As I have mentioned numerous times, the great challenges America faces is the threat of a WMD attack on a major American city that would result in thousands if not tens of thousands of casualties (not to mention intense psychological dislocation) as well as the looming entitlement spending crisis exacerbated by our aging population.  One is a threat from external actors we must defend against at all costs, the other is a threat from our own internal inability to confront reality.  The implications of either one happening at once (or, Heaven forbid, happening simultaneously) will only speed the rise of Asia.  This op-ed says "We are entering a new era of world history: the end of Western domination and the arrival of the Asian century. The question is: Will Washington wake up to this reality?" Indeed we are should we fail to defend ourselves and prepare ourselves for the uncertainty of the future, this may well be the story our future generations will live with.

 

The international system America erected post World War II and in the face of the Cold War is crumbling.  What the new architecture will be is as unclear now as at any time in history.  Most theories of international relations envision conflict when one great power begins to watch the sun set on its dominance as another rises.  Clearly, I am not a declinist who believes this is necessarily an iron-clad rule of history, because history is too contingent on both material and non-material forces (ie, personalities) to be forecast with assurance.  Yet, I can foresee problems that most Americans have no conception of at the moment.  We should be prepared that we do not allow the new (or at least the becoming) academic wisdom to become too prophetic.  The West can still survive and be the "indispensable" power for a long time to come if we show ourselves to have the will to exercise that leadership.  This must be done in equal measures abroad and at home.