THE DECLINE OF THE USA.

 

This is a serious article by someone who has a deep understanding of diplomacy as part of great-power politics. The USA's decline in its diplomatic reach and seriousness is indicative of its decline as a great power. Trumps rhetoric 'is not incidental. It amplifies structural decline'.

The idea's of MAGA (Make America Great Again) that there is a Deep State that has consciously wrecked their plans means that the very notion of the state is suspect. Once this is accepted, its reliability on the international scale is questioned because it can no longer be accepted as a given by other powers. International treaties, like the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action limiting nuclear developments in Iran) can simply be torn up. This is what Trump did - and it led to the war with Iran.

Some on 'the Left' use the term 'Deep State' too as if it is a conspiracy that has distorted US policy and behaviour. It may be a useful debating point to alert people not aware of US policy as to its lack of accountability but the reality is this - it is not the 'deep' state: it is the state. Everything it does is tied to a central policy. In other words, there is no conspiracy - there is a 'pattern of behaviour'.

'The decline of the United States as a serious interlocutor does not stem only from the personalities it deploys or the rhetorical style of its leadership. However, neither can these be dismissed as mere surface phenomena. In the current moment, they have become amplifiers of a deeper structural shift. When the head of state communicates in profane, personalized and openly annihilatory terms, diplomacy is not simply accompanied by noise. It is actively degraded. Rhetoric, in this sense, is not incidental. It amplifies structural decline.

Yet the deeper issue is continuity. Washington increasingly behaves not as a continuous state, but as a sequence of political moments. Its commitments are no longer anchored in institutional permanence, but in the preferences of the incumbent administration. Under such conditions, even disciplined diplomacy would struggle to sustain credibility.

In such a system, negotiation loses its temporal dimension. Agreements no longer extend into the future with confidence. Foreign counterparts engage the United States not as a guarantor of durable outcomes, but as a participant whose positions must be constantly hedged against.

Seriousness in diplomacy is measured in time. It is the ability to make commitments that endure beyond the moment. When that capacity erodes, diplomacy dissolves into improvisation. Agreements become provisional, signals suspect and negotiation collapses into contingency.

This is not a stylistic shift. It is a warning. The erosion of diplomacy is one of the clearest signals of imperial decline, not because power has vanished, but because it can no longer be translated into durable outcomes. Power that cannot be institutionalized is power already in question. The United States remains at the table, but it is no longer clear that it can shape what happens there or what follows after.'



Popular posts from this blog

HOW EMPIRES FALL...

Image
  The USA is losing legitimacy precisely because of its oppression and repression. 'The empire faces a fatal dilemma: tolerating dissent weakens its central authority and fragments its cohesion, while repression, though temporarily effective, destroys its remaining legitimacy. It radicalizes populations, alienates allies and partners, and causes human, economic, and moral costs to skyrocket. Duroselle’s central paradox is clear: the more an empire attempts to ward off its demise through force, the more it accelerates its decline. Legitimacy—the invisible cement of domination—once lost, cannot be restored through coercion. Any attempt at rescue risks aggravating the problem and bringing the empire to an end. Trump’s policy follows in the footsteps of his predecessors, but his style and excesses are undoubtedly hastening America's loss of credibility on the world stage.'
Read more

THE IRAN WAR SO FAR - BY BIG SERGE...

Image
  Big Serge is the best military historian there is - and this is his analysis of the war on Iran so far. As a tangential point he fails to mention the global impacts of the attacks on Iran. One of the reasons that the NATO block doesn't want to get involved is that they think the war on Iran by Israel and the USA will not be successful and will draw attention away from Ukraine which is their No 1 priority. If the initial attack on Iran had 'worked' they would be fully behind damning the 'terrorist regime' (sic). But is has so-far failed. Serge is absolutely right in my view in maintaining that they key thing for the USA and Israel neo-fascists is the crippling of Iran so that it has massively reduced influence. How Iran reacts to this is the key thing. Will it seek closer links with Russia and China? One can only hope so. Will it go for a nuclear weapon? This is logical. Will it begin to assassinate political enemies in Isael and the USA? What (after all) is the di...
Read more

THE AGE OF 'ADMINISTRATIVE' POWER.

Image
Warwick Powell explains  how the administrative state has taken over in Europe... 'Regulatory authorities now determine which organisations qualify as legitimate civil society actors, which media outlets are “trusted,” which research bodies are acceptable partners and which narratives are “foreign-influenced.” These classifications carry decisive material consequences - access to funding, platforms and institutional recognition - yet are framed as neutral, technical assessments... Regulatory authorities now determine which organisations qualify as legitimate civil society actors, which media outlets are “trusted,” which research bodies are acceptable partners and which narratives are “foreign-influenced.” These classifications carry decisive material consequences - access to funding, platforms and institutional recognition - yet are framed as neutral, technical assessments.... In countries such as Georgia and Moldova, the EU has increasingly positioned itself not merely as an obser...
Read more