Timothy Garton Ash on America as sole superpower

I've sung the praises of Timothy Garton Ash on this blog on a couple of times before now. As I think I've mentioned, he's my favourite columnist in the Guardian and his columns on European politics and international relations almost never fail to impress.

His column in the Guardian last week was an excellent example of why. Entitled Stagger on, weary Titan, it compares the significance of the current quagmire in Iraq in which the United States currently finds itself entangled to the significance of the Boer War for the British Empire, and analyses the implications this might have for American dominance as sole superpower in the world. At the same time though, it provides a warning to those who might be tempted to wish for the speedy fall the US from top dog status:

If you are, by any chance, of that persuasion that would instinctively find this a cause for rejoicing, pause for a moment to consider two things: first, that major shifts of power between rising and falling great powers have usually been accompanied by major wars; and second, that the next top dog could be a lot worse.

So this is no time for schadenfreude. It's a time for critical solidarity. A few far-sighted people in Washington are beginning to formulate a long-term American strategy of trying to create an international order that would protect the interests of liberal democracies even when American hyperpower has faded; and to encourage rising powers such as India and China to sign up to such an order. That is exactly what today's weary Titan should be doing, and we should help him do it.

[Source: The Guardian. Read the whole column here.]

Excellent stuff. Amongst all the shrieking and bleating from cheerleaders for both the left and right in today's polarised world, it is always refreshing to find someone who combines clear thinking and originality with cool, calm and collected factual writing. And with TGA, I've found, you can almost ever go wrong.