A Multipolar World

 Fareed Zakaria notes that we are in an emerging new world where "the rise of the rest" has ended a roughly 25 year period of American hegemony. There are - I think - some problems with his interpretation. He notes that more than half the global population does not support the West's condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While this is roughly true, the reality is that China and India's population may have a different take than their leadership. Or not. India, in particular, has a tortured history with the "West" which sometimes includes the United States and sometimes doesn't. 

Zakaria is accurate that we have a hypocrisy problem when it comes to the rules-based order we have tried to create since 1945. Once again, our invasion of Iraq and the subsequent human rights abuses during the War on Terra exposed a real gap between our ideals and our actions. And then...Trump. Since 9/11, we have seen a schism within the GOP about America's proper role in the world. The neo-isolationism of Trumpism would be devastating to our ability to create a more peaceful globe. It's unclear that the bellicose nationalism of Dick Cheney and John Bolton would do any better.

The near-miss on the debt ceiling has preserved America's critical role in international finance as the world's reserve currency. I'm reading a biography of John Maynard Keynes, and his efforts to wean the world off the gold standard was perhaps his life's work. We have replaced gold - in some fundamental ways - with the dollar. That will obviously breed resentment in some quarters. Ukraine is demonstrating the weakness of Russia's capacity as a great power. One would think a country like India would re-examine its relationship with Moscow.

One thing Zakaria notes is the rise in a hyper-nationalism among these emerging states. Much of this is framed as opposition to the West. However, it's easy to see how Africa and Asia could repeat the horrible history of 20th century Europe. They may have rejected important hallmarks of Western culture, but they have imbibed nationalism from us. The worst result possible, it would seem.