[dalbasal]

I like the author, and his out there style has produced some gems. This article though, it feels like he started, but didn't really get anywhere.

What is (for the purpose of this article) "American Empire" anyway?

If it's relative economic & military power, than the writing is on the wall. China is matching and surpassing the US now.

Is it "Empire of the Mind" where the US leads the world in terms of political ideas, holds the torch of civilization and such? That's a whole different discussion.

Is this an article about upcoming disasters of a political-economic kind?

[t1lthesky]

The authors viewpoint would be that the “American Empire” is the large amount of political, military, and economic influence that America wields internationally. You can infer from the article that he believes this empire is what keeps regional powers in check. This is a good thing because a lot of those nations (China, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia just from the article) are much more autocratic and illiberal compared to the USA. Additionally, even if you believe that’s not true of these societies, growing regional ambitions in the absence of the “American Empire” leads to destabilization and more conflict.

[pwaai]

American Empire is referring to the vast network of American corporations that permeates every aspect of global life. Starbucks, tv, cars, internet, smartphones, culture, films, music. China is nowhere near close.

Military wise China is still very behind and does not have projection capability (as USN has port calls that covers 90% of the coast lines).

Economic wise China is in frail shape as it's built on mountain of debt that other countries like the US can recall. The US is unique since they can always print more and let other countries eat the costs.

The American empire is far from gone and since we aren't going to be speaking Mandarin anytime soon here in North America I'd say keep dreaming the dream.