United States: The limits of power. The American Empire Is Collapsing, And Americans Will Be The Last to Know | World. December 14, 2010 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. 50 years from now historians will probably be writing about the fall of the American empire. But history is writing itself furiously in the present, accelerated by the revolution of global freedom of information. What would have taken years to gather is accessible to anyone with a few strokes on a computer keyboard. So never mind the historians of the future, and lets see how reality is shaping up today.
The crumbling period of the United States empire started on September 11th. Attacking Iraq: The Biggest Geopolitical Blunder In History When the Bush administration attacked Iraq in 2003, a critical element escaped their understanding of the regional and demographic parameters: By toppling the Sunni regime of Saddam Hussein, they would give the upper hand to the oppressed Shia Iraqi majority allied with Iran. The Cost Of Wars in Iraq And Afghanistan Is Bankrupting The US Economy. Council on Foreign Relations. Richard Holbrooke: Diplomat in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia and Europe was Our Man on the Ground. By Tom O’Neill, National Geographic, Published January 9, 2014. Sifting through the wreckage of Congo’s conflict economy. Walking through the jungle in the dead of night with a group of Rwandan rebels best known for their expertise at rape and murder wasn’t exactly what we had planned for our first trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
All we wanted was to make a little film about the controversy surrounding the so-called conflict minerals that make our cellphones work, drop a couple Conrad references, and drink a Primus. Just one Primus. A week earlier, our team landed at N’Djili International Airport in the capital, Kinshasa, formerly Leopoldville. We’d come to Congo to try to find out more about the developed world’s thirst for coltan, cassiterite, and the other colorfully named minerals that make the electronics industry go round.
After giving up on ever seeing our luggage again, we stepped out onto the streets of Kinshasa. In Africa, you have to be careful what you ask for. I.H.T. Op-Ed Contributor - Absent at the Creation.