POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY SEUMAS MILNE IN THE GUARDIAN
I think you have this just about right, Seumas Milne.
That's precisely why there is such a desperate flapping of arms and lips in Washington and among its friends and dependants.
It is inevitable.
Russia has many strengths, from the intellects of its people to its gigantic storehouse of natural resources.
My only reservation is focusing on Russia.
I believe we are definitely at the start of an era which will see China, Russia, and others take their place in the world.
At the same time, America's relative influence and ability to act unilaterally will be continuously in decline.
And that is a very good thing for most peoples' interests.
America has proved itself a poor arbiter of fairness in the world, and it has badly abused its power.
And having gotten away with it only means the stakes become higher in future.
But that's just what we should expect from Lord Acton's dictum, one of the greatest truths ever uttered.
The best we can expect is a multi-polar world where different perspectives and interests must compromise.
It is a very rough proxy for some little degree of democracy in international affairs.
For despite all its blubbering about democracy and human values, no nation on earth has worked harder against those principles in recent years than America.
It has worked only for its narrow self-interests while using the world's biggest marketing machine to tell us otherwise.
