The US is confronted with a completely changed world: a powerful China that is on its way to taking the dominant position alongside Russia and the Global South. Europe must not be crushed. And no one knows what will happen after the elections on November 5, 2024.
Since US security adviser Brzesinski described the world as a ‘big chessboard’ in 1991, global conditions have changed considerably. ‘America first!’ was Ronald Reagan’s slogan with which he won the 1984 election. In 2016, Donald Trump chose the same slogan.
Reagan once faced a Soviet Union suffering from serious economic problems, an unwinnable war in Afghanistan and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The old men in Moscow did not have the energy to stop the collapse of 1991. The bitterly angry saying became legendary: “Yesterday Comrade Chernenko, General Secretary of the CPSU, resumed government business without regaining consciousness.”
Since then, the US has functioned as the sole superpower. They have the strongest military and the largest economy. The dollar is the dominant currency in the world. The US is an important member of international organizations (United Nations, NATO, World Bank). They set the tone for popular music, film and entertainment. Silicon Valley dominates the technology of the World Wide Web and artificial intelligence.
The largest news agencies (Associated Press and Thomson Reuters) are based in New York. The American Secret Service, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) scour the world for secrets. The tapping of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone became legendary in 2013. The influence on world public opinion by the ‘soft power’ of the media, the film and music industries, the enormous diplomatic apparatus and the financial resources is clear. But now President Joe Biden (81) faces a world that has changed enormously.
Source: Krone
I am George Kunkel, an author working for Today Times Live. I specialize in opinion pieces and cover stories that are both informative and thought-provoking – helping to shape public discourse on key issues. My work is regularly featured across the network’s many platforms, including print media and social media.
