DER SPIEGEL: Trump is obsessed with the decline of America – and accelerates it with this war. Trump’s speech on the war in Iran has revealed a president without an exit plan. This crisis could change the world – just not as he promised. America loses, China wins, and Europe pays the bill.
https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/donald-trump-der-us-praesident-beschleunigt-den-niedergang-amerikas-durch-den-iran-krieg-a-15261d31-1da0-48a5-b867-cc807f3e4a12
Posted by Burgerb
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This is exactly the topic of Foundation and the end of Empire. Once you are afraid of losing hegemony you take the steps that bring forward that end. Same with old mythical prophecies. The rest is psychohistory.
It is extremely weird, but there is a strange kind of coherence to the core of this. What Trump and the Make America Great Again crowd appear to be desiring is the America of the years following World War Two. During that time the rest of the world being wrecked and in recovery meant American industry and economy lit up with opportunities never before known.
Since that time there has been increasing normalization and we appear to be headed to what many are calling a multipolar world with large and small powers all interacting together with various overlapping alliances. In order to change directions, triggering global conflict that takes other nations down a notch could be a strategy for returning to similar circumstances.
In essence this would be making America great again by actively messing things up for everyone else and spreading conflict globally. This strategy is an oddly good match for what Moscow has been doing ever since the Bolsheviks rose to power.
In my view, the European Union stands to gain significantly from creating some distance from the current situation. This administration has set in motion a series of political reactions that, once underway, are difficult to reverse. As a result, the broader political landscape within Europe may shift, potentially accelerating conversations about deeper integration. It’s not unrealistic to imagine the 27 member states moving toward a more federalized structure—one that strengthens shared institutions and reduces the vulnerabilities exposed by recent global tensions. Seems a rational self-defense mechanism.