Quote:
Originally posted by Borodin@Dec 30 2005, 08:56 AM
Like most things, it is a title that only becomes generally known after it has ceased representing reality.
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"Leader" has become a nice way of saying dictator in this instance. Much as I dislike Bush and as much as he has devalued the respectability of the office in at least my eyes, the American presidency still represents the most powerful position in the world. No one else could have executed the unilateral action in the middle east in direct contradiction to the wishes of the UN and gotten away with it.
China is an up-and-coming world power, but it's the US that still has the most advanced and powerful military, the US that still has the biggest economy, the US which still primarily controls the world's consumer-grade oil (as it's primarily US companies which hold influence in the middle east and represent the largest global oil companies; the remaining major players are all based in close European allies who depend greatly upon the US market), the US which arguably holds the most clout in the UN, etc etc. Being the most senior official of the US retains a status untouched by anyone else in the world.
Remember that the other future superpower is heavily dependent upon the technology, market, and investments of the US. The EU is a great organization and I have respect for a lot of their initiatives (not all, however), but the major members simply do not wield the same power they once enjoyed. The UK is no longer an empire; France isn't either. The Dutch no longer regulate the proportional volume of world trade they once did. Blame it on WWI & II, blame it on the drain of the cold war and the subsequent collapse of the USSR, blame it on whatever you want; the fact remains that the US is simply the only superpower around right now.