I've been thinking about the Peloponnesian War analogy for some
time now. The rise of Athens as an imperial power was a direct
result of the alliance forged to meet the threat of Persia. I
suspect that most USAmericans don't grasp the extent to which US
hegemony is a direct result of the Cold War, which forced the
interests of other nations into alignment with US interests. Now
that the threat is gone there's a realignment. If the US tries to
retain hegemony by coercion the realignment will not be to our
advantage. The US can remain preeminent, but only by understanding
the interests of other nations and working in concert with them.
The alternative is the fate of Athens.
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