The USA is a country blessed with enormous resources and suitable geographic location (particular in terms of geo-strategic advantage).
The USA’s quest for dominating the world has been in news repeatedly—generally in the context of a lot of distress and destruction. However there can be a different path—not of dominance but of enlightened leadership. Whereas dominance is based on force and threats, enlightened leadership is based on goodwill earned justly from a record of peace and justice.
During the last 80 years as many as four golden opportunities emerged for the USA to provide durable enlightened leadership to the world but all four were lost. Can a fifth such opportunity emerge, and with better chances of being availed this time?
The first such opportunity arose in 1945 when history appeared to be as much on the side of the USA as geography. With the heavy destruction suffered by Germany, Japan, Britain and the Soviet Union in the Second World War (while the USA suffered much lesser harm and its industrial economy boomed while meeting wartime orders) the USA was the undoubted new leader, a situation secured further first by the previous leader Britain agreeing willingly to be its junior partner and secondly by the Bretton Woods agreement conferring big economic and financial advantages. The overall conditions were such that the USA had tremendous goodwill, to the extent that even several freedom and liberation movements fighting against US allies looked up to the USA with hope for helpful policy.
However the USA rapidly embarked on the path of quickly losing most of this goodwill by avoidable use of nuclear bombs and then by the avoidable and highly destructive wars in Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere.
The second chance of correcting the serious mistakes of aggression based policies and finding the path of enlightened leadership came in 1963 when President John Kennedy rapidly moved towards a path of peace. In the process he angered the forces of war and aggression. He was assassinated. There is enough evidence for anyone who cares to see that this was the evil work of the forces of war and aggression.
The third opportunity arose around year 1968 when one of the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winners and the great civil rights activist Martin Luther King was not only going from strength to strength but also taking a fast turn towards becoming a big campaigner for peace and ending wars. Around the same time the younger brother of the assassinated President, Robert Kennedy was also emerging as a leading candidate in the Presidential race. King and Robert got on well with each other and their relations were improving further. The two together would have become a powerful combination for world peace. However both were assassinated within a few weeks of each other in circumstances that left many questions unanswered. Again the evidence of the involvement of the forces of war ad aggression is there to see for all those who care to see.
The fourth such opportunity emerged around 1990 with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. This was a very opportune moment to take on the role of enlightened leadership of world by taking steps to strengthen peace, justice and environment protection. US leaders hastened to do the opposite of this and the results are there for all to see.
However as it is so important for world peace and indeed for world’s survival for the USA to emerge as a force of peace, can we hope against hope that a fifth chance can emerge again soon, and this time it will be accepted?
This can happen only by deeply committed work for peace with justice at ground level with continuity, involving many existing efforts as well as new efforts, so that the forces of peace can become stronger than the forces of war and aggression. In the process several leaders will emerge who are deeply committed to peace and have enough support of people to take this forward. With millions of people working with continuity to create another opportunity of peace and justice based enlightened leadership, the possibilities will increase and when such an opportunity is created this will be accepted and taken forward by not just these leaders of peace but also by millions of people contributing with continuity in very creative ways for this.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Earth without Borders, A Day in 2071 and Man over Machine.
