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Notes -
Inspired by a comment from Twitter;
Everyone is talking about the US relative decline, but they are really flexing his power in a way that we have not seen from Iraq
In one year they;
Destroyed every possible reconciliation between Europe and Russia
Became a next exporter of natural resources and the ones from who a lot of allies depend
They basically sent a fuck off to Germany, and the Germans not only are not complaining, but are applauding
They strongly limited the military of power of Russia with few money.
China is slowing her growth, and they created a ring of allies in the Pacific
The cultural grip on the West is becoming stronger, and the US successfully fused Neoliberalism and Leftism in a zombie ideology who is, against all odds, successfully working
The pro-Atlantist view have never been so strong.
I doubt that these strategies will work or be healthy in the long term, but it is incredible to see how an ill and polarized country can still do whatever it wants without any reaction.
I don't necessarily agree with all these points, but the overall conclusion - that it's been a good year geopolitically for the US - seems sound to me. I could add to your list NATO expansion, collapse of Russian influence, Western military expansion, and China deterred from Taiwan adventurism. It's also been a big boost to renewable energy, partly because Europe is investing a lot more in the wake of the Russian gas crisis, but also because the whole debacle has illustrated the dangers of relying on energy imports.
As for where I disagree, I think characterising the US's ideology as a neoliberal/leftist hybrid is pretty reductionist. The US is not an ideological monolith. It's a pluralistic society with a whole host of competing thinkers and ideas, and whatever ideologies come next, they'll probably come from the US. Moreover, actual leftism seems pretty thin on the ground in the US these days, especially compared to the 2011-2014 period when Occupy was in full swing. And social progressivism seems to have had a relatively quiet year - too soon to call it a slowing down, let alone a reverse, but at least slightly reassuring.
To the extent that the word progressivism can be pinned down, student loan forgiveness seems like a huge boost in that direction. Not to the same scale as Obamacare, but not nothing either.
Eh, feels more like milquetoast centre-leftism to me. A giveaway to the middle classes. At least when I use the term "progressivism", I mean to refer specifically to the complex of identity politics movements.
No, not the “middle classes”. The Professional Managerial Class is who benefited. The middle class paid the PMC. It was a huge route and an escalation in the race to the bottom
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