Pax Americana

Nixon Via Uncle Sam Opens China For The U.S.

It is important to ask which countries the United States can always count on in times of crisis. Recent events have shortened that list considerably.

Consider this in August 1945 after the defeat of the Empire of Japan the United States of America had no enemies in the world. (The threat of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had not arisen yet.) The United States was the sole paramount super power in the world. Europe, the Soviet Union and Japan had been utterly devastated. Well, how about today? Who in the world are friends with the United States?
India has long claimed to be a reliable ally, but it is now undercutting American efforts to impose meaningful sanctions against Iran. Its help cannot any longer be counted on in the struggle against the greatest danger faced by the United States—a nuclear Iran. Turkey is defying the European Union embargo against Iran by buying Iranian oil with gold. Japan is dilly dallying on Iranian sanctions as well. Brazil used to be a reliable partner, until it began to fall under the sway of Venezuela’s Chavez, who is closely allied with Iran and other American enemies. Russia, under Putin, and China demonstrated their lack of reliability when they vetoed American efforts in the Security Council to help resolve the Syrian crisis. Egypt, which has received billions of dollars of American aid, has defied the United States. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are now playing footsy with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Algeria, Tunisia and Libya have fallen to the contagion of the Arab Spring and the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda in the northern Africa neighborhood. Pakistan seems to be our marginal friend. The Castro boys remain in Cuba influencing the socialist drift in Latin America. In the Pacific the Philippines is long gone as a reliable friend of the U.S. Some European countries, such as France, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Sweden and Norway, are in doubt. The old adage of a friend in need is a friend indeed is true. Israel may be America’s only remaining reliable ally. Oddly, enough the U.S. is in the midst of deserting Israel just when Israel is on the verge of developing billions upon billions barrels of oil and natural gas. The era of Pax Americana has become Pox Americana.
Alan