DJF:
I agree with you. I don't see the USA fading. If you look at things in a conventional way the USA can muddle along as they have for a thousand years.
People forget that the city of Rome fell but the Roman Empire continued in the east which was the most populous part of the Roman Empire.
The USA is synonymous with the network of nations that look to it as the world's leader. This is a deeply entrenched system that tugs on every country in the world.
The conventional wisdom is that the USA has no serious rivals from a cultural, military or economic standpoint. It is the Great Hegemon. It is the 500 pound gorilla in the living room. I don't question that. The USA sits a queen and declares it will never see mourning. The USA has a kingdom OVER the kings of the earth. It committs fornication with the elites all over the world. So now you see where I'm coming from and where I am going.
Ancient Babylon seemed invincible. The only way in was by boat through iron gates that went down deep enough into the Euphrates that an army would have to risk drowning if they tried to go under the gates. The Perisans got in by diverting the waters so their troops could wade into the city. Most of the people were celebrating in the center of the city. Babylon fell suddenly.
The area where your conventional wisdom falls flat is that you don't take into account that we live in a world where even though there are no economic rivals there are nuclear rivals - especially Russia. Jehovah's Witnesses also ignore this fact. They feel that the USA will be on the scene when Armageddon comes. That mistaken notion betrays that they are basically a religion started by Americans. They prefer to think of Babylon the Great as religion and create scenarios where Religion is destroyed but America continues on to persecute Christians as part of the UN.
Does the United States think Russia won't go nuclear at some point if they are pushed into a corner. The Spearhead Forces that were voted on by NATO as a protection for NATO countries is a farce. As Lavrov said - if Russia starts losing a conventional war they will go Nuclear. 1 Missile is more than an adequate counter force to any conventional force NATO may want to mobilize. The presumption is that Nuclear warfare is unthinkable and is MAD.
The only country in the world that has used Nuclear weapons did so when they faced huge losses to try to win a conventional war. That's when the sober minded - rational thinking Truman ordered two bombs to be dropped on Japan. So don't think that it CAN'T happen. It HAS!
The USA thinks terrorism is its enemy because they don't really have established boundaries. The USA worries about nuclear weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists. What if Putin decided it was in his interest to surreptitiously hand one of these bombs to terrorists. He could do that. The Russian mafia arms dealers would be glad to pick up the finders fee for that kind of transaction. But why even risk having terrorist do the dirty work. You can't trust terrorist to do the job. Russians are smart enough to conceal a small bomb big enough to wipe out lower Manhattan. In fact there is a good chance there are a few such bombs already available that are left over from the cold war. Or maybe there are enough spare parts laying around from the cold war. What's to prevent a container bearing ship to have one of these bombs as they sail up the East River right past lower Manhattan and The Watchtower's former headquarters. I'm not talking about a big city busting bomb which would wipe out a 20 mile radius. And I'm not suggestng a pathetic dirty bomb that would merely interfere with tourism. I'm talking about a bomb that would be within reach of "terrorists" so that it would give Russia plausible deniability. The bomb with no return address.
Have you looked at how few containers are scanned for such devices? There are a thousand ways to get a nuclear device into NYC. Think about people smuggling such a device through Mexico or even Canada. Do you think sanctions aimed at getting the oligarchs to assasainate Putin is a good thing?
At what point will a guy like Putin capitulate. The "conventional" policy debaters actually believe Putin will give up his idea of a Eurasian Union due to economic pressure. He doesn't seem to be afraid of NATO. Have they looked at a psychological profile of Putin? He thrives on adversity. He believes in doing unthinkable things. He does it fairly calmly. He does what he has to do. And when he finally blows up NYC he will be the first to decry terrorism and offer all kinds of help to the USA.
In case there are security people tracking this controversial type of scenario - I have no connections what-so-ever with anyone who would even be remotely connected to such a plan. And this is what makes it even more terrifying. Ordinary minds can conceive of such diabolical schemes. Ordinary people without any connection to power structures can imagine the likelihood of such a scenario. Do you think Putin doesn't have a few tricks up his sleeve?
It would be easier to bring a bomb into Manhattan then to figure out how to get a whole army into ancient Babylon.
Hmmm. Maybe there is an unseen motivation for JW's to get out of Brooklyn.
