Is america the new age roman empire? is its days coming to an end? are the radical muslims the new barbarians?

Answer 1

Dear Rimrocka,

The question you asked is complex and requires some historical clarification. The US was the first superpower in history to act in the name of the greater good and not merely in its own self-interest. Nothing forced the US to intervene in both world wars, yet it did. The US also played an instrumental role in setting up democratic bodies of world governance which were a huge step closer to enforcing global justice. Perfect they are not, but they represent real progress nevertheless.

The US was founded on the basis of an ideal - that of a country which would be politically superior, tolerant of all religious beliefs, ruled according to the will of the people, and geared towards the search for eternal progress. This is what makes the US so special, and the Americans so nobly concerned with the pursuit of the greater good. It has been a unique privilege for the world to enjoy the influence of a superpower which, by cultural inclination, is so uniquely benevolent. The difference between a real empire and a benevolent superpower is only one: moral authority. The US has been different to previous empires in history precisely because it has acted against its self-interest to protect others.

Since 1945, however, the moral standing of the US in the world has been in steep decline. In the name of the struggle against Communism, the US chose to deliberately treat genuine nationalist movements all over the world, in the wake of decolonisation, as heinous pro-Soviet inventions. The US has not hesitated in illegally interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, fomenting unrest and coups d'etat and seeking to overthrow all governments which did not support its own self-interest. The US has subverted democratic elections in Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Iran and Iraq, to name but a few.

Radical Muslims are portrayed in the US as if they came out of nowhere and hated the US for no reason whatsoever. But the truth is that there is a history behind it all, and that these people grew up precisely in those times of callous American interventionism. Iran has not become hostile to the US out of the blue - it happened because in 1953 the CIA engineered a coup d'etat to topple Iran's democratically elected government (led by Premier Mossadegh). Why? Because Mossadegh sought to nationalise Iranian-based oil companies (owned by Anglo-American business interests who did not pay a penny in tax), therefore ensuring for the first time in decades that Iran's natural resources would primarily benefit its own people rather than foreigners.

After Mossadegh was toppled, the US installed a dictatorship led by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (the Shah of Iran), which was hideously undemocratic and made use of a brutal secret police, the Savak, to repress any form of dissent. In 1977, at the time when US President Jimmy Carter pledged to make human rights "the cornerstone of US foreign policy", an Amnesty International report ironically listed the Shah's regime as the world's largest infringer of human rights. It was in response to this brutal and illegitimate regime that the Iranian Islamic Revolution broke out in 1979, and why its proponents (whose spiritual disciples include current Iranian president Ahmadinejad) were so fiercely anti-American - they had every reason to be.

The US has been up to similar shenanigans in Iraq. Iraq's leader from 1958 to 1963, Abdul Karim Qassim, was similarly involved in nationalising oil concerns in the country and sought to decrease the glaring income inequalities in Iraq. Finally, he decided to pull Iraq out of the anti-Soviet Baghdad Pact. This was the final drop as far as the US was concerned, and it immediately started supporting the repressive Ba'ath Party, assisting it in its successful coup against Qassim in 1963. The US was a faithful ally of the Saddam Hussein regime almost all the way up to the Gulf War in 1991.

This is the sort of behaviour that gives the US a bad name in the Middle East, and indeed the rest of the world. People get the impression that the US does not practice what it preaches, and only supports democracy when it suits American interests. Unfortunately, the American public opinion either does not know about the incidents above (they have not been widely publicised, for obvious reasons), or does not want to know. The flipside of the US's noble idealism is that Americans simply need to believe that their country is perfect, the best there could possibly be. Many Americans prefer to believe that other countries harbour resentment against the US only out of petty jealousy.

The reality is more complex: Americans are indeed wonderful people, capable of the best, and have worked tirelessly for the good of the world - but they are also human, and their country (just as any other) has in the past made serious mistakes and committed horrible injustices, which are all the greater because of the US's immense power. The US's moral authority in the world, the one thing that saves it from becoming an empire, depends on a frank admittance of these mistakes. Such is the mark of a true nobility of character.

