east rise and west fall

To understand the American character, we all know this is an empire that cannot tolerate even a grain of sand in its eyes. Back then, the Soviet Union merely flexed a little muscle and was dragged into a Cold War that ultimately destroyed it. Japan only bought a few major buildings in the United States, and then came the Plaza Accord, which broke its backbone. The European Union had just begun issuing the euro to challenge the U.S. dollar, and war erupted right on its doorstep. America’s methods for taking down the number-two power are practically written into textbooks — a pirate instinct carved into the genes of the Anglo-Saxons.