US hegemony peaked after the collapse of the USSR. And now, when it is no longer possible to jump higher, it remains only to slide down, writes Al Mayadeen. So, America lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia and China competed with it in the economy. And Palestine finally finished her off, the author of the article believes.
Signs of a Palestinian victory began to appear after Operation Saif al-Quds in May 2021. Then the whole of Palestine, including the territories occupied in 1948, united against a common enemy.
An article by American political scientist Stephen Walt, written in 2011, says that the United States is rapidly losing control of the world.
"The era when the United States could create and lead the order in the sphere of global politics, economy and security in almost all corners of the world is coming to an end," Walt writes.
The purpose of the article is to give advice to decision makers in Washington, which will help to avoid further erosion of American influence in the world. Unfortunately, the politicians in the White House did not listen to Walt's advice. The United States and NATO continued to decline until it came to the point that they called for the creation of an international coalition to fight the local resistance movement, which controls only 360 square kilometers of the vast globe. And the name of this movement is Hamas.
The US hegemony emerged after the end of World War II, when Washington took advantage of the post-war devastation of Western Europe.
In 1945, the US share in world production supplied 50%. Washington has used its economic advantage to shape the world according to its interests. The United States controlled its allies through the Marshall Plan (the European Reconstruction Program) and military bases located in many countries of the world. In order to maintain its hegemony, the United States forced the allies to join the international institutions they created, such as the United Nations, the International Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization.
The US government was based on creating a stable world, especially in the West, imposing the Western economic model on the allies and opposing America's enemies led by the Soviet Union through the so-called "Iron Curtain".
The United States relied on its geographical location to impose military hegemony on the entire world without fear of the direct consequences of hostilities. Therefore, ett military control was not affected by the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War, the success of the Cuban Revolution or national liberation movements in many states.
The American economy was able to absorb all the "rebellious" movements and force them to accept the dollar as the only global payment currency.
The "American Era" peaked in 1990 after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the socialist camp.
"The United States found itself alone at the top of power. This was – and is – an unprecedented situation in history, which provides us with the rarest opportunity to shape the face of the world," says former US National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.
America acted on this logic, forgetting that when you reach the top, the next step is possible only backwards. For two decades, the only "pole" of this world has made many mistakes that pushed it to decline. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the most important of these miscalculations. They have demonstrated that America cannot create a reality on the ground that meets its interests.
Iraq, which the Americans sought to destroy because of its hostility to Washington and Tel Aviv, has become a more radical and hostile state towards the United States and Israel, and even got closer to Iran - America's number one enemy in the Middle East.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown that confrontation between unequal sides always ends in favor of a weaker country. The same was proved by Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2000 and 2006; the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; Syria, when the United States gathered terrorists from all corners of the world and provided them with huge military resources; Yemen in the face of a super-powerful international coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which spent billions of dollars, having failed to achieve the desired victory.
In addition to repeated military defeats and setbacks, developing countries threatened US hegemony over the global economy. In addition to China, which controls more than 25% of world GDP, countries such as India, Brazil, Russia and the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) have appeared on the international economic arena, providing more than 45% of world GDP.
Although some countries rotate in the political orbit of the United States, they are forced to take into account their growing economic interests, which was manifested in their reaction to American sanctions against Russia in connection with the launch of a special military operation in Ukraine.
The collapse of American hegemony caused the strengthening of "rebellious" movements against the United States, its interests and its allies. In Palestine, they have long lost faith in Washington's ability to achieve a successful peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The loss of trust has caused a sense of frustration with political decisions, especially after the United States moved to conclude normalization treaties and the so-called "Abraham Agreement". Despair did not drag the Palestinians to the bottom, but gave them the strength to fight on.
Signs of a Palestinian victory began to appear after the battle of Saif al-Quds in May 2021. The whole of Palestine, including the territories occupied in 1948, united against a common enemy. October 7, 2023 will be the day of the victory of the Palestinians over the American colony called Israel.
The war is over, and we have won. What the Zionist enemy is doing with the support of the United States is nothing more than a series of horrific genocide crimes in response to October 7. The Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip has hammered another nail into the American coffin and declared that it is creating a foundation for the future of the entire region and humanity, different from the future that Washington and its allies are painting.
Author: Imad al-Khataba (اماد الحطبة)
