On Wed, 3 Jul 2002, Immanuel Wallerstein was quoted as saying
> President Bush's options appear extremely limited, and there is little doubt
> that the United States will continue to decline as a decisive force in world
> affairs over the next decade. The real question is not whether U.S. hegemony
> is waning but whether the United States can devise a way to descend
> gracefully, with minimum damage to the world, and to itself.
For an excellent presentation of the opposing position, see "America's Primacy in Perspective" in the current Foreign Affairs, online at www.foreignaffairs.org. Also worth seeing online is Byford Grenville's article, "The Wrong War" (about the war on terrorism) and the featured archive article by Jonah Blank on Kashmir, which is not only a good primer of recent history, but an absolutely first-rate piece of travel writing IMHO.
BTW, after stinking up the joint for a couple of years, this particular issue of Foreign Affairs has got several good articles. For those those who subscribe but have been ignoring it (and thus have access to articles only in hard copy), I especially recommend the one on The New Model Afghan Army.
Language advisory: the entire journal is written in wonkspeak. It's by and large elegant wonkspeak as wonkspeak goes. But if the sound of courtiers advising the prince gives you hives, don't even bother. Except for Blank's piece on Kashmir, which is written elegantly by any measure.
Michael