OUR WAY.(American dominance of world politics)

Years from now, when historians try to explain the world of the early twenty-first century, they might mention the Parsley crisis. It took place in July, when the government of Morocco sent twelve soldiers to a tiny island called Leila, a few hundred feet off its coast, in the Strait of Gibraltar, and planted its flag there. The island is uninhabited, except for some goats, and all that thrives on it is wild parsley, hence its Spanish name, Perejil. But its sovereignty has long been contested by Morocco and Spain, and the Spanish government reacted forcefully to the Moroccan "aggression." Within a couple of weeks, seventy-five Spanish soldiers had been airlifted onto the ...