Sure, when you are eyeing that megamerger or I.P.O. bulging with zillions, the rest of the world looks both boring and ornery. Nor will it long withstand America's unilateralist reflexes like the missile defense system or the micromanagement of the Kosovo war by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But if so, the United States might recall the best tradition of its postwar grand strategy. It wasn't just sheer size and weight that shaped this most brilliant chapter of American diplomacy. Because this No. 1 was the first in history to lead rather than rule.
Great leaders shun both imposition and indifference.
Great powers remain great if they promote their own interests by serving those of others. Josef Joffe is co-editor of the German weekly Die Zeit. Great powers remain great if they promote their own interests by serving those of others. Sounds good to me. Of course if we keep pulling a Kosovo all the time we can see our list of allies shrink and our list of antagonists rise.