Agree - the power to open markets, guarentee acccess and obtain resources is what underpins it. As the Russians are showing us, no one else has a fraction of that capability.
whether we like it or not the us ability to carry on unchallanged has noticably diminished in comparison to the period from 1990 to 2010
also ... if ukraine-russia conflict is showing us anything it is that the natural resources question is far from certain. if we are to learn from history we would hastily take note that it is the question of resources that brought about the first world war
