Bad Times, Good America

Has North Korea called America's bluff in regard to America's warnings of serious consequences for launching nuclear capable, long-range missiles? It is more than a month since North Korea launched the missiles, with no retaliation in sight, from the American side. At least any tangible actions. One reason could be that America's hands are full, trying to deal with a full blown recession. Of course, there is a relationship between the financial health of a country, and its ability to do "mischief".

Why is America not going aggressively after N.Korea for cocking a snook at it, and launching its nuclear capable missiles? Is it because Obama is soft? Not necessarily. Even toughie Bush did not order a "precision bombing" of N.Korea's missile launch facilities, much less a full scale invasion of N.Korea, a la Iraq. Actually, the behavior of the Superpower is related to the relative strength of its opponents, apart, of course, from the depth of its own pockets.

America invaded and occupied Iraq, precisely because it did not have the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Typical bully behavior. Even the bit about bringing Democracy and Freedom to Iraq rings hollow. Why only Iraq? Why not N.Korea? And what about China, Egypt, Algeria, and nearer home, Cuba? To start with, any imposition of Democracy and Freedom, of a particular variety at that, is bad in law. Add to that, it's inconsistent application to different countries, one gets an idea about why America is so unpopular, across a wide swath of the earth, encompassing different cultures, colors and religions.

With the recent change in the American administration, and the encouraging pronouncements emanating from the White House,it seemed to appear that America had realized its mistakes, and was trying to make amends for the same. But there is a nagging doubt as to whether this new behavior on part of America, is not dictated by its precarious economic and financial position, rather than a genuine change of heart.

For example, even though the Obama administration has decided to shut down the Guantanamo detention center, and release, virtually all the prisoners, it has not given a clean chit to the detainees, much less compensation, for their illegal detention. Whether such half-way measures could restore America's image is a moot point. It only gives credence to the widely held belief, that America's new goody behavior is a result, more of its depleting treasury, than its surging morality.

America has to traverse a long distance, before it can regain its earlier image. Not that its earlier image was a result of its goodness, but is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be preferable to the present one! Which means that America has to first regain its earlier image, and from thereon, move forward, to bring about genuine and substantive changes, to its personality, to regain the trust and respect of other countries and peoples. Quite a tall order.

It would be interesting to see how America copes with these challenges to its power and authority, with a decreased ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to win friends and silence foes. The current crisis seems to have given both "friends" and "foes" of America, an opportunity to rework their equations with the Superpower, to their benefit, if only a little.

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