4 ms·

This is the privilege of being the only actual superpower in the world. Your national interest extends all over the world and other nations don't get to have a

This is the privilege of being the only actual superpower in the world. Your national interest extends all over the world and other nations don't get to have a say in it. American control of the internet is a concern for other nations, and the ones that can do something about it (China, Russia) are working hard to become independent of it. Most nations however just get to pick what bubble they want to live in - the US one, the Chinese one, to a lesser extent the Russian one.

Arnt 6y ago
And others' interests do not extend? Anyway, I question the factualality of the superpower status. The US wasn't able to impose its will on even a minor warlord such as Mohammed Farrah Aidid. He stayed, the US soldiers withdrew.
- leto_ii 6y ago
  > And others' interests do not extend? Other countries simply don't have the power to project their interests globally. For example Iran doesn't assassinate top US generals with drones. I imagine they would like to, they just can't. If it ever became apparent that other countries were on track to developing tools that the US can't control, the US would simply strike preemptively (this applies to weapons, as well as economic matters - TikTok, Huawei etc.). > Anyway, I question the factualality of the superpower status. The US wasn't able to impose its will on even a minor warlord such as Mohammed Farrah Aidid. He stayed, the US soldiers withdrew. I don't know the case of Aidid specifically, so I can't comment on it. I do know however that if the US is interested enough in something to happen, that thing will happen almost certainly, almost anywhere. I can only assume that Somalia was not that important for US interests.
  - thomasahle 6y ago
    What you say is all true, but it is important to remember that the US diplomatic power is fsr more efficient than the brute force you allude to. If the US hadn't allowed NSA to spy on its allies, fewer of those allies would now be inclined to join with Huawei. If the US didn't have Guantanamo, fewer countries would block extradition of people of interest to the US. Sure, if you are a super power you can pretend might makes right, but it still comes with a cost.
    - christophilus 6y ago
      Agreed. And the costs add up. The US has been eroding it’s goodwill for a very long time. I wonder how long it is until the tipping point is reached. Dollar hegemony probably means there’s a bit of runway left.
    - leto_ii 6y ago
      I agree with your points. If things go the way they've been going over the past 4 yrs, I suspect that the US will end up ruling by force more and more. I also suspect that China will be allowed to carve out a sphere of strong influence in South-East Asia; this fact in turn will likely lead to a re-militarization of Japan. These are all really unfortunate developments and I hope that history will prove me wrong.
      - rangibaby 6y ago
        How is China going to carve that sphere of influence out? It's surrounded by nations that are wary of that exact thing happening (again). > this fact in turn will likely lead to a re-militarization of Japan. Japan already has a powerful military, with the capability of building nuclear weapons immediately. The Japanese have bad marketing, but following WWII they effectively stopped being chauvinist as a nation.
        leto_ii 6y ago
        > How is China going to carve that sphere of influence out? Among other things, my expectation is that Taiwan will go the way of HK. South Korea may at some point reunite with NK and enter the Chinese sphere of influence more strongly. South East Asian nations are already strongly influenced by China. > Japan already has a powerful military They still have a pacifist constitution, I think [1]. > following WWII they effectively stopped being chauvinist as a nation The definition of chauvinism is vague and I think it would be unproductive to enter a debate about which nation is/isn't chauvinistic. In my view a form of potential chauvinism is built into any nation state. Nation states are a relatively modern fiction that depends to a certain extent on the belief that there is a 'we' that is different and sometimes better than 'them'. However, in my previous comment I didn't mean to imply that Japanese imperial ambitions will be reignited. Simply that Japan will feel threatened by Chinese power and, unlike other nations in the region, will be more likely to strongly oppose that power, rather than accommodate it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Constitution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Cons...

Arnt 6y ago

And others' interests do not extend? Anyway, I question the factualality of the superpower status. The US wasn't able to impose its will on even a minor warlord such as Mohammed Farrah Aidid. He stayed, the US soldiers withdrew.

leto_ii 6y ago
> And others' interests do not extend? Other countries simply don't have the power to project their interests globally. For example Iran doesn't assassinate top US generals with drones. I imagine they would like to, they just can't. If it ever became apparent that other countries were on track to developing tools that the US can't control, the US would simply strike preemptively (this applies to weapons, as well as economic matters - TikTok, Huawei etc.). > Anyway, I question the factualality of the superpower status. The US wasn't able to impose its will on even a minor warlord such as Mohammed Farrah Aidid. He stayed, the US soldiers withdrew. I don't know the case of Aidid specifically, so I can't comment on it. I do know however that if the US is interested enough in something to happen, that thing will happen almost certainly, almost anywhere. I can only assume that Somalia was not that important for US interests.
- thomasahle 6y ago
  What you say is all true, but it is important to remember that the US diplomatic power is fsr more efficient than the brute force you allude to. If the US hadn't allowed NSA to spy on its allies, fewer of those allies would now be inclined to join with Huawei. If the US didn't have Guantanamo, fewer countries would block extradition of people of interest to the US. Sure, if you are a super power you can pretend might makes right, but it still comes with a cost.
  - christophilus 6y ago
    Agreed. And the costs add up. The US has been eroding it’s goodwill for a very long time. I wonder how long it is until the tipping point is reached. Dollar hegemony probably means there’s a bit of runway left.
  - leto_ii 6y ago
    I agree with your points. If things go the way they've been going over the past 4 yrs, I suspect that the US will end up ruling by force more and more. I also suspect that China will be allowed to carve out a sphere of strong influence in South-East Asia; this fact in turn will likely lead to a re-militarization of Japan. These are all really unfortunate developments and I hope that history will prove me wrong.
    - rangibaby 6y ago
      How is China going to carve that sphere of influence out? It's surrounded by nations that are wary of that exact thing happening (again). > this fact in turn will likely lead to a re-militarization of Japan. Japan already has a powerful military, with the capability of building nuclear weapons immediately. The Japanese have bad marketing, but following WWII they effectively stopped being chauvinist as a nation.
      - leto_ii 6y ago
        > How is China going to carve that sphere of influence out? Among other things, my expectation is that Taiwan will go the way of HK. South Korea may at some point reunite with NK and enter the Chinese sphere of influence more strongly. South East Asian nations are already strongly influenced by China. > Japan already has a powerful military They still have a pacifist constitution, I think [1]. > following WWII they effectively stopped being chauvinist as a nation The definition of chauvinism is vague and I think it would be unproductive to enter a debate about which nation is/isn't chauvinistic. In my view a form of potential chauvinism is built into any nation state. Nation states are a relatively modern fiction that depends to a certain extent on the belief that there is a 'we' that is different and sometimes better than 'them'. However, in my previous comment I didn't mean to imply that Japanese imperial ambitions will be reignited. Simply that Japan will feel threatened by Chinese power and, unlike other nations in the region, will be more likely to strongly oppose that power, rather than accommodate it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Constitution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_9_of_the_Japanese_Cons...