The Evil European

Change.

Two articles caught my eye today, both of which highlight the changing nature of the world.

Firstly a blog on the BBC site on what is called the 'rise of the rest'. The focus was on the role that Australia is carving out for itself. What got my attention is the idea of a 'post-American' world.

"It is one of those "Honey: Who Shrunk the Superpower?" sort of books. It notes that America can no longer boast the world's tallest building - that honour goes to Taipei; Bollywood has overtaken Hollywood; the European-made A380 is bigger than the American-made jumbo jet.
This is something much broader than the much-ballyhooed rise of China or even Asia, writes the Indian-born Zakaria; "It is the rise of the rest." BBC 22/5/08

Actually, it was not the concept of a post-American world on its own, but how this relates to an earlier story posted on Eurotrib from Reuters.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.
The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow." Reuters 22/05/08

As someone pointed out on Eurotrib, it is currently silly season in the US. However, the fact that the political elite believes that such a perspective has traction among the general population is rather worrying. Hilary has even been making noises about 'breaking up' OPEC, as if its some errant US business. What this would do to the vast amount of petro-dollars flowing into the already weak US economy is, well, bloody obvious!

The rise of the rest, not just India or China, and the increasing attractiveness of the Euro, means that the world is increasingly learning to live, not so much without the USA, but that the USA is no longer the only game in town.

The real challenge is going to be the manner in which the USA is going to manage its decrease in power. Given the views of the US political elite and a large chunk of the population, we can expect ever louder cries and foot stamping for some time to come. It will be hard for the US, just as it was for France and the UK, to accept a change in global status, but change is the only constant in life.