A series of reports by the RAND Corporation, America’s largest think tank, commissioned by the Pentagon, are expected to be released on 30 April.

An American newspaper obtained a copy of the document and gave a summary of its contents. The essence of the RAND Corporation study is that the US is approaching a decline from which few major powers have ever recovered.

The decline in US credibility is attributed to the problems at hand: ‘Their competitive position is under threat, both internally (in terms of slowing productivity growth, an aging population, a polarised political system and an increasingly corrupt information environment) and externally (in terms of a growing direct challenge from China and declining respect for US power from dozens of developing countries).

The study warns that this decline is “accelerating”. The RAND authors cite triggers that are all too familiar in 2024: “addiction to luxury and decadence, failure to keep pace with technological demands”, “ossified” bureaucracy, “loss........

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