Politics: China's a Lion. Is the United States a Gazelle?

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the best policy China's a Lion. Is the United States a Gazelle? What a week in the Serengeti taught me about America's role in the world. By Eliot Spitzer Posted Friday, July 1, 2011, at 12:41 PM ET The cheetah lunged and clamped its jaws around the neck of a fleeing gazelle--the quick resolution of a 15-second chase at 50 miles per hour--and bought the limp victim back to her six cubs for lunch. Watching from 30 feet away, I was reminded of the brutality of the law of the jungle, and the fact that nature doesn't leave much room for second place. Despite the Serengeti's Garden of Eden quality, there is a clear and brutal hierarchy that dictates survival. Within a pride of lions or a herd of elephants, new leaders are chosen on a regular basis. Predictable measures of strength determine who rules: speed, power, ability to provide food, even popularity. And so what does this have to do with geopolitics, you ask? To continue reading, click here. Eliot Spitzer is the former governor of the state of New York. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Mean Things Rich Democrats Say About Barack Obama Canada: One of the World's Leading Exporters of Hacking Coughs The Most Amazing Thing about Pixar's New Heroine Isn't That She's a Girl--It's That She Has Curly Hair	Advertisement
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