"Fings Ain't What They Used To Be," In America Any More ...

We sincerely believe it's a crying (as well as needless), shame that in today's United States shysters such as the fat cat shown are constantly supported so strongly -- whether knowingly or not ...




... by so many simple fellow citizens as shown below.

The world left the US behind

If you look at the issues being debated in the wider world, the US is not at the forefront of global debate on any of them - except terror and security

By Tim Watkin

As George Bush strolls into the leaders' meeting at Apec, I half expect to see him rubbing his eyes in a somewhat sleepy, surprised manner, like a bear coming out of hibernation.

I've just been out of the US for a fortnight, and returning to the States this past week I can't help but notice how cut-off and caught up in its own concerns this country is at the moment.

I keep thinking of Rip Van Winkle or the film While You Were Sleeping, where a character goes into a coma or long sleep and awakes to find the world a very different place. Except in this instance Bush is Van Winkle and the film title would be While You Were Iraqing.

This is Bush's seventh Apec meeting, so you'd expect him to be a comfortable and dominant player. Yet there's a sense everyone else has moved on, while he and his country are still stuck in the same place they've been for years.

Shocked? You shouldn't be. All the same, see some more.

Part of the problem is that the US media remains guilt-stricken about its mistakes before the invasion of Iraq - its failure to question the spurious WMD evidence, Rumsfeld's strategies and the overall rationale for war.

As some kind of penance they now seem to cover little else. The odd natural disaster aside, the only other issue getting any widespread play is the 2008 presidential election. The Sunday TV morning talk shows have given up debating current policy and just debate the campaign ad nauseum.

(snip)

In the past four years, America has taken its eye off the Pacific and China's growing influence to the extent that Bush this week has had to publicly deny that Apec has become a China summit.

While Bush spent US political capital in Iraq, China, India and Russia all regained status as leading nations in their own right, and others such as Brazil are staking their claim for a seat at the big table for the first time.(snip)

In the major world events of the moment - say North Korean negotiations or the Middle East peace process - America is either just one player among many or its influence is failing.

The changing tone was there for all to see at Friday's US-South Korea leaders' press conference. Close ally President Roh Moo-hyun was willing to press, even embarrass, Bush in public.

In previous years, with previous Presidents, he wouldn't have dared. These days, though, the US doesn't carry the same clout or demand the same respect.

The polite analysis is that Iraq has put the US in a reflective mood, reappraising its own assumptions about itself. Less politely, you could say it's getting horribly out of touch and behind the times.

The world is moving on without America.

When you're ready for reading the rest of this ultra-revealing report, just hit this link.