Anyone Hearing This?

"If the Bush administration's policies lead to the decline of U.S. power, it will hardly be the first time in history that an empire bankrupted itself through military overstretch -- even as its more prosperous ally and future rival prospered on the sidelines. The Netherlands profited grandly from the insatiable colonial appetites of Spain and Portugal, and then stood by as the dreams of Iberian glory went down the tubes. Hungary built goulash communism while the Soviet Union found itself bogged down in Afghanistan and eventually laid the seeds of its own demise with its out-of-control military spending.

Even upstart America's rise to global preeminence in the first half of the 20th century was the result of Britain's imperial excess. Once England expended so much life and lucre of its colonial fortunes in two world wars, the global stage was clear for a new leader. Today, having endured the post-World War years of financial dependence on U.S. largesse and decades more of politically subservience to Washington throughout the Cold War, Europe is finally coming into its own."

Goodbye Uncle Sam, Hello Team Europe