Is This the End of the American Empire?

President George W. Bush's trips to Europe during the month of June attracted significant anti-American demonstrations. At the same time, the United States announced troop withdrawals from Europe and Korea as the handover in Iraq took place. Analysts speculate what would happen if America withdrew from its international role.

by Melvin Rhodes

British historian Niall Ferguson is one of the most prolific historians writing today. He is Herzog professor of history at New York University's Stern School of Business and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University

In addition to these responsibilities, he has been writing more than one book a year and countless articles for different magazines. He is also refreshingly perceptive about the world in which we live. As an atheist he does not see things through biblical eyes, but, without realizing it, much of what he writes confirms Bible prophecy.

In an article in the latest issue of Foreign Policy (July-August, 2004), Mr. Ferguson writes of "A World Without Power." His introductory paragraph says this: "Critics of U.S. global dominance should pause and consider the alternative. Who would replace America if it retreated from its current role? Not Europe, not China, not the Muslim world—and certainly not the United Nations. Unfortunately, the alternative to a single superpower is not a multilateral utopia, but the anarchic nightmare of a new Dark Age."

Mr. Ferguson gives three reasons for the imminent fall of the American superpower. As he puts it: "The United States suffers from at least three structural deficits that will limit the effectiveness and duration of its quasi-imperial role in the world.

"The first factor is the nation's growing dependence on foreign capital to finance excessive private and public consumption. It is difficult to recall any past empire that long endured after becoming so dependent on lending from abroad."

America is overdrawn

As if to emphasize this point, the same issue of Foreign Policy carried an article by Lawrence H. Summers, president of Harvard University and former secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. In the article, titled "America Overdrawn," Mr. Summers highlights a simple fact: "There is something odd about the world's greatest power being the world's greatest debtor...Much has been made of U.S. dependence on foreign energy, but the country's dependence on foreign cash is even more distressing. In a real sense, the countries that hold U.S. currency and securities in their banks also hold U.S. prosperity in their hands. That prospect should make Americans uncomfortable."

Read the full article at www.wnponline.org/wnp/wnp0407/americanempire.htm

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