Jonah Goldberg: America's paranoid China syndrome
[Jonah Goldberg is an American conservative syndicated columnist and author.]
Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit this week has rekindled the familiar debate over American "decline." Our sole-superpower moment is over, we're told, and the 21st century will prove so much tougher than the 20th.
I'm just not sure what all the fuss is about.
Perhaps one source of confusion is this whole sole-superpower business. It's true that from the early 1990s until around now, America has been essentially alone at the top of the world heap. But that hasn't meant as much as a lot of folks claim. During this pax Americana, a nasty war broke out in Europe, genocide materialized in Africa and the United States was harassed and wounded by stateless Islamic terrorism.
We also fought a war in Iraq that ended in a bloody armistice, requiring constant policing for more than a decade. And now we're in another expensive war. Meanwhile, our trade deficit only gets worse and our industrial base has been outsourced to Mexico, Vietnam and, of course, China.
Next, we're told, one of the consequences of the new multipolar world will be that we won't be able to do things unilaterally anymore. Anymore? What movie were they watching?..
Read entire article at National Review
Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit this week has rekindled the familiar debate over American "decline." Our sole-superpower moment is over, we're told, and the 21st century will prove so much tougher than the 20th.
I'm just not sure what all the fuss is about.
Perhaps one source of confusion is this whole sole-superpower business. It's true that from the early 1990s until around now, America has been essentially alone at the top of the world heap. But that hasn't meant as much as a lot of folks claim. During this pax Americana, a nasty war broke out in Europe, genocide materialized in Africa and the United States was harassed and wounded by stateless Islamic terrorism.
We also fought a war in Iraq that ended in a bloody armistice, requiring constant policing for more than a decade. And now we're in another expensive war. Meanwhile, our trade deficit only gets worse and our industrial base has been outsourced to Mexico, Vietnam and, of course, China.
Next, we're told, one of the consequences of the new multipolar world will be that we won't be able to do things unilaterally anymore. Anymore? What movie were they watching?..