Oreo Book Club: Superpower by Ian Bremer

We met at the home of Norton Schwartz to review the recommendation of Lakshman Sehgal and Francis Ozimec of Superpower by Ian Bremer. The thesis of the book was that the United States cease bearing the burden of trying to influence the entire world and selectively cut back on it’s military and civilian support commitments and concentrate more of its resources on infrastructure. The author believes we should reduce support of NATO and regional trade agreements that, he believes, do not support our interests, but do keep our debt high. Some of the group felt this point of view was somewhat isolationist and not in keeping with our self-interest. Some felt the politics of the country limited our flexibility for change, with the militarism of the Republicans pushing for continued involvement in the affairs of other countries. Afghanistan, Iraq, the Ukraine, Syria and other areas of the world push for our attention and make it difficult to withhold our money and troops and still protect our interests and point of view.
—Norton Schwartz