all centers of social power. The combined might of the Jewish-Zionist lobby and the Christian-Evangelical one, which also supports the Israeli right, is immeasurable.

(There is a story about an Israeli politician, who proposed joining the United States as the 51st state. "Are you mad?" his colleagues retorted, "If we were another state, we would have two senators and a few congressmen. Now we have at least 80 senators and hundreds of congressmen!")

Dozens of small countries throughout the world see the way to Washington as passing through Jerusalem. When they want to curry favor with the United States, they first establish close relations with Israel, as if it were a doorkeeper who cannot be passed without a bribe.

This influence is not unlimited, as some believe. The Jonathan Pollard affair has shown that all the assembled might of the pro-Israel lobby is not enough to secure a pardon for one minor Israeli spy.⁹³ And Israel has just failed to prevent the sale of massive quantities of arms to Saudi Arabia (though of course it is getting even more aid for free).

Neither is the influence a one-way street. When the United States gives Israel a direct order, Jerusalem obeys. For example, when Jerusalem decided to sell China an expensive intelligence airplane, the pride of the Israeli industry, Washington compelled Israel to cancel the deal, causing grievous damage to Israeli-Chinese relations.⁹⁴

But in Washington and Jerusalem there is a deeply entrenched belief that the interests of the two countries are so closely connected that they cannot be told apart. What is good for one is good for the other. These Siamese twins cannot be separated.

Nevertheless, it is worthwhile, from time to time, to come back to the words of the Assyrian general 2,708 years ago. Great powers arise and fall, nothing stands still.

The twentieth century has been called the "American Century." At its beginning, the United States was just another country on the margin of the world system. At its end, after two World Wars that were decided by the rising power of the American giant, it had become the sole world power, the final arbiter of everything. So much so, that a learned professor fantasized about "The End of History" under American tutelage.

The twenty-first century will not be another "American Century." One can foresee a slow but steady decline in the status of the United States. Europe is uniting, slowly but surely, and its economic power is growing steadily. Russia is gradually becoming a great power again, helped by its enormous oil and gas reserves. And, most importantly, the two population giants, China and India, are rapidly climbing the economic ladder.

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