The United States has been a major player on nearly every continent for the better part of the last century and the entire current one. Washington had to only hint at what it wanted Israel to do when matters became important enough to land on the US President’s table, and most countries would quickly react in a manner dictated by the White House. For the better part of the last century, there was a counterweight to the United States’ policies. There was a struggle for ideological dominance in the world between East and West – the USSR and the US. In the 1990’s, the US all of a sudden became the sole power in the world with a great economy, an able military, and domestic unity.

However, while the top Washington officials were inebriated with all of the possibilities that had opened up, countries that had been riding on the coattails of the United States’ dominance all of a sudden began to reap the fruits and break away from the general path paved by the White House. Not every one was able to accomplish this, but the most important players did so - Western Europe, Israel, and finally the Latin America.

Western Europe has economic potential and able politicians and the technology to be powerful and present an alternative to the United States in business affairs and military support. The United States cannot allow such a scenario to play out because Western Europe is a stepping stone to resource-rich Russia. The United States needs Western Europe to be in the same boat so it can aggregate the resources and put pressure on Russia in order to gain commercial access to the vast riches in the Russian soil. However, Europe is moving away from the general path of the United States’ policies. Washington officials know this and are playing a game of containment. This game is played by utilizing a political tool that the White House has stashed in the attic until recently and has to learn how to use effectively again – compromise. That means that (gasp!) Washington will actually have to take into account a different opinion and give a little to get something else in return without there being a one-sided deal. This is the only way to preserve the US’s opinions’ dominance in the European political game. This is the only way to contain the expansion and the breaking away of the general thinking of the European populace.

Israel is the other important card in US international policy. Tel-Aviv was thought for a while to be the US’s forever-loyal ally in the Middle East, one that would always back US efforts, because Israel’s and the US’s aspirations have been going the same direction. Not anymore, however. The United States has cooled down a bit on allowing Israel to be the bully of the Middle East. Israel could start a war with any of its neighbors and count on US support. Recently, however, that assumption has been shattered as US Congressmen actually opposed Israel’s bombings of the Gaza strip, settlement expansion, and Washington has actually began to admit Israel’s human rights violations (a big step in the right direction, if you ask me). Now, to contain that break away, the United States is actually using other tools at its disposal to keep control of the situation in the Middle East. Greater contact between Israeli and US populations by letting Israelis easier access to becoming permanent residents of the United States. Greater exchange of business and economic interdependence so the US has leverage against Israel in order to be able to pressure on Tel-Aviv is the way Washington is planning to contain Israel’s deviation.

Finally, most US foreign policy makers have used the Monroe Doctrine as step one in formulating decision and US international interest. Latin America has been the number one priority because if it was not controlled by the United States, then it would be the stepping stone for the any power to challenge US dominance in its hemisphere. First, by creating Banana Republics, the United Fruit Company was able to keep down economic and political rise in Latin America. United Fruit was greatly used by the United States government in order to keep a hold on its southern neighbors. By economically dominating the region, the United States in turn had to fight only a short war to end the reign of one of the major powers in the region posing a threat to US – Spain. That being done, World War I and World War II quickly dwindled the power of the colonizers in Latin America, and shortly thereafter the US was dominating the Americas. However, today the US has more pressing issues and most Latin American states are breaking free of the US and going in their own direction, posing a threat to US national interests (namely commercialism). In order to contain this, the US is still going the old route of WB and IMF loans and different revolution attempts. Nevertheless, the US is stretched thin and is unable to keep all the control. China and Russia are beginning to enter the Latin American game. The only way to contain this now is by attempting to be a better alternative – something that the US has not been able to do well recently.

All in all, US power is being challenged and there are quite a few states now that are able to present alternatives to US goods and services. China, Russia, Europe, Israel, Japan are all creditors that offer better rates to those in need and sometimes, with fewer strings attached than Washington is willing to give. The way for the United States to delay the sharing of power in the international arena is by containing the situation as much as possible while the think-tanks in the annals of Washington think of the way to rise again and stay there in the current situation. This is done with all means necessary and even former allies are not exactly trusted in their support of the US hegemony.