Reply #12: My thoughts... [View All]

[Bragi]

The fact that a majority of Americans (apparently) voted in favour of a second term for Bush was truly shocking for most people outside the U.S, including me. This means it's no longer possible to believe that Americans are okay, and Bush is an abberation.

Moreover, I don't really see, and I'm not sure others see, much prospect of voters getting less xenophobic and militarist after four more years of Bush, and four more years of finding out about reality via Fox news.

So the U.S is now a problem for everyone for the next decade or so. What this could mean is that the rest of the world will have to get its act together, and start treating the US as the rogue nation it is.

This means the US will get little support abroad on anything, US companies will increasingly find it harder to do business abroad, US products will start to be boycotted, etc. And if there is much more crap like Falluja, I can even see the UN eventually imposing sanctions, and probably leaving New York.

So the US will become increasingly isolated internationally. There is no-one abroad of any any consequence that is likely to see this as an unsurmountable problem for them. Economic and trade adjustments will happen, but the rest of the world will struggle through it, with help from the new superpower, China.

The US meanwhile will be saddled with a crushing debt burden, and constantly increasing security costs internationally and domestically as things unravel for it everywhere. This will obviously weaken it further.

So yes, for the rest of ther world, some good may come from it. It isn't the scenario anyone really wanted, but it's the scenario that Bush and a majority of Americans have set in motion.

I think historians will see Iraq as the apex of the American empire. It's all downhill from there.