Under the Bush administration, however, the US has been behaving more and more like an empire and less and less like a benevolent superpower. It has alienated allies, used the United Nations as a mere rubber-stamp and generally behaved with a very vexing self-righteousness. It chose to treat terrorism as if it were the sudden product of an irrational and gratuitous hatred towards the US rather than the logical, historical phenomenon that it truly is. And finally, it chose to deal with it through brute force and single-minded armed intervention rather than address its deeper causes. None of this is good for American moral authority.

The rise of the neoconservative movement is yet another worrying sign of this trend: it represents a real break from an honourable conservative tradition in the US, which out of moral principle tended to oppose American engagement abroad, whereas liberals (just as morally) advocated international engagement for the purpose of a greater good. Neoconservatives on the other hand combine the worst of the two, in that they do want the US to be actively involved all over the world, but only to further its own self-interest. And I am afraid there is no difference between this sort of ideology and good-old fashioned imperialism ("if you don't do as we please, we'll crush you").

Whether the US actually turns into the decadent empire that Rome once was depends on what path the Americans choose to take. The right way, as usual, is hardest because it entails a painful self-appraisal. To repair their damaged moral authority in the world, Americans have to honestly recognise the misdeeds committed by their past governments and be prepared to deal constructively with their consequences. To admit and apologise is not weakness - it is, on the contrary, the prerogative of all good people. Only bullies go around kicking everyone without ever allowing themselves to feel any guilt.

If on the other hand the US chooses to continue deluding itself that it is morally infallible and has the God-given right to do anything it pleases to other nations, the rest of the world will be forced to draw its own inevitable conclusions: that the US must indeed be an empire like any other. And empires, being unjust by definition, are resisted.

Hope this helped,

Answer 2

As you believe America is the most powerful nation in the world. You can say it is a World Power. Its days wont end. America is the only country who tries to solve and mediate other countries problems. There are thousands of differance between Roman Empire and USA. And those are beyound your limited imagination. So there is no comparison at all. America will bring All the barbarians to the Justice who are trying to harm it ,has done harm to it and will try to harm it. GOD BLESS AMERICA

Answer 3

People who say radical Muslims can militarily defeat the US or UK are scare-mongering - they can kill a lot of people but they cannot take over these countries. Nazi Germany and the USSR were more existential threats. The real threat - more in Europe than America, so far - comes from the radical Muslims living in those countries who reject its values and who succeed in getting lily-livered governments to grant concession after concession and surrender their values.

Answer 4

1. rise has to fall....the usa is prone to a fall just like the roman empire some times in the future because they have seen their rise to the maxims specially after the world became unipolar....
2. muslims are not barbarians because just have a close look at the world and answer if they are oppressors or the oppressed.....to name a few examples let me say palestine, iraq, lebanon,somalia, sudan,kashmir and bosnia where muslims were brutally massacred and are being killed daily and their resources being usurped.....if they do not stand up it is suicide and if they do it is called barbarianism.....u decide.

Answer 5

Been many empires before - look at british, we have had the biggest empire the world has ever known.

Nothing new here, just an extension of extreme power manifesting itself with the imperialist dream.

Answer 6

The radical muslims the new barbarians? A big fat YES!!!!!

Answer 7

Yes. TV is our version of wine and circuses. Corruption is prevalent in our government, all politicians, not just the Bush administration. When it falls it will land hard so be prepared. Learn a useful skill for survival. I'm going to learn beer brewing so I can trade beer to hunters for meat. Rant, rant, rave,etc.

Answer 8

Only people -- you know who -- stuck in th 12th century would think that. The bararians can't cross the Atlantic or deal with stealth bombers. Next.....

Answer 9

No and Yes

Answer 10

The downfall of US is imminent if it is not able to thwart Islamic radicalism.