On November 19 1919, the US Senate repudiated the Versailles Treaty. With that decision, the US withdrew its might from maintaining what had been agreed in the aftermath of the first world war, leaving this task to the British and French, who lacked both the will and the means to do so. The second world war followed. After that conflict, the US played a far more productive role. Today, the world is still in many ways the one the US made. But for how much longer will that be the case? And what might follow it? The outcome of the next presidential election might answer these questions, not just decisively, but, alas, very badly.
1919年11月19日，美國參議院否決了《凡爾賽條約》(Versailles Treaty)。通過這樣的決定，美國撤回了自己的力量，不再維護第一次世界大戰之后形成的共識，而是將這一任務留給了英國和法國，但后兩者都缺乏這樣做的意愿和手段。隨后發生了第二次世界大戰。二戰之后，美國扮演了更有建樹的角色。如今，世界在很多方面仍是由美國創造的那個世界。但這還會持續多久？之后又會怎樣？下一屆美國總統選舉的結果可能會回答這些問題，答案不僅是決定性的，而且會非常糟糕。