The latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine published an article by Robert Gates, former director of the CIA and former secretary of defense, with a very interesting title, "Why Is America No Longer Afraid?" In this article, Robert Gates, a former CIA director and former secretary of defense, also analyzes this question from many aspects, that is, why the United States is no longer feared in the 21st century, especially after the second decade of the 21st century.
First, the soft power pursued by the United States has been questioned. The reason why the Cold War ended and why the United States was able to achieve success against the Soviet Union was precisely because the ideology and values of "democracy, freedom" and other ideologies and values advocated by the United States were supported by the people within the Soviet Union and the socialist camp in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The "new thinking" reforms carried out by Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, were to transplant the American system on the soil of the Soviet Union, and finally led to the collapse of the fortress from within. In fact, the victory of the Cold War was a complete victory of American ideology and soft power, and this victory also made American products and influence popular all over the world for a long time after the end of the Cold War. The United States has thus established its unique superpower status, but in the 21st century, especially in the last decade, the soft power of the United States has been constantly questioned by the world, and more and more people believe that the United States is too hypocritical and double-standard, and the United States can be said to say one thing and do another.
Robert Gates, a former U.S. politician, believes that the main reason for all this is Trump, because after Trump ran for president of the United States in 2016, his eyes were all about business and his own calculations, so that the "democracy and freedom" values that the United States had carefully built for many years to deceive countries around the world completely collapsed. As a result, America's soft power is being questioned around the world, which has led many countries to look at the United States in a new light, which is one of the reasons why the United States is no longer feared.
Second, the United States has always emphasized hard power. Although the United States won the battle for the hearts and minds of the Soviet Union in the Cold War, in the final analysis, it was because the United States' hard power was strong enough, and its scientific and technological strength, economic strength, and military strength were undoubtedly the first in the world, which also enabled the United States to point to the east and fight the west, and to fight whoever it wanted. In view of the strong force of the United States, many countries have had to submit to the will of the United States, but over the years, the armed forces of the United States, which the United States is proud of in various battlefields and hot spots, have been continuously weakened. The "Kabul moment" of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has become a shameful moment in the history of the U.S. military, after starting a two-decade war on terror, only to leave Afghanistan in vain.
In 2021, when President Biden ordered the withdrawal of troops, many likened the "Kabul moment" to the "Saigon moment" of the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, and since then, countries around the world have wondered if the U.S. military can still fight whomever it wants, as it has done in the past. The outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the intensification of the Red Sea crisis have made the United States continue to be questioned, and the US government has shown caution and is unwilling to turn the other cheek with Russia, and even fall into the dilemma that even the Houthis cannot take, which once again shows the world that the original US army is nothing more than that. When the powerful image of the US military collapses, the rest of the world naturally does not worship the hard power of the United States so much, and the ridicule of the hard power of the United States is another reason why the United States is no longer afraid.
Third, in addition to the setbacks in both soft and hard strength, another important factor has also caused the United States to no longer be feared, and the "smart power" of the United States has also suffered a setback. The so-called "smart power" is to combine soft and hard power, and to show the priority and superiority of the United States in various details in a way that attracts and attracts countries and people who yearn for the United States. During Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, this kind of "skillful strength" was used perfectly, attracting a large number of "fan brothers and sisters". Today, the United States' "smart power" has been ridiculed by the world, because when dealing with the two big powers, China and Russia, and when dealing with its allies and regional thorny countries, the United States' "smart power" has become a joke in the world. In this case, the so-called "smart power" of the United States can only make people see the United States that is inconsistent with words and deeds, and can only let people see the hypocritical and double-standard United States.
After the three major powers of the United States have been weakened, the United States naturally cannot be feared, which is also the analysis of the current situation of the United States by former CIA Director and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
First, at present, the United States itself has reached a crossroads in its own development, and the political rift between the two parties in the United States and the inherent contradictions of capitalism accumulated over the past 200 years since the founding of the United States have never been resolved. The United States is only basing its own development on global development, and by making the cake of global development bigger, it is covering up its own domestic problems. Now, the United States has begun to decouple and break the chain, build small courtyards and high walls, and insist on de-globalization, which in fact has damaged the foundation of the United States itself, after all, the United States is a global hub capitalist country. Once the United States begins to retreat from the world, it will also make its domestic contradictions begin to erupt, which is also the reason for the failure of the United States' soft power, hard power, and "smart power", because the United States' own problems are deep-rooted, and without thorough reform, the United States will indeed be unable to return.
Second, in addition to the problems of the United States itself, the rise of emerging powers such as China and Russia has also had a direct impact on the global hegemony of the United States. The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is that Russia directly said no to the United States by "flipping the table", and the long-term game between China and the United States also made the world see that the United States is nothing more than that. From the bipolar pattern composed of the two superpowers during the Cold War, to the unipolar pattern after the death of the Soviet Union, and then to the formation of today's pluralistic pattern, the power of the United States will naturally be dispersed. Under such circumstances, when countries such as China and Russia emerge that can compete head-on with the United States, the United States will naturally not be able to continue to control the world, which will overshadow the soft power, hard power, and "soft power" of the United States.
Third, this is because of the people's desire and the general trend. The United States has dominated the world for a long time, dividing the world with its own will and interests, and under the condition that the global economy and society continue to move forward, all countries can still honor the United States, but when the global economic recovery is sluggish and the world is plunged into a chaotic state of chaos and chaos, the various practices of the United States are actually harming others and not benefiting itself. This also means that in the face of the current practices of the United States, countries no longer want to endure it, and in the past, they followed the United States because the United States could bring benefits to relevant countries, but now they find that following the United States will only be used as cannon fodder, so no one wants to follow the United States as a slave. When we see that China's proposal to "build a community with a shared future for all mankind" has gained more understanding and support from more countries, we can understand the reason why the United States is no longer afraid.