The U.S. Is Still A Superpower (For Now)

Marine Corps Sgt. David Rogers passes final instructions before an assault during the Infantry Integrated Field Training Exercise on Camp Geiger, N.C., Nov. 15, 2013. Rogers is assigned to Delta Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry East. The unit is collecting data on the performance of female Marines when executing existing infantry tasks and training events. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Chief Warrant Officer Paul Mancuso

A Changing World Order? -- Robert Kagan, Washington Post

By most measures, reports of America’s declining power, relative to the rest of the world, have again proved premature. The U.S. economy increasingly seems to be on an upswing. The United States remains among the world’s safest and most attractive investments. The shale gas revolution is transforming America into an energy giant of the future. The dollar, once slated for oblivion, seems destined to remain the world’s reserve currency for some time to come. American military power, even amid current budget cuts, remains unmatched in quantity and quality.

Meanwhile, the “rise of the rest,” which Fareed Zakaria and other declinists touted a few years ago, has failed to materialize as expected. For all of America’s problems at home — the fiscal crisis, political gridlock, intense partisanship and weak presidential leadership — other great powers, from China to India to Russia to the European Union, have debilitating problems of their own that, in some cases, promise to grow more severe.

Read more ....

My Comment: Yes .... the U.S. is still a superpower .... but after Iraq and Afghanistan the will to use that power is in the decline .... and it will probably escalate when U.S. forces have finally left Afghanistan. My money is still on China .... their economy is still growing, and they have the will to exercise their influence when it suits them.

Yup .... if China's growth and expansions continues .... and America's continues to decline ... one can only imagine what the world will look like in 2020 or 2030. From my vantage point .... I do not see any reason to be optimistic .... but then again .... who really knows what is going to happen a decade or two from now.