The American Age Is Over

Argues that the American age of military and geopolitical dominance has abruptly ended, exposed by a short, intense war with Iran that U.S. forces could not decisively win. Expensive, high-tech American systems and a global base network failed to stop cheap, mass-produced Iranian missiles and drones that struck at least 17 U.S. bases and facilities, including the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and multiple Kuwaiti bases. The loss of Bahrain forced naval logistics to stretch to Diego Garcia over 2,000 miles away, carriers were redeployed from the Pacific (USS Abraham Lincoln then USS George Washington), morale fell, and key munitions - THAAD, Patriot interceptors, and Tomahawk cruise missiles - ran dangerously low. The U.S. defense posture, tuned to “exquisite” limited-production systems for counterinsurgency, lacks deep stockpiles and surge capacity against mass-produced precision weapons.

The piece ties these battlefield realities to deeper structural problems: erosion of American industrial capacity (China now builds roughly half the world’s ships and about 80 percent of drones), fraying alliances driven by presidential rhetoric and troop draws (including plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany), and regional alignments that no longer assume U.S. protection. Partners are signing new pacts, Europe is contemplating independent deterrents, and Gulf states are hedging toward Iran. Rather than remedying gaps, the administration is portrayed as concealing failures and ousting critical defense personnel. The combination of depleted stockpiles, overstretched logistics, manufacturing decline, and diplomatic estrangement signals a decisive end to the era of unquestioned American primacy.