/Yeah, I've been waiting for the shoe to drop since 1980, and I'm //beginning to come over to Doug and Michael's camp. It's like, with //respect to the size of the US economy and the political leverage this //gives it (+that it has the armed forces of last resort)...they seem to //have a lot of breathing room.
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/
Yes, the American system is very resilient.
There's no use pretending otherwise. But its structural integrity is stressed by a multitude of tensions and new developments. Intelligent and realistic managers can ride herd on these forces - engineer a sort of geo-political tensegrity - and maintain the system for many years to come.
The question for the future is whether the set of system managers we seem to be getting, apparently addlebrained by the circular un-logic of corporate life and other mental setbacks - such as consumerist religiosity - have the necessary skills to keep this very complex machine running.
...
The American Empire, like all robust networks, is not dependent upon a single point of failure but operates as a mesh - managers and perceptual engineers (also known as government and business) can route around damage and retain system integrity. It's an interesting design with many unique features, hidden in plain sight like the air we breathe or alpha particles.
The Internet - a network of networks - provides us with a fair model for the American imperial system. Leo Panitch, during his conversation with Doug (see http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#040325 ), described it (paraphrasing now) as a series of core nation focused inter-penetrations; the US has woven itself into the domestic systems and economic fortunes of the wealthy countries - they need the US and the US needs them. It's in no one's interest (at least, no one within the network) to see this contraption fly apart. This is the entropy defying, self reinforcing component. It's a design feature that ensures sturdiness which previous, long-lived imperial systems employed in one form or another. Certainly the Romans and the Brits, at the height of their time under the sun, understood inter-dependency as a renewable energy source for imperial rule.
Of course, overwhelming military capability is also an important factor and must be taken seriously. But so far, this is only directed against those outside of the network's core. Although undeniably effective for destroying it seems less and less useful for creating desired conditions for exploitation. Violent resistance endures despite the use of satellite guided cruise missiles, rail guns and thermobaric sub-nuke explosives. And, the globalization of sophisticated technics - both the machines themselves and the ability to see their non-scripted potential (such as using cell phones to remotely detonate bombs or text messaging to coordinate terrorist action), rising alongside a new form of planet spanning nihilism diminishes the effectiveness of military power as a tool of control.
..
So yes, the US seems quite strong - or, if not exactly strong (that word suggests health - which doesn't seem accurate), at least durable enough to weather several powerful storms.
But the world is full of surprises and the 21st century is shaping up to be a very odd place. Many Americans - including some system managers - seem to be retreating, like traumatized children, into almost pure fantasy.
Is it possible to command the globe from the world of dreams?
.d.