The United States in a Changing World

The author takes a closer look at how the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have forced us to ask ourselves why the United
States come under increasing criticism and why it has become the object of worldwide alienation. Prestowitz explains the turnaround in US foreign policy, particularly as regards security: the attacks evidenced the need for a preventive “first-strike” policy. The war on Iraq is the most concrete manifestation of this, its true justification being a desire to show the world the power of the United States. The author then goes on to mention certain international treaties and how the United States seems to have its own set of rules when it comes to these. Then there is the complex connection between US cotton subsidies, indiscriminate energy consumption by Americans and the African child who can no longer survive on his cotton crops and is left with no option but to join the mujahedin, which, paradoxically, is financed by US oil purchases. The author asks himself whether Americans feel safer today than before and closes by posing the questions: What is national interest and how is this defined? What is the outlook as regards Mexico?