My apologies if this was posted before during one of my absences, but I came across this on tomsdispatch and although lengthy, it's very informative and well worth reading.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174830/dilip_hiro_america_on_the_downward_slopeThe basic ideas are that America's status as the world's sole superpower is being rapidly eroded by the war in Iraq, which (in addition to the awesome money drain) shows the humiliating limitations of American military power ("We are being wrestled to the ground by opponents who aren't even an organized state," was one of the more memorable quotes, by Zbigniew Brzezinski) coupled with rising oil prices enriching global rivals like Russia and regional rivals from Venezuela to Iran. The portion of the article dealing with rising Chinese power and influence is interesting, as are the parts dealing with new alliances, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the developing relations of Venezuela with Russia, China and Iran, enabling a projection of progressive politics into Latin America, China's inroads in Africa and, much more surprisingly, the Middle East, and Iran's growing influence in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It's a long article but definitely worth the time. The author views the Iraq invasion as an unmitigated disaster and a major contributor to America's declining power and prestige.
Oh well, that's one opinion. The other is the Bush-Cheney view of world affairs. And sirs'. It's been a long tough haul, and a hundreds of thousands of people died, but it's all well worth it folks - - Iraq's gonna get
democracy!! Yay!
