“May you live in interesting times,” so goes a Chinese curse. We are indeed living in interesting times. Right before our eyes, we are witnessing the rapid decline of the United States, the lone superpower left in this planet. The global danger arises when the superpower uses its military might to cling to its waning status and forcibly maintain its dominance over a unipolar world order, or instigates a major war to pump prime its failing economy.

The signs of decline are all over the western media. The subprime crisis in the U.S. housing industry is wreaking havoc on some 2 million homeowners losing their homes. The crisis of confidence has spread into the financial sector.

Big-name banks and financial institutions such as Citibank, Bank of America, Wachovia, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, AIG, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns have either written off billions of dollars in losses or gone bankrupt. U.S. government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gone into receivership and taken over by the American government. From across the continent, the same financial havoc ravaged Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS, Credit Suisse, Barclays, HSBC, Fