After the debacle of the exiled presidential actor Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the military builders of democracy in Afghanistan, which was harassed by human rights abusers and the corrupt, the following is crystal clear and to be lamented: The experiment of good has finally failed, and the era of the “American century” past. Because the last “policeman in the world” enforcing democracy, human dignity, law and order has left the field soaked with blood.
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Everything began so hopefully in 1941 when the economic colossus USA took on responsibility in 1941 in the rest of the world shaken by immeasurable suffering: people in European and Asian states were freed from oppression and persecution with significant American help. Gigantic US economic aid and pressure to introduce liberal and democratic rights led to new freedoms and prosperity. And the United States took over the role of world policeman out of conviction and also out of self-interest wherever democratic norms were trampled underfoot. Like in Bosnia and Kosovo.
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All of this ultimately contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, and ultimately to the de facto end of the Cold War. The “American Crusade for the Good” suffered defeats in the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Syria and Libya. In Central and South America and the Arab oil states, Washington has long been defending mainly US economic interests.
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The US withdrawal from Afghanistan with the resumption of power by the murderous Taliban marks the culmination of the erosion of US responsibility for the world and the end of the partnership of goodwill and allies. There is no longer any leading power in the world, only competing interest groups such as the EU and individual powers such as China, Russia, the oil states and the “poor houses” in Africa, Central and South America and Asia. And of course the former superpower, which is now unrestrained with a policy of “USA over everything”, which has given up the fight for good without a fight.
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For Europeans, this means more than losing a comrade-in-arms for a fairer world. The former beneficiaries of US politics must try to enforce ideals of democracy on their own. It’s worth it and there is no alternative.
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“The experiment of good has finally failed, and the era of the” American Century “is over.”
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