> An alliance of Germany (a.k.a. EU), the U.S., and Japan, with Russia and
> China as "junior" partners has launched a global war attempting to
> reimpose 'Order' on the Middle East. (Latin America has some breathing
> room while the battle is focused on North Africa, Iran, and Pakistan.
This was somewhat true in 1990, but we're in 2011 and the world has changed. The BRICs now have economic, political and cultural autonomy, the EU and Japan pursue their own interests rather than the bidding of US praetorians, and the semiperiphery has overwhelmingly followed the lead of the BRICs.
Ironically, the Middle Eastern client autocracies of the US Empire were its last zone of unquestioned hegemony. Now that's gone, and the Middle East is joining the global semiperiphery.
-- DRR