THE CLINTON CURSE KNOCKS ON AMERICAN HEGEMONY

In my analysis, the American Supremacy on the world stage is threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to provide a Biblical perspective on the economic fallout due to the new Coronavirus Disease. America cannot recover its place of pride in the world without healing described in the Bible. America is on a dangerous slippery slope for God has given the people a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day since the time the US President Bill Clinton transgressed the LORD’s Commandments.

Romans 11:8

⁸ Just as it is written:

“God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”

Acts 28:27 

²⁷ For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.” ’

Matthew 13:15

¹⁵ For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I ^[a]should heal them.’

Ezekiel 12:2

² “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.

Jeremiah 5:21

²¹ ‘Hear this now, O foolish people,
Without ^[a]understanding,
Who have eyes and see not,
And who have ears and hear not:

Isaiah 6:10

¹⁰ “Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”

COVID-19 KNOCKS ON AMERICAN HEGEMONY

By Ashley J. Tellis

May 4, 2020

Ashley J. Tellis holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, specializing in international security and U.S. foreign and defense policy with a special focus on Asia and the Indian subcontinent. He is
also a counselor at the National Bureau of Asian Research and the
research director of the Strategic Asia Program.

After almost two decades of conflicted hesitancy, the United States finally acknowledged that it is involved in a
long-term strategic competition with China. This rivalry, almost by definition, is not merely a wrangle between two major
states. Rather, it involves a struggle for dominance in the international system, even if China as the rising power disavows any such ambition. China’s very ascendancy—if sustained—could over time threaten the U.S. hegemony that has been in place
since the end of World War II. It is this reality of unequal growth—which has nourished China’s expanding influence and
military capabilities—that lies at the root of the evolving rivalry.

Although the term sometimes has unsettling connotations, the United States is a genuine hegemon, understood in the original Greek sense as a leader in the competitive international system. This hegemony derives from the fact that the United States is the world’s single most powerful state. First, it remains the largest economy in real terms, a foundation that underwrites its capacity to project military power globally in ways unmatched by any peers. Second, it possesses a sufficiently effective state that presides over a remarkably productive society. And, third, in partnership with strong allies in North America, Western Europe, East Asia, and Oceania, who share both values and interests, the United States has created an international order that buttresses its primacy materially, institutionally, and ideationally, thereby allowing it to advance diverse interests while economizing on its use of force. Although these foundations have been stressed in recent times, the Covid-19 pandemic now threatens them in deadly ways.

What is certain…is that the U.S. economy will face significant transitions in the aftermath of this pandemic in at least two directions that bear on the future of its national power.

But if the country is in fact now trapped in a period of low productivity growth and persistent weaknesses in aggregate demand…the net result may be a diminished capacity to sustain both the increasing domestic obligations and its extant
international interests simultaneously.

While the damage caused to the U.S. economy and the human losses will make the task of preserving U.S. hegemony after the pandemic harder—at a time when most assessments suggest that countries like China are likely to recover faster than the United States—the reputational damage to Washington is just as serious.

Washington must double down on its alliances and partnerships. Only this U.S.-led confederation contains the preponderance
of the global product that will durably immunize the liberal international order against any future challenges emanating
from China or other rivals.

Preserving American hegemony over the long term
thus must begin with consolidating Washington’s
leadership within the largest single bloc of material power
in order that it may be effective beyond. Ensuring this
outcome requires the United States to take seriously—and
deepen meaningfully—the special geopolitical ties it has
nurtured throughout the postwar period, which would
among other things enable it to better shape the world’s
engagement with China to advance its own interests.
The management of the global pandemic thus far raises
doubts about the United States’ ability to sensibly expand
its power and to manage the evolving rivalry with China
intelligently and in league with the nations that will be
most needed for success. This is unfortunate given this
administration’s otherwise astute recognition of the
return of strategic competition.