Does the arrival of Barack Obama herald a new era, or did he simply come along just as a new era characterized by the end of ‘gringo domination’ began? The answer, according to Alfredo Rangel of Colombia’s Semana newspaper, is emphatically the latter.
Citing Richard Haas’ recent article in Foreign Affairs, Rangel writes in part:
“To put things in perspective, the importance of the Obama presidency is that it will allow North Americans, the West and the rest of the world to become fully aware and convinced that the era of the of United States … is at an end. Then it will be understood that the debacle of Bush’s foreign policy stemmed from the aspiration to impose his will on the world at a time that it was impossible to do so.”
As evidence, Rangel writes in part:
“… military spending is not synonymous with military capability. And in diplomacy, Washington’s powers of persuasion have been reduced. China has shown more capacity than the United States to influence the North Korean nuclear program. The U.S. requires Europe’s help to pressure Iran, but a lack of support from China and Russia have brought things to a standstill. Pakistan seems to ignore the North Americans. Its dominant influence in South America is over. Emerging powers like India, Brazil and South Africa have growing regional influence.”
By Alfredo Rangel
Translated By Paula van de Werken
December 6, 2008
Colombia – Semana – Original Article (Spanish)
To put things in perspective, the importance of the Obama presidency is that it will allow North Americans, the West and the rest of the world to become fully aware and convinced that the era of the of United States has come to an end. Then it will be understood that the debacle of Bush’s foreign policy stemmed from the aspiration to impose his will on the world at a time that it was impossible to do so – because the world had already radically changed without the United States having noticed.
Indeed, the uni-polar world and the dominance of the United States that emerged with the fall of the Berlin Wall is history. This is the proposal of no less than Richard N. Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations in the United States who has worked for four administrations there, and who put forth this premise in a recent essay for the magazine Foreign Affairs. According to him, a non-polar world is ‘a world dominated not by one or two or even several states but rather by dozens of actors possessing and exercising various kinds of power.’ These players include emerging powers on every continent; dozens of global multilateral, regional and functional organizations; huge companies that dominate energy, finance and manufacturing; global media and communications outlets; political parties; religious movements; terrorist organizations, mafias, and non-governmental organizations with global influence.
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