Somalia is in anarchy and the ethnic/religious conflict in Nigeria is worse than ever. Genocide in Darfur continues and terrorist attacks continue accross the globe. South America drifts out of our orbit while Chinese make economic and diplomatic strides in Africa and central asia. Russia continues its move toward old style Soviet autocracy.

In short, most everything in world affairs have deteroirated, especially from America’s viewpoint. While much of this deterioration may not have been preventable, a lot can be laid at the feet of our Iraq fiasco which has used up most of our military, economic and diplomatic resources.