It is a normative fashion to make far-fetched assumptions pertaining to the overarching trend of the global realignment, especially by virtue of vertical short-form content serving as a pretense for the overt colloquialization of phenomena that are both byzantine and nuanced in nature.
Having said that, in the recent past, I have been quite reticent about geopolitics writ large, as, not to say the least, the treatise, in all likelihood, would be banal, ridden with the same old cacophony relayed by the established commentators. Yet, still, despite everything around the world evolving at warp speed, a rupture is taking place.
The time of American exceptionalism, though salient in some aspects, is being second-guessed, with the die being cast by self-inflicted buffoonery by a kakistocratic dispensation in D.C.
Not to mention, from the defenestration of a potent soft power wielded by American virtues of altruism vis-à-vis the shuttering of USAID; downsizing the state department in most critical regions of the subsequent epoch, namely, the Global South; and the most consequential of all, the maximalist approach towards diplomacy, with a hue of Machiavellian machinations, be they kleptocratic transactions for a TRUMP MEME COIN or a TRUMP TOWER.
Of course, not forgetting “LIBERATION DAY,” which single-handedly trounced the world with whimsical reciprocal tariffs that upend long-standing conventions on trading and, above all, guaranteed, to some degree, a world that largely withholds from indulging in conventional warfare with the constant duress of economic strangulation, which is being cut off from the global free market system. Such a dictum, sadly, has been tried and tested; the widely professed ideals have not stood the test, showing the feebleness of norms when not being applied with non-malicious intent.
Beyond the topical developments of the recent past, there is a false hubris instilled in the psyche of the American political class about ways in which it is behind in terms of two pivotal facets: one, technologically, and two, the decaying infrastructure, which, in fact, the reinvigoration of public works was the fulcrum of Mr. FDR’s New Deal. Apparently, such bold visions are a quest of yesteryear; these days, debates in the feeble debating society, also known as the US Congress, revolve around either ambushing the other on mundane cultural issues or about a singular sex offender, like this such events exemplify the distant realities contrarian echo chambers can amalgamate. But to internalize the reality: they should visit places other than serene Italy, London, Aspen, or Cancun, as the matter of fact is the future is being sought after by places previously deemed as the third world — the Asian Tigers.
Yes, without a sliver of doubt, these societies are, by the no stretch of the imagination, liberal in its conventional term; that is to say, in many places the ability to exercise a high degree of civil and political liberties is secondary, as proper societal checks and balances are a modicum and, at worst, confined to the marginalized groups for vendetta. As a result, it is not arduous, as an open thinker, to get under the radar of autocratic institutions, be they the government or a meager nook-and-corner self-anointed leader of the neighborhood.
Albeit, not everything is, specifically a nation-state’s triumphalism bounded under the placard of virtue, wisdom, and morality. I personally reckon the idea of the US as such — “e pluribus unum” — an aberration, as time and again, states have not been able to devise a bottom-up approach towards a society predicated upon simple yet profound moral abstraction. Most casually relegate to divisive and sectarian dogmas, primarily land, religion, or culture. Needless to say, if such were the barometer of success —a cohesive “value system” — many retrogressive empires of the past would not have sustained for an extended period of time. Just as previously mentioned, the battle for the future is being played on two conspicuous fronts: cutting-edge Al-enabled technology on the one hand and infrastructure on the other.
The race to superiority, in the offset, is not of ideologies, though paradoxically, doesn’t ideology operationalize an endeavor, in this case, to have greater prowess than the other, not for a protracted timeframe, but for a considerable amount of time? Slogans like 1000-year Reich are lofty at their core and full of megalomaniac-imbued wishful thinking; such catharsis has always resulted in a debacle.
In a normative scenario, a litany of numerical data is spewed, though they are bereft of the façade a mere number creates, and yes, our minds are credulous to such a mirage — either to give credence to our cynicism or a surety of a certain outcome. A society cannot prosper purely on capital infusion by the state; such a notion is well evidenced by the most successful project ever known, inevitably flawed at times: the nation known as the United States.
Above all, leaving predictions to the betting market, for me, any society that forfeits the sacrosanct ability to be liberal does not bestow long-term prosperity, as time has told; ostracization of the plebiscite only results in further regress, contrary to surface-level progress. In terms of the contemporary vernacular progress is confined to the next version of an LLM; for me, on a personal note, it is to sound purposefully abstract, exercising in its entirety the ability to imagine the magnificence of a new day, irrespective of ideology or technology.
Let’s see which society deems its people “first” in the midst of all the politically infused rhetoric — that is a winner of a new world order, at least under my purview.
