In tonight’s State of the Union address, President George W. Bush is expected to focus on his domestic agenda, and will offer proposals on alternative forms of energy, immigration reform and health care, reports FOX News.com, In addition, Press Secretary Tony Snow told reporters, the president will
spend a "significant amount of time" speaking about the troop surge, Iraq and the global war on terror.
Most likely, what Mr. Bush won’t be discussing is America’s rapidly diminishing global stature and an ongoing -- and far-reaching -- shift in the world order, which will almost certainly have a more profound effect on our future than many of the items on tonight’s agenda.
According to the BBC News, a poll released today suggests that
the view of the US's role in the world has deteriorated both internationally and domestically…and the number of those who said the US was a positive influence in the world fell in 18 nations polled in previous years.
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, in a speech last week, also alluded to broad changes in the global status quo. According to Dow Jones, he told the Confederation of Indian Industry in Bangalore that
multilateral institutions such as the Group of Eight leading nations, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund must reform to reflect a “new world order” in the global economy….
Brown said that the emergence of countries such as India necessitated changes to the membership and operations of such global bodies.
In particular, he called for the formalization of a process begun during the U.K.'s presidency of the G8 in 2005 whereby countries such as India, China, Brazil and South Africa have been invited to attend part of the group's meetings as well as meetings of the Group of Seven finance ministers.
"It is time to formally recognize on a more consistent and regular basis the reality of this emerging new world order," Brown said.
These reports come at a time where various nations around the world, including Iran and Venezuela, are becoming ever more vociferous in their opposition to America’s longstanding global leadership role.
Last Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that
Iran’s President has pledged to form an anti-US alliance with "revolutionary countries" in Latin America.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared: "'Iran, Nicaragua and Venezuela and other revolutionary countries are together and we will resist together."
Mr Ahmadinejad was in Ecuador last night after visiting Nicaragua, where he met newly elected leader and old US enemy Daniel Ortega. He had earlier visited Venezuela.
But it isn’t just our traditional adversaries who are stirring the pot of American animus. Various reports suggest that even long-time allies are becoming disenchanted with the U.S., spurred in part by structural shifts in Europe and elsewhere.
Writing in the Chronicle Review, Andrei S. Markovits reckons
the future of anti-Americanism in Europe's public discourse will remain deeply tied to the fate of Europe's unification process, one of the most ambitious political projects anywhere in the world. Fundamentally, the European views about America have little to do with the real America but much to do with Europe. Europe's anti-Americanism has become an essential ingredient in — perhaps even a key mobilizing agent for — the inevitable formation of a common European identity, which I have always longed for and continue to support vigorously, although I would have preferred to witness a different agency in its creation. Anti-Americanism has already commenced to forge a concrete, emotionally experienced — as opposed to intellectually constructed — European identity, in which Swedes and Greeks, Finns and Italians are helped to experience their still-frail emotive commonality not as "anti-Americans" but as Europeans, which at this stage constitutes one sole thing: that they are "non-Americans."
Anti-Americanism will serve as a useful mobilizing agent to create awareness in Europe for that continent's new role as a growing power bloc in explicit contrast to and keen competition with the United States, not only among Europeans but also around the globe. Anti-Americanism has already begun to help create a unified European voice in global politics and will continue to be of fine service to Europe's growing power in a new global constellation of forces, in which an increasingly assertive Europe will join an equally assertive China to challenge the United States on every issue that it possibly can.
For the time being, there seem to be no visible incentives for Europeans to desist from anti-Americanism. Its tone is popular among European publics. Far from harming Europe and its interests, anti-Americanism has helped Europeans gain respect, affection, and — most important — political clout in the rest of the world. Anti-Americanism has become a European currency whose value fluctuates greatly, but whose existence does represent a chip that Europe will cash in with increasing gusto. By cultivating an anti-American position, Europe feigns membership in a global opposition of the downtrodden by America.
Meanwhile other nations, including China and Russia, seem to be probing the boundaries of America’s once unquestioned military, economic, and political sway.
For example, China reportedly tested an anti-satellite weapon two weeks ago, without consulting the U.S. in advance or offering officials here any real insights on what they were up to, much to Washington’s chagrin (and apparent surprise).
As the Associated Press noted yesterday,
questions persist in Washington about Beijing's intentions.
In Europe, meanwhile, following showdowns over pricing and other issues associated with Russian gas shipments to Eastern Europe, President Vladimir Putin now appears to be taking a more conciliatory -- some might say paternalistic -- line. According to DPA, Putin
has promised German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Europe could count on Russia as a reliable partner for future energy supplies and offered to set up a stock of Russian gas in Germany.
Arguably, then, while at least some here in the U.S. and abroad will be listening intently to what Mr. Bush has to say this evening, others will increasingly be directing their attentions elsewhere in the years to come.
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