A Superpower With No Friends
Note these sections:
1) Regarding President Obama's meetings with Chinese leaders:
"Translation: China will not cooperate in placing sanctions on Iran; China will not hinder North Korea's nuclear missile program; and China will not help solve the problems of Afghanistan, the Middle East or anywhere else. China has decided that, in short, it will not become America's full partner in foreign policy. "
2) Regarding Europe's ridiculous (though politcally expedient for Germany and France) decision to name two unknown actors to become the President and Foreign Policy officials for the EU:
"Translation: Europe might have a new phone number, but when Obama calls, the person on the other end of the line will still be unable to act. "Europe" will not be a unified entity capable of coordinating a unified policy in Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, the Middle East or anywhere else anytime soon. Europe cannot, in short, become America's full partner in foreign policy."
Here is the money section:
"And thus we are left with a curious situation: America no longer wants to be the sole superpower. The American president no longer wants to be the leader of a sole superpower. Nobody else wants America to be the sole superpower and in fact America cannot even afford to be the sole superpower. Yet America has no obvious partner with which to share its superpowerdom, and if America were to cease being a superpower, nothing and no one would take its place...
Halfway through his presidency, George W. Bush found he had to drop unilateralism in favor of diplomacy. Now one wonders: At some point in his presidency, will Obama find he has to drop diplomacy in favor of unilateralism, too? "
That would truly be the irony to end all ironies.
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