We have entered a chaotic world. It has to do with the crisis of capitalism as a system, but I will not argue that now. What I will say is that this chaotic world situation will now go on for the next twenty or thirty years. No one controls it, least of all the United States government. The United States government is adrift in a situation that it is trying to manage all over the place and that it will be incapable of managing. This is neither good nor bad, but we should not overestimate these people nor the strength on which they rely.
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Which, I think, is exactly the thing to keep in mind as the 21st century unfolds.
I suspect that many will quibble over some of Wallerstein's points in this essay - for example, his insistence that the US is much weaker than appearances suggest (even many progressives tend to believe the US is a gleaming, unstoppable economic/military juggernaut). Nevertheless, it is irrefutable that while the US can initiate crises (Iraq occupation to name one) it cannot necessarily manage them.
Often, events move much more quickly, and in stranger directions, than we can track.
We are not dealing with puppet masters, but meddlers setting off fire crackers and blaming others for the damage.
DRM
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