Nope, I Don’t Think The World is Ending

Just a couple of quick thoughts on Stephen Waltz’s: The End of The World As We Know It (http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/05/13/the_end_of_the_world_as_we_know_it?obref=obinsite)

Are we really seeing the end of the “Atlantic Era”? Declining definitely but I think it is far from ending. Although we’ve seen in the first half of 2010 the economic surge of China but right now, it is reportedly cooling down. In addition, economy is only one of the major criteria when we talk about establishing a global power – there’s also the political and military aspect. And with China’s economy cooling down, who can say that they can sustain decades or even century of supreme economy?

I don’t agree with Stephen Waltz that we are reaching the end of the era of the transatlantic powers but I definitely agree that in the case of the US, there is a way out in the current pit hole that they’re in: apply a zero-based look at the current foreign policy strategy! Being a realist myself, this is hard to say but I’m afraid Waltz is correct that conventional schools of thoughts are no longer relevant.

And with that note, I say I do believe that all the factors affecting the decline of the transatlantic powers (from economic decline to political decline, from fighting terrorism to improving the quality of education) are all policy issues. And yes, I agree with Waltz that in a time like this, if the US would really like to come up with an effective strategy to address their current foreign policy, a zero-based look at it should be applied.