The news that the Iran nuclear deal has been revived, effectively ending what might charitably be called Trump’s “war,” should provoke not a sigh of relief but a grimace of recognition. The limits of American global dominance, so blithely assumed by neoconservatives and their populist imitators, have been laid bare. Trump’s approach to Iran was a masterclass in strategic incoherence: maximum pressure that achieved minimal results, a withdrawal from a multilateral agreement that isolated the United States, and a dangerous game of brinkmanship that brought the region to the edge of disaster.
Now, with the deal resurrected, the lesson is clear: the United States no longer possesses the singular authority to reshape the world in its image. We are witnessing the final act of a historical cycle that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The unipolar moment is over.
The question is whether we will learn from this or prefer the comfortable intoxication of nostalgia. The Victorians, after all, convinced themselves of their own permanence until the guns of August shattered their illusions. We would do well to read the writing on the wall before the next conflict teaches us the same lesson with greater force.
