After empire

The United States' victory in the Cold War in 1991 led to triumphalist claims that humanity had reached "the end of history," and that Washington would enjoy everlasting supremacy. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called America "the indispensable nation." By invading Iraq, George W. Bush undermined U.S. credibility worldwide. By curtailing Americans' civil liberties while waging an endless "war on terror," and resorting to torture in prisons of occupied Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay, his administration, as well as America, lost its claim to a moral high ground. Moreover,…