As the theme from Ghostbusters sings, "it don't look good" but Kaplan doesn't tell us who to call. The following are his topic sentences, as a sort of outline of his argument.
Empire had its evils (snip) but one cannot deny empire’s historical function—to provide stability and order to vast tracts of land occupied by different peoples, particularly in Europe.Kaplan lacks the non-PC courage to say what we know to be true: in addition to Europe, 19th century empire was better - farer, more peaceful - for Africa and much of Asia than what has followed it. Home rule doesn't always produce superior results.
While the United States still remains the single strongest power on earth, it is less and less an overwhelming one.
This partial retreat of American power has international and domestic causes.
World disorder will only grow.
We are entering an age of what I call comparative anarchy, that is, a much higher level of anarchy compared to that of the Cold War and post–Cold War periods. After all, globalization and the communications revolution have reinforced, rather than negated, geopolitics.
In the course of all this, technology is not erasing geography—it is sharpening it.
There are no purely regional problems anymore, since local hegemons like Russia, China and Iran have engaged in cyber attacks and terrorism worldwide.
Globalization is not necessarily associated with growth or stability, but only with vast economic and cultural linkages.
In sum, everything is interlinked as never before, even as there is less and less of a night watchman to keep the peace worldwide.
