I think they are afraid because of the declining power of the United States. Its formerly strong economic foundations have been undermined in the last three decades, since the oil shocks began.
To be more specific, the United States' own oil production peaked and then began to decline in 1970. I think few people realize (it is a sort of super-secret, though out in plain view) that oil found in the lower 48 was one key, perhaps the most important key, to the economic mega-power of the United States. When we became a net importer of oil, all that changed... but nobody is supposed to understand or mention it.
This loss of economic power was not, in my opinion, the fault of either political party, but rather just a matter of circumstances. True, our country could have handled the transition much better, but we got stuck in a particular mindset. I am being charitable, but what's the point of bitterness and recrimination now?
Now the Neocons feel obliged to take a snarling, hyper-masculine, militarized approach to the world because they perceive that our weapons are all we have left. It's like the facade of a movie set - a false front - and they desperately want to do something to recreate that economic power (their "new American Century") before the world figures it all out, dumps the dollar as the world's reserve currency, and tries to move forward in the reality-based world, which, of course, the Neocons hate and in which they cannot possibly live.
Ralph
A concise and brilliant analysis of the last 34 years in the USA.
Ralph is evidently also connected to a blog called Newsfare. Check it out.
