Books and Arts; Book Review;The political waning of America;Unconvincing;Every Nation For Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. By Ian Bremmer.Brazil and Turkey, once reliable backers of America’s geostrategic goals,conspicuously went their own way in 2010 when they sought to broker a deal；with Iran over its nuclear programme, even as America pushed for new sanctions.Their new-found assertiveness was a product of both their growing economic weight and America’s diminished clout.This is an example of what is in store for the world, predicts Ian Bremmer in “Every Nation For Itself”.Countries like Brazil and Turkey want the status of a bigger global role.But they “balk at assuming the risks and burdens” that global leadership entails.Ideally a web of multilateral institutions and laws would impose order and hold wayward countries in line.But with America unable to afford, or unwilling to exercise, global leadership,and China still not ready to assume its responsibilities, there is no one to enforce these rules.In the 1960s President Lyndon Johnson could divert a fifth of America’s wheat crop to alleviate starvation in India.That could not happen now, when biofuels are aggravating food shortages and exporters hoard supplies for their own people.
