by a leader with ulterior motives.
The US did not stay in Iraq or 'acquire' it's vast Oil reserves.
Up until President Humpty Dumpty - the US provided security for the Gulf for 80 years - again, almost unthinkable in the context of history.
People have completely forgotten that the 'true point of instability' in the Middle East is Egypt vs. Israel. That's way, way more dangerous than Iran v. Israel - but we don't talk about it because the US has been 'bribing' Egypt for decades - still to this day - with billions in aid and support to keep the political system reasonably balanced. Without that - there would be constant war between Israel and Egypt, and Suez would be closed.
If the US did not exist as a 'power' - then the world would be wild place - Ukraine would have been conquered long ago, at very least the Baltic states as well.
Neither the Suez or Panama canal would exist as we understand them, and it's hard to even grasp what the world map would look like.
And all of that despite Iraq, Afghanistan etc..
The world is shifting away from this, but not completely.
The US will lose 'absolute centrality' but will not loose general centrality.
Replies
The US does occupy and control > 1/2 the world through financial instruments.
To the rest of the world, US aggression is perceived as oppressive and unilateral primarily because it’s a political act meant to further domestic political goals. All US administrations act in their own self interest, as they should.
But the US being the world’s cop was never going to be sustainable indefinitely. It was partly because of hegemonic power and partly because of a reluctance of wealthy democratic countries to seriously invest in their military when they could just “pay” someone else.
I don’t think anyone wants the pre world war 2 order. So we are likely going to see otherwise reluctant states step up militarily to protect their neighborhoods.