Empires and superpowers have come and gone throughout
history. For each of these, a set of unique circumstances converged, allowing a
small or middle power to rise and tower over the others. But then, another set
of unique circumstances conspired to bring down the giant whose time ran out.
In any case, whereas in the old days––from antiquity
to the onset of the twentieth century––empires and superpowers rose mainly by
the sword, and perished mainly by the sword; a new agent began to play an
important role in the demise of big and small nations at the start of the
twentieth century. That agent was the tendency of nations––big and small,
empires and superpowers––to practice self-deception, and in the process, debase
themselves to almost irrelevance.
One superpower was Russia cum Soviet-Union cum Russia.
It represents a case study that can be useful to the leaders of the nations
which are struggling to establish a politico-economic system that will sustain
itself long enough to provide its people the sense of security and permanence
they demand.
The other superpower is the United States of America.
It represents a case study that can be useful to the leaders of the nations
that were so blessed by history and geography, they found themselves on top of
abundant natural resources they can use as leverage to coerce lesser nations.
The tendency in such cases is to forget that what these leaders have today,
they may not have tomorrow. They tend to forget that the day will come when
they'll run out of luck at a moment in time when they least expect it.
The story of Russia and how it succumbed to
self-deception, begins centuries ago. It is that Russia was equal in every
respect to the Eurasian societies that sprung up in the region. From the Fall
of Rome to the end of the nineteenth century, they all developed at the same
pace. But by the time the Industrial Revolution had matured, and was beginning
to affect the politics, economics, military posture and imperialistic
tendencies of some Western European countries, Russia was beginning to lag
behind.
This caused Russia's leaders to adopt an economic
system that, unfortunately for them, did not work well. The result was that
Russia was forced to cannibalize on the achievements it had inherited from
previous generations. While trying to improve on the system in the hope that it
will begin to perform well enough to catch up with the Western nations that
were advancing rapidly, Russia lied to itself and to the world as to how well
it was doing. In fact, the leaders of Russia resorted to a system of organized
self-deception while slowly depleting what they had inherited. It took them
seven decades to reach the bottom of the barrel, at which time they threw in
the towel, conceded defeat and agreed to change course.
As to the story of the United States of America and
self-deception, the path taken there was somewhat different. In fact, an
article was published recently, in which the American method reveals itself.
The article came under the title: “The World Waits for no Country,” written by
Richard Haass and published on June 15, 2020 in the online magazine, Project
Syndicate. The following excerpts contain within them much of what has troubled
America for several decades:
“The United States finds itself confronting several
daunting challenges simultaneously. There is the explosion of protests in the
wake of the killing of George Floyd, an African American man, at the hands of a
white policeman. The protests, which have spanned the country, highlighted the
enduring problem of deep-seated racism in the US, and of police behavior, which
is violent and outside the law. The problem is that much is happening in the
world that calls out for American attention and is not getting it”.
Two aspects of the America situation are discussed in
that passage: the domestic and the foreign. With regard to the domestic
situation, Richard Haass has finally admitted that America had been deceiving
itself and the world, pretending it had solved its race problems while African
men were being slaughtered by white policemen and getting away with the crimes.
Though a salutary move, Haass's admission does not void the question: Will the
situation in America change as a result of the protests? This remains to be
seen.
As to the foreign aspect of America's system of
beliefs, it remains self-deceptive and outdated. Yes, there was a time when
much of the world was clamoring for America's attention, but that time began to
wither away some time ago, and has all but vanished by now. If anything, while
people like Richard Haass still cling to the notion that America is as relevant
internationally as it was in the past, some of America's old friends prefer to
distance themselves from the current administration while others, defiantly
oppose America’s use of what financial clout it still commands to capriciously
punish countries that have the means to lash out and cause much damage to
Western interests, to the region and to the rest of the world.
In fact, the more that America plays hardball with
other nations for reasons that are less than compelling, the more it diminishes
itself. Everyone sees this stark reality except the Americans who remain
immersed in a sea of self-deceptive old fantasies.
When the time came for the old Soviet Union to cease
operating according to the precepts of a worthless system, they jettisoned the
system and adopted another one.