I haven't read Fareed Zakaria's new book The Post-American World yet, but everything he says in this TPM Cafe book club makes a lot of sense. In particular, Zakaria has been very good over the past few years at pointing out the apparent ache some commentators have for international rivalries, so I'm glad to see him reprise that argument here. "We magnify small differences," he writes. "We define deviancy down, so that any expression of national pride or interest by Russia or China becomes evidence of inevitable great power conflict...My fear is that the United States continues to have a maximalist view of international security - which sees any deviation from what we want - as evidence of evil. Rising powers will almost by definition not be willing to accept all our terms. Our reaction to them then contributes to international tension and great power hostility. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. [Then] the world does become more dangerous."
