US administrations typically suffer temporary loss of international influence as their time in office draws to a close. But rarely has Washington’s global prestige and leverage fallen so low as in the dog days of US President George W. Bush’s eight-year reign. This debilitation is a source of concern for the US’ friends — and a dangerous opportunity for its enemies, who hope such weakness can be both exploited and made permanent.
The US-triggered economic crisis has reinforced hostile perceptions of US vulnerability.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gleefully invited Iranians to listen to the sound of global power crashing to the ground.
ILLUSTRATION: MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri, senior adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told a prayer meeting that Bush’s reported refusal to back an Israeli military strike on Iran was another sign of failing US will.
Nateq-Nuri claimed Washington’s “retreat” showed US and European support for Israel was diminishing. Seen from Washington, this interpretation looks patently absurd. Yet the fact that a top figure in Tehran apparently believes a future attempt to destroy Israel would meet with reduced resistance from the Western powers is deeply worrying.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is also aggressively exploiting Bush’s lame duck troubles in his bid to reassert Moscow’s great power status. Analysts suggest Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August was based in part on calculations, since vindicated, that Bush would be unwilling or unable to react forcefully.
Now Putin appears to be threatening Ukraine, accusing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko of sending weapons and military personnel to help Georgia.
“When people and military systems are used to kill Russian soldiers, it’s a crime,” Putin said last week.
US Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain is warning that Putin is encouraging the ethnic Russian population of Ukraine’s Crimea region to break with Kiev. But at present the US is mostly a spectator.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev is meanwhile busily rubbing American noses in the financial dirt — and pointing to long-term strategic consequences of the crisis.
“The times when one economy and one country dominated are gone for good,” Medvedev said.
To American ears his words uncomfortably echoed German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck, an ostensible ally, who said “the US will lose its superpower status in the world financial system.”
Americans have been reminded that schadenfreude is, after all, a German word.
Some countries are seeking shorter-term advantage from US troubles. North Korea may be counting on a new, possibly Democratic, administration to gain a more favorable nuclear disarmament deal. Similar considerations have helped freeze the Middle East peace process.
But uncertainty over the US’ — and its allies’ — will to win in Afghanistan, and over how quickly the US will get out of Iraq, is affecting longer-term political calculations in Islamabad, Kabul and Baghdad. It may also be encouraging the Taliban and al-Qaeda in their escalating campaigns of violence. They read the newspapers and the Internet, too. And with the US’ purse strings tightly stretched, they must wonder whether a new administration can afford the tens of billions of dollars needed to pursue two unpopular wars.
In the US’ backyard, ideological enemies such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are hoping for a permanent shift in power in a region historically dominated by the US.
“The world will never be the same after this crisis,” Chavez said during a visit to Brazil. “We are decoupling from the wagon of death.”
His host, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, complained bitterly that Washington spent years telling Latin America how to get its economic house in order — and then ignored its own advice.
Yet despite all the weaknesses, it would be foolish to start writing obituaries for US power.
Former Bosnian war peacemaker Richard Holbrooke, writing in the journal Foreign Affairs, suggested that the US’ ambition remains undiminished. The next president, said Holbrooke, who is tipped as a possible secretary of state in an Obama administration, would also inherit “a nation that is still the most powerful in the world — a nation rich with the continued promise of its dynamic and increasingly diverse population, a nation that could, and must, again inspire, mobilize and lead the world.”
On Sunday, 13 new urgent care centers (UCC) officially began operations across the six special municipalities. The purpose of the centers — which are open from 8am to midnight on Sundays and national holidays — is to reduce congestion in hospital emergency rooms, especially during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year. It remains to be seen how effective these centers would be. For one, it is difficult for people to judge for themselves whether their condition warrants visiting a major hospital or a UCC — long-term public education and health promotions are necessary. Second, many emergency departments acknowledge
US President Donald Trump’s seemingly throwaway “Taiwan is Taiwan” statement has been appearing in headlines all over the media. Although it appears to have been made in passing, the comment nevertheless reveals something about Trump’s views and his understanding of Taiwan’s situation. In line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US and Taiwan enjoy unofficial, but close economic, cultural and national defense ties. They lack official diplomatic relations, but maintain a partnership based on shared democratic values and strategic alignment. Excluding China, Taiwan maintains a level of diplomatic relations, official or otherwise, with many nations worldwide. It can be said that
Victory in conflict requires mastery of two “balances”: First, the balance of power, and second, the balance of error, or making sure that you do not make the most mistakes, thus helping your enemy’s victory. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made a decisive and potentially fatal error by making an enemy of the Jewish Nation, centered today in the State of Israel but historically one of the great civilizations extending back at least 3,000 years. Mind you, no Israeli leader has ever publicly declared that “China is our enemy,” but on October 28, 2025, self-described Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) propaganda
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) made the astonishing assertion during an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, published on Friday last week, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator. She also essentially absolved Putin of blame for initiating the war in Ukraine. Commentators have since listed the reasons that Cheng’s assertion was not only absurd, but bordered on dangerous. Her claim is certainly absurd to the extent that there is no need to discuss the substance of it: It would be far more useful to assess what drove her to make the point and stick so
RSS