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The Great Game is afoot and no matter how we may disapprove of the
Global Empire, we would be wise not to discount the cards it alone
holds.

Geopolitics is not called The Great Game without reason. The game of
dominating the world's resources, nation-states and alliances is like a
combination of Go and chess, with the threat of military conquest or
defeat always hovering over the statecraft and financial game.

I am going to present a number of statements and speculations here,
most of which are at odds with the status quo thinking. I present them
not to be contrarian but because they seem self-evident.

As I have noted here before, the value of "hard power" (military
dominance) and "soft power" (cultural, financial, diplomatic) cannot be
assessed until you don't have any.

That establishes a conundrum: one must maintain these quite
different forms of global power without knowing if the cost is
justified, until the moment arrives when others would pay ten times over
to hold what you have in hand.

If that moment never arrives, it may be because you maintained an
overwhelming advantage. Wars are launched when one side perceives a
rough balance has been achieved; no nation is so suicidal that it
chooses to attack a far superior power.

While I don't approve of the American Global Empire, I respect the
intelligence an... >>>