“A hegemon is supposed
to solve international crises, not cause them.” – Christopher
Layne, The American Conservative, May 1, 2010
Nothing upsets those drunk on
imperialist virtue than the fact it might end. Such romances with power
do have a use-by-date, going off like old fruit. Eventually, the
crippling contradictions will win through in the end. The days of the US
empire are numbered – but then again, they always were.
The recent round of spring meetings at
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank flutter with
suggestions that American economic power is being shaded, be it by the
republic’s own dysfunction, or the emergence of other powers like
China. “People can’t be too public about these things,” argues Arvind
Subramanian, chief economic advisor to the Indian government, “but I
would argue this is the single most important issue at these spring
meetings.”[1]
This would come as a surprise for some. The various theorists on international theory, many slumming at The Weekly Standard,
form the praetorian guard of arm chair defenders of American virtue and
power. Max