The world that the West built after Pearl Harbour is cracking
Not least because America is lukewarm about preserving it
A LINE OF white-painted moorings in Pearl Harbour—the old “Battleship Row”—maps America’s trajectory in the second world war. At one end a memorial straddles the sunken remains of the USS Arizona, a battleship destroyed during Japan’s surprise attack on December 7th 1941. Most of the 1,177 sailors who perished on board remain entombed in the wreck. At the other end, the USS Missouri looms above the treeline with imposing 16-inch guns. It was on her deck that General Douglas MacArthur accepted the formal surrender of imperial Japan, ending the war.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “A weary superpower”
Briefing December 11th 2021
From the December 11th 2021 edition
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