My last years interview with this remarkably wise man: - Many say that considering its economic and military strengths, there is no chance of Russia regaining the influence of the Soviet Union... But this is not a reflection of objective numbers. The power of the country is objective strength multiplied by it willingness to use it, its a fraction. Russians are fully willing to apply their strength. True, [compared to the Soviet Union] they have much less power, much less economic power, but in small countries like yours they dont need huge economic power to change things. Your prime minister has seven billion dollars. In the US, seven billion is lunch, maybe dinner, thats it. But if you are not willing to apply your power, you have no power. So to me its a matter of will. Thats why I wrote Decline as a Choice, the countries choose. America retreats and the rest of the world feels it, this is the same as the late 1970s. - But Obama was re-elected, so thats the choice of the American people... Thats what I mean. There are a lot of things people dont like about Obama – Obamacare, high spending and taxes. You dont hear protests about his foreign policy. People are quite willing to live with it. - What would you say about the condition of the Republican Party? You compare todays America with the post-Vietnam period, but the post-Vietnam period was followed by Ronald Reagan and the situation changed radically. What are the chances that something like that will happen again? I dont see a Reagan, but I do see the Republicans winning. I do believe that the Republicans have young and very skillful leaders. The other thing is history, every time one party has had the White House for two terms, they get thrown out. There was only one exception to this and that was Reagan. They gave him a third term by electing George H. W. Bush. Americans dont normally re-elect. I dont think that will change, but youve got to wait. You have to hang on until 2016.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:14:40 +0000
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