[Sampanviking]

No revelation by concept in the idea the US is following in the footpath of the Soviet Union into oblivion, but today's ATOL article by Tom Englehardt does nicely package the subject and help make it an area of further discussion.

http://www.atimes.co...t/LF17Ak02.html

One of the more interesting areas discussed the final days of the Soviet Union and the effect on its rapid decline by the return of its defeated armies from Afghanistan.

The US potentially faces a similar predicament and while Afghanistan presents itself as an obvious example, I do not think it would be the most damaging. The most damaging I can think of would be expulsion from its settled occupations in East Asia of South Korea and Japan. This is probably a good time to start the agitation, as the experience of Yukio Hatayama has shown the democratic sham that is the occupation and surely another Japanese politician will plan to harness the same support and mandate that projected Hatayama into power, only now they would be in doubt as t the degree of hardball they would have to play.

Now how can China use its Intelligence agencies and soft power to agitate the populations of these countries to raise anti Americanism to fever pitch?

[Red Fox Ace]

Personally, I think the US is already well on its way towards slow death - the masses demanding free bread and circuses, the lack of interest, the lack of vision or purpose, uncontrolled borrowing from China, the "What can my government do for me?" attitude.





But it needs to be seriously asked: Would the world truly be better off with a severely weakened USA? It's nice to imagine that it would, but history has a way of bringing out unforeseen uglies.