On Not Needing You, Part 2

This blog contains several posts which describe the psychological dynamics of national and ethnic narcissism.  Those posts have focused particularly on the United States and Russia as examples of deranged, narcissistic nations.  Many experts who have studied personality disorders have stated that the best way for normal people to deal with narcissists is to go No Contact.  In other words, to reduce one's dealings with the narcissist as much as possible and to sever, as much as possible, any relations of dependence on the narcissist.

The world was obliged to follow this prescription against Russia after Russia's violent attempts to conquer Ukraine.  (Note that Russia's attempted conquest of Ukraine was merely one component of a narcissistic Russian attempt to establish a world empire.)  Now the world is discovering that it is possible to take care of itself and to do beautifully good work without the United States.  The world is not caving to the threat of American tariffs against foreign goods.  And the rest of the world is coming together in surprising ways to create spaces of equity, fairness, and sustainable social arrangements without the involvement of the United States.  The process is actually easier now that the thuggish, misanthropic, racist, murderous regime of Donald Trump has withdrawn from a number of important international arrangements.  In short, the world is beginning to discover that it can live without the United States.  The U.S. may thus soon see how much harder it is to live in a world in which its soft power has been destroyed by self-inflicted wounds.  Check out these headlines:

• "Trump delays tariffs as the rest of the world plays hardball," BBC
• "Can the world be governed without the US?", Inside Story
• "This Fourth of July, the world declares its independence from America", The Guardian
• "To save the global economy, kick the US out of the WTO," Politico.eu

P.S. How do people build soft power in their societies and in the world at large?  Why, by becoming the sort of benevolent, wise, knowledgeable people that everyone else can respect, of course!  But soft power is not built by trying to take other people's stuff, by trying to conquer other people's countries, or by trying to play smashmouth with the rest of the world.