(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Decivilizing America is dismantling more than the "Deep State" [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-24 "But this process, it seems, is also being hastened from within the United States itself, by domestic politics." - Jan 19, 2018 “Since Donald Trump became president on an “America first” ticket, the world seems to become less accepting of America as a lead nation. There is a somewhat tragic, or at least ironic, ring to Trump’s often repeated vow to make “America great again”, as he might be the president who cements America’s fall from grace and power in the international arena.” by William Moloney, Opinion Contributor - 04/20/23 The waxing of Chinese power and the waning of America’s has not gone unnoticed and U.S. enemies and allies alike have recently undertaken bold independent initiatives that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. EDITOR: LYDIA KHALIL SEPTEMBER 2021 DEBATE FEATURE In its response to the 9/11 attacks, the United States undermined the rules-based international order that it had established after the Second World War and which fundamentally reflected its power, principles, and preferences by Harlan Ullman, Opinion Contributor - 04/17/23 U.S. defense strategy is to contain, deter and, if war arises, prevail over China and other top adversaries. The paradox is that the multidimensional nature of Chinese threats cannot be countered with only the military. No doubt, the U.S. government believes it has deployed a complimentary diplomatic, economic and ideological strategy. In fact, that strategy more resembles a lobster’s claws. One is massive – the military – while the other is tiny. Over the past two months, I have been trying to understand how one agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to reestablish diplomatic ties could make Xi Jinping a peacemaker and world trade genius. Well, the truth it turns out is Xi simply took advantage of what the West gave him. The US had the world's empathy after the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11/ 2001and Bush II squandered it all on a revenge invasion of Iraq. His maniacal declaration of “you’re either with us or you’re against us,” even made me squirm. It’s not possible to attribute the tanking of US support around the world to a single incident, but US messaging was and remains horrible. The US is operating in a world filled with ambitious authoritarians who are singularly committed to proving us unworthy of praise or trust, and we are addressing those attacks with bi or quadrennial campaign slogans timed to the US election cycle. Twenty years after 9/11 the world has not gotten over the US invasion of Iraq because we are still there and the 2016 election cycle ever present messaging is MAGA, Build the Wall, and America First so what little progress we had made in regaining world trust went down the pipes again. China on the other hand is still following its 1980 plan to be the world's manufacturer and to de-dollarize world commerce. The advent of the war in Ukraine and the West commitment to support Ukraine’s defensive efforts gave China the opportunity to cash in on the long simmering undercurrent of distrust in US motives and methods by labeled the US as a warmonger and bully, sanctions, and themselves as peacemakers and the only fair trade option for non-western allies. While searching for the US response to China’s initiatives, I came across several opinion and by-line pieces sealed off behind pay walls, scholarly papers in university archives and official US reports on departmental forums. None of which presented a coherent response to China’s attacks or to the world's loss of confidence in our chosen direction, all neatly addressing their little silos and securely tucked away in them. The mantra of democracy being at the mercy of a well-informed electorate, sic, was silenced decades ago. We are losing the world’s battle for hearts and minds at home and abroad by being absent. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/24/2165518/-Decivilizing-America-is-dismantling-more-than-the-Deep-State Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/