“The American Age” Irreversible Fall

In the midst of this ongoing conflict, the experience of the formation of the Soviet Union and the socialist republics system came as a milestone in this struggle. Russian revolutionaries moved the conflict to a new level when they founded the first experiment of an alternative system that proved its competitiveness. But this balance was disrupted by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the world became hostage to the by-then one only dominant pole, the US pole, as the spearhead of imperialism: Economically – by imposition of neoliberalism, and controlling the global financial mainstay through the dollar; Militarily – by the violent force which protects the system; Politically – by the logic of the international relations of force formed after World War II and became dominant in the early 1990s.

Today's world provides us with daily evidence of a new qualitative phase in this conflict, namely, imperialism, and its American position in particular, is becoming weaker, while the rest of the peoples of the world are making rapid strides forward ... and if the conflict between the poles of peoples and imperialism was at some point demonstrated by the competition between USA and USSR, today it is demonstrated by the international space which is being extracted out of the Western absolute hegemony, by the ascending world powers, with two countries at the forefront: Russia and China, which are gradually attracting a group of important regional states.

Economically, countries of the Western camp now produce the third of the Gross World Product, after they had been producing two-thirds of GWP in the 1960s. The engine of innovation and global trade is revving up from Asia. Financially, the attack on the global dollar has become a reality, and everyone has decided that removing it from the forefront is a matter of time. As for the military, the accumulated experience of the Soviet stage shows the superiority of the Russian military deterrent force, to the US military machine, and during a record time period of compensation since the beginning of this century until today. More importantly, the political reaping of all this is being manifested through the strong diplomatic intervention in the face of imperialist chaos and destruction. The ascending powers, especially Russia in the first place, are seeking to impose a new logic of international relations, reflecting the new international balance of force: a weaker and less hegemonic imperialism; the end of the absolute American era; and forces of the emerging New World are firstly defending themselves, and secondly attacking the Old World.

This conflict is driven by the objective strength of humanity's need to move forward, and it is bound by historical determinism, towards more and more turning points, where peoples are uprooting centuries of hegemony.

If the Syrian crisis comes at a crucial moment in this conflict by a historical contingency, the path of its solution is also settled ... where the project of fragmentation chaos will not succeed in ending the unity of the country and perpetuating violence for a long time. The expression of the new international balance in the model of the solution to the Syrian crisis will inevitably lead to a comprehensive political solution that will restore power to the people, end terrorism and provide all the Syrians with the necessary space to regain their sovereignty over their country. This sovereignty, which was not only taken over during the years of the crisis but through previous decades of injustice and backwardness, which provided the foundation for deep social distress, and enriched a minority of corrupted and financial elites.

Kassioun Editorial, Issue No 852, Mar. 4, 2018