US losing hegemon status as war in Ukraine unfolds

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Responsible Statecraft
23 Jun 2023 15:44

A newly published report underlines that US policymakers must eventually adhere to the objective reality that the US is not a global hegemon and that the emerging Global South countries will not accept "zero-sum choices between the United States and its geopolitical rivals."

The Wall St. street sign is framed by the American flags flying outside the New York Stock exchange, Friday, Jan. 14, 2022, in the Financial District. (AP)

A new report published by Responsible Statecraft explained why the US was never able to truly claim the status of global hegemon noting that the wars it had waged in the 20th and 21st centuries have come at a much higher cost than anything they could have gained.

The report explained that the US' military spending, in 2022, was 10 times higher than the amount spent by Russia and three times more than the amount spent by China. Similarly, the US has the largest and widest-spread military bases across the globe while Russia and China each have a handful of basis located beyond their borders.

With that spending, the report argued, the US, if anyone, must have been able to have claimed the status of a global hegemon. Except, the report noted, "If hegemony means the capacity to get other countries to comply with one’s demands, the United States is far from being a global hegemon."

According to RS, in the "long series of wars from Korea and Vietnam in the latter half of the 20th century to Iraq and Afghanistan in the 21st, the United States has demonstrated the capacity for massive destruction but it has won no more than Pyrrhic victories," adding that "the cost to the United States has included not only lives lost but also erosion of confidence at home and abroad."

The RS report then stressed that the Us' inability to claim its global hegemon status became clear as the war in Ukraine unfolds.

The report explained that while the US and UK perceived the war as a war to draw parallels with WWII, the RS report referenced "pundits" such as Timothy Snyder at Yale University and Timothy Garton Ash at Oxford for having "extolled Ukrainians’ martial spirit as evocative of the Athenian defense of democracy and the Greek warrior Achilles."

US media also spent many pages covering the war in Ukraine. However, the polls, as expressed in the report, show a downward trend in support for Ukraine a year after the war erupted. It even showed some Republicans questioning the extensive costs the US incurred while some Democrats also raised concerns but kept them away from the public eye.

Former Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States and Russia expert Fiona Hill, said, according to the RS report, that "the war in Ukraine is perhaps the event that makes the passing of Pax Americana apparent to everyone," before adding that "in 2023, we hear a resounding no to U.S. domination and see a marked appetite for a world without a hegemon." Moreover, Hill, who has not been alone in her assessment, stated that "countries in the Global South’s resistance to U.S. and European appeals for solidarity on Ukraine are an open rebellion."

In conclusion, the report highlighted the need for US policymakers to adhere to objective reality denoting the fact that the US is not a global hegemon nor is it an “indispensable nation” as Madeleine Albright called it 25 years ago.

The report concluded that "US policymakers will have to accept reality," adding that "Most developing countries, including emerging powers in the Global South, are no longer willing to make zero-sum choices between the United States and its geopolitical rivals."

Ex-CIA advisor predicts date when US dollar hegemony will collapse

In an op-ed posted on The Daily Reckoning on June 7th, former CIA and Department of Defense advisor and investment banker James Rickards predicted that August 22 will be the day the US dollar's status, as the world reserve currency and medium for exchange will formally collapse.

Many factors are worth considering, including the weaponization of the dollar against Russia's economy amid the conflict in Ukraine, the US' own national debt of $31 trillion, and recent talks on the part of the BRICS+ group to create an alternative trade and reserve currency that would rival the dollar.

"On August 22, about two-and-a-half months from today, the most significant development in international finance since 1971 will be unveiled," Rickards writes in reference to the upcoming BRICS+ Leaders Summit which will unveil plans for substituting the dollar in global trade.

It is worthnoting that on that same day in 1971, August 22 was also the day the US dropped the gold standard. "It involves the rollout of a major new currency that could weaken the role of the dollar in global payments and ultimately displace the US dollar as the leading payment currency and reserve currency," Rickards added, noting that the shift could span over a period of "just a few years."

Rickards says the push for a new currency spearheaded by the BRICS+ group will "affect world trade, direct foreign investment and investor portfolios in dramatic and unforeseen ways," and cause an "unprecedented [...] geopolitical shockwave."

He also said that the BRICS+ plans for expansion are "the most important development of the BRICS system," noting that eight countries have so far already applied for membership, along with twelve others expressing an interest in joining the bloc, including Saudi Arabia, which assisted the US in propelling the dollar currency to the status of world hegemon through establishing the petrodollar system.

"There's more to this list than just increasing the headcount at future BRICS meetings," Rickards emphasized, pointing out that "if Saudi Arabia and Russia are both members, you have two of the three largest energy producers under one tent (the US is the other member of the energy Big Three)."