America Wounded Bashes China


The bottom paragraph is exactly the point I was making in my posts on
American attacks on Chinese foods, tires, trade, etc.

Still No.1
Jun 28th 2007
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=9407806
From The Economist print edition

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.

Nor is it just a matter of geopolitics. American bankers are worried
that other financial centres are gaining at Wall Street's expense.
Nativists fret about America's inability to secure its own borders. As
for soft power, Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, America's slowness to
tackle climate change and its neglect of the Palestinians have all,
rightly or wrongly, cost it dearly. Polls show that ever fewer
foreigners trust America, and some even find China's totalitarians
less dangerous.

Power to the wrong people
A sense of waning power is not just bad for the self-esteem of
Americans. It is already having dangerous consequences. Inside the
United States, “China-bashing” has become a defensive strategy for
both the left and the right. Isolationism is also on the rise. Most
Democrats already favour an America that “minds its own business”.
(more)
.

Quantcast