US should end playing role of world policeman

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former prime minister of Denmark and former secretary-general of NATO, contributed an article in The Wall Street Journal last week saying the United States should play the role of the world's policeman. His one-sided argument is based on the perception that only the US has the material and moral greatness to stop the world from sliding into chaos and to foster peace.

It is highly likely that even in today's world when the waning of US power has turned from a hidden fear into reality, some experts, especially in the West, may share the views of the former NATO chief. But, for others, any support for the world's sole superpower to continue playing the role of the world's policeman would be misleading as well as counterproductive.

Rasmussen may want to examine why the world seems poised to slide into chaos. This is a question truly insightful people even in the West can answer, not to talk about people whose countries have fallen victim to the US' interventionist policy in recent years. From Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya and Syria, some of the world's worst crises are the results of US actions.