Rising powers like Russia and China are changing the power dynamic in the geopolitics of the Middle East and Asia. Despite America’s unquestionable military superiority, domestic and international forces may be influencing a trend of gradual pullback, especially compared to the first two decades after the Cold War. At the same time, millions of people across the Arab world are fed up with U.S. dominance and support of client states.
Some argue the outlook resembles 19th and 20th century dynamics where power is not concentrated in a single global hegemony and increasingly assertive states scramble for resources, territory, and influence.
The best route for the US to take – as indeed for all imperialist states – is the one that leads back home. Enough damage has been inflicted in adventurism; US credibility, in particular, has been shattered in the peurile antics of the Three Stooges – Bush, Blair and Howard; and radicalism has transformed the world's political landscape. Millions of lives have been lost, economies destroyed, and whole countries laid waste. Time to call it a day – and let people get on with their lives.
Mr. Glaser is wrong. There is no weakening of US power or influence in the Mideast. We have troops and/or special forces from Egypt to Kuwait and from Turkey to Yemen. We have an enormous naval base in Bahrain and air bases throughout the Arabian peninsula. This government is aligning itself with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and backing religious radicals in Syria. We still command our lackeys in the GCC and bankroll Israel. We are aiding in the destruction of the Syrian state like we did the Iraqi one. We continue to control the air over the Mideast. Our warships provide a massive platform to implement our goals. America is not weakening in the Mideast. Those elites who gave us the policy of hegemony are still in power and influencing the decisions made in DC.
While you are correct about physical presence, what is actually in decline is the PetroDollar. Iran is successfully leading the charge to kill it and China, Russia, India, and others are backing them. None of our bases, hardware, or personnel (including the terrorists we fund) will be at all useful when there's no money. China is killing the US on the economic front, in every way. From production of every kind (steel, cotton, cars, high tech) to infrastructure and development; they are besting us. Within 30 years or less, at the current rates, Chinese citizens will be wealthier than U.S. citizens on average. We already sit on the largest trade deficit in history. That's just with China. If Iran is allowed to continue with the expansion of its own Bourse, there will be two choices available to the Banksters: invade Iran or concede defeat. Invading Iran will trigger WWIII and conceding defeat will result in hyperinflation and a crushing mobilization of the police state here in America. The Banksters/Globalists have already been moving their assets and families abroad. They won't suffer at all. They'll just try to start up again somewhere else. Perhaps in China itself.