Washington in a Unipolar World

 …on December 25, 1991–two years to the day after the Ceauşescus’ execution, twelve years to the day after the invasion of Afghanistan, and just over seventy-four years after the Bolshevik Revolution—the last leader of the Soviet Union called the president of the United States to wish him a merry Christmas, transferred to Yeltsin the codes needed to launch a nuclear attack, and reached for the pen with which he would sign the decree that officially terminated the existence of the U.S.S.R. It contained no ink, and so he had to borrow one from the Cable News Network television crew that was covering the event. Determined, despite all, to put the best possible face on what happened, he then wearily announced, in his farewell address, that: “An end has been put to the ‘Cold War’, the arms race, and the insane militarization of our country, which crippled our economy, distorted our thinking and undermined our morals. The threat of a world is no more.” 


The above lines marked the beginning of Washington’s unipolar era—a period of absolute dominance until the September attack, and subsequently the 2008 final crisis that began to challenge the hegemony of the US. Today the rise of countries like China, Brazil, Turkey and the return of Russia is giving America tough times on the global stage. 


MA

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