America's Abdication and the Fate of the World

What exactly happened in Kirkuk? Was it an isolated and temporary deviation? Can the blame be placed solely on an ignorant, inconsistent president? I have lived in the United States. I have traveled the country extensively. Thirteen years ago, retracing the footsteps of Alexis de Tocqueville, I wrote a book about it. At the time, the country induced in this friendly observer a sense of vertigo. With this background, I have a simpler explanation. Unfortunately, it is also more worrisome. The story begins a very long time ago. And upon hearing it, one will understand that the position of the world’s policeman, the protector of democratic values, or even the loyal ally of those I fault it for abandoning is not quite “natural” for the strange country that is America. I remember the pages that Hegel devoted to the newborn United States in his Lessons on the Philosophy of History. […]