” …The United States squandered its ‘unipolar moment’— a unique opportunity to promote peace, rule-based international order, and global prosperity.” Bakari Bazara
By BAKRI Bazara
It is no surprise how the United States has been handling the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle-east, along with its “pivot” to Asia to contain China’s rise as a competing economic and military power. The U.S. is simply following a pattern seen throughout history—doing whatever is necessary to maintain its status as a global superpower.
The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1989 gave the United States the opportunity to form and shape a new international order that suited its economic, geopolitical, and military interests. In the early nineties, the late Washington Post columnist, Charles Krauthammer, described America’s new found sole superpower status as the “unipolar moment.” In his acclaimed article titled by the same name, Krauthammer argued that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States had emerged as the world’s sole superpower. He asserted that the U.S. possessed unmatched military, economic, technological, and cultural influence, enabling it to shape global affairs through both soft and hard power. This included leveraging institutions such as the UN, the World Bank, and the IMF to align nations with its interests. However, Krauthammer acknowledged that this “unipolar moment” was likely to be temporary, as other powers would eventually rise to challenge American hegemony.
Unfortunately, the United States squandered its ‘unipolar moment’— a unique opportunity to promote peace, rule-based international order, and global prosperity. Instead, it approached the world with a hegemonic mindset, intent on preserving its unipolar dominance. This led to entanglements in Middle Eastern wars that failed to achieve their intended goals: the overthrow of so-called “rogue” regimes and their replacement with democratic governments aligned with U.S. interests. It’s also pitying it against China, commencing another Cold War that, if not resolved diplomatically, could end in a hot war.
Just as Krauthammer predicted, the U.S. “unipolar moment” is ending. China has risen, it’s now contending with the United States economically, militarily, technologically, and ideologically. Russia has also resurged, rebuilding a formidable military. While it still lags behind the United States and China economically, its military strength has reestablished it as a regional power— one that is causing concern within the Western alliance.
America’s era as the lone superpower is coming to an end. Its power is waning, but it is not spiraling into the abyss just yet—unlike the Roman Empire , the British Empire, and many others throughout history. It remains a military juggernaut with a relatively strong economy. However, this advantage could be eclipsed by rising nations such as China—unless it addresses its internal issues, reins in its global overreach, and adapts to a rapidly changing world.
In the near future, the world is likely to become multipolar, and the United States and its western allies must come to terms with that reality. Their long-standing dominance over global finance and trade is increasingly being challenged. The era when a single superpower could “police the world” and impose its will on weaker nations is long gone. China and Russia are actively working to circumvent the U.S-led international order by forming alternative groupings, such as BRICS, to contest America’s dominance in global finance and trade. China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports is a clear indication of its ability to push back in the ongoing economic confrontation initiated by the United States.
The Global South is welcoming the emergence of a new international order, one that promises greater economic and political independence from the Global North. For over five-hundred years, beginning in the fifteenth century, western powers dominated much of the world—colonizing vast regions of the Global South. Colonizers enslaved indigenous populations, extracted mineral wealth, and controlled the political and economic systems. Even after formal decolonization, economic exploitation and political manipulation persisted, keeping many nations in a state of dependency on the Global North.
Despite the rapid and transformative changes unfolding across the world, America—and the West as a whole—remains in denial, refusing to acknowledge that it is no longer the unchallenged dominant power and must now reckon with the emergence of other rising global powers.
If peace in the world is the goal, it can only be achieved through mutual respect for each nation’s sovereignty, genuine cooperation, and a mindset that embraces our shared humanity. As sentient beings, we have far more in common than the superficial differences that divide us. The world is vast and rich in resources—more than enough for all of us to live in peace, harmony, and prosperity.
Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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Man, no need of repeating their own outlook in another smoother approach. USA, the whole world now knows, is nothing but a superterrorist-cum-superneo-colonialist consecutively led by closet psychopaths.