MUST AMERICA EXERCISE WORLD LEADERSHIP?
             The issue of America's role as a world power was brought on by the Cold War and the vacuum left by the Soviet Union after their collapse as a world power. The two views that are that are being looked at don't consider leaving weak countries to fend for themselves, they just have differing views as to how to handle a post Cold War world. The first view wants America to be the only super power and lead the fight for democracy, while the other wants to use other powerful countries and to share the responsibility in he same fight.
             William Kristol and Robert Kagan are the authors of the first article dealing with this issue. They see the ending of the Cold War as an opportunity to mold the world in America's image. Shortly after the Cold War, the first Desert Storm showed our military capabilities. This period of time is looked at as the height of American influence on the world. The authors call this period of time a unipolar moment. Bob and Willy see this as the opportunity to march all the way to Baghdad and kick out Saddam; this was over ten years ago. They see Bush #1's failure to do so as the start of the end of this unipolar moment, and therefore the end of a good chance for a new world order to us. Even China was admiring our military power, and not posing a threat to us. After we let Saddam continue in his harsh ways of governing, other dictators then started to try to take over neighboring countries. Milosevic started his war on Slovenia and Croatia and North Korea started to produce nuclear weapons. They had nothing to worry about because no one was there to stop them. China started to be belligerent towards the U.S. and they began to build their military powers. They blame the Clinton administration for dealing lightly with China. They think that he should have called for changes in their oppressive governments, and that he should have pushed had fo...