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'Less' the new byword

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Much of the attention from this part of the world on the uprisings in Libya and elsewhere across North Africa and the Middle East has focused on the possible impact on East Asia's own authoritarian regimes. But that attention overlooks another important aspect for the region - what it all says about America's place in the world.

The Libyan crisis has been particularly telling. In the early days of the international diplomacy that led to the air strikes and the enforcement of the no-fly zone, Washington appeared content for the likes of Britain, France, Italy and even Canada to not only appear to lead the international charge, but drive the opening military intervention as well.

Much has been made of the Obama administration's reticence and its willingness to let others do the heavy lifting - a stark contrast from the Republican predecessors and the mistrust fostered among allies through its 'with us, or against us' rhetoric. Washington, it is often repeated, has simply no appetite to become bogged down in another conflict in the Arab world.

There could be, however, an overlooked element to Washington's sudden reticence that is even more compelling, and one that could have considerable impact on this region; simply put, America can no longer do everything that it once could, or wants to. In this regard, recent events speak not so much to the quagmires of the past decade, but to the looming difficulties.

With US national debt at US$14 trillion and rising, and structural economic problems forcing not only budget cuts but strategic reviews across the vast military-industrial complex, the US will, of course, remain the superpower but will be a cash-strapped one, forced to cut its cloth while reaching out to other nations, including China, to share global leadership.

In his recent survey of the decline, titled The Frugal Superpower, Washington-based scholar Michael Mandelbaum describes a wide range of diplomatic and military restrictions as American belts tighten. Until recently, America's foreign policy since the second world war had been characterised by freedom of manoeuvre rather than constraints on action, he writes. 'In foreign affairs as in economic policy, the watchword was 'more'. That era has ended. The defining fact of foreign policy in the second decade of the 21st century and beyond will be 'less'.'

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