witnessed by the world in Ameri Music: Listening and Writing ca “is not comparable in terms of power and influence to anything known in modern history”[6] America’s devotion to its armed forces can by no means be ignored. America boasts an army that is better equipped and out numbers the armed troops of well over 14 countries put together. There are training grounds for the United States army in well over 40 locations world wide. This automatically means that w Music: Listening and Writing hen another weaker or slightly less advantageous state envisages itself in trouble, the first point of call for protection and assistance, when and if necessary is the United States of America. In its usual confidential, bordering on arrogant manner America’s National Security Strategy declared to the world that their forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries/would-be challengers from pursuing a m Music: Listening and Writing ilitary build-up in hopes of surpassing, or even remotely equalling, the power of the United States.[7] It is not impossible or even unthinkable for America to utilise its military capacity to impose its policies on other states in different regions of the world. It has been observed already that America spends on its armed forces more than the next fourteen countries combined and that the U.S. military expenditures will shortly be equal to the rest of the world combined.[8] Another scholar of repute, Paul Kennedy, also surmised that it is already the case that all the other navies in the world combined could not dent American maritime supremacy.[9] Still on the issue of security, expressing his own opinion and an opinion apparently shared by many others world over, Barry Possen has suggested that the United States’ command of the sea, space, and air forces is the ‘key military enabler of the U.S. global power position’.[10] Assuming its economic growth remains as healthy as it has been Music: Listening and Writing  since the 90s, the concentration of world military power may continue for several decades yet. Even at the current level of U.S. capabilities, it is the general view that ‘the United States can shoulder the burden of maintaining global security without much help from Europe’ or the rest of the world for that matter.[11] It begins to appear obvious that perhaps America’s initial support for multilateralism in international trade and globalisation was borne of a grander strategic m Music: Listening and Writing ove to acquire and retain more power while legitimately promoting international reliance of one state on the other, one region on others for support, growth and assistance. A quick glimpse at major historical turning points such as 1919, the end of World War II in 1945 and the period immediately after the Cold War a>