National Intelligence Council report: sun setting on the American century

[BanzaiBonnie]

The next two decades will see a world living with the daily threat of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe and the decline of America as the dominant global power, according to a frighteningly bleak assessment by the US intelligence community.

“The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons,” said the report by the National Intelligence Council, a body of analysts from across the US intelligence community.

The analysts said that the report had been prepared in time for Barack Obama’s entry into the Oval office on January 20, where he will be faced with some of the greatest challenges of any newly elected US president.



“The international system will be almost unrecognisable by 2025, owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalising economy, a transfer of wealth from West to East, and the growing influence of nonstate actors. Although the United States is likely to remain the single most powerful actor, the United States’ relative strength – even in the military realm – will decline and US leverage will become more strained.”

Global power will be multipolar with the rise of India and China, and the Korean peninsula will be unified in some form. Turning to the current financial situation, the analysts say that the financial crisis on Wall Street is the beginning of a global economic rebalancing.

[codjh9]

1. They're discussing this LIVE on BBC right now from Austiin City Limits! A guy from

Bangladesh sent in a comment I thought was very apt: he said that while the US was the richest and most powerful nation, we didn't have anything good to lead the world with - only our rampant consumerism, etc. (I'm not getting the quote exactly right). I think I'd only add that *under the right leadership*, such as we have now, we may be able to lead the world, but we have to clean up our act, obviously.