Not in our lifetime...

Oliver Kamm on the waning American Global power:

There is plenty of grumbling in the rest of the world against US primacy (and also much goodwill towards the US; I found this quite recently in talking to some young Iranians). But there is no appetite among other countries to take on the tasks that the US performs, let alone to pay for them. I would welcome a more united Europe, and I believe a common European currency is a strength for the international system. But I have no expectation that there will be any serious challenge to America's position in the international order - at least not in my lifetime.

I'm content that Kamm, for whose judgment and acumen I have great respect, seems to confirm my own reading on at least two occasions recently of Europeans, (or Canadians) stepping up to the plate even when the stakes cannot be any higher.