[theapportioner]

Forgot to add something about multilateralism -- there's more to the future than GWB and successors may try to repair the damage. In retrospect, much of it was entirely needless -- the US displayed a completely unecessary chest thumping attitude from the beginning and this perhaps did most to damage international perception of us. A diplomatic faux pas, as the French would say. The current momentum is driving us towards a multipolarist world but it's still hard to imagine another world power or powers acceding to superpower level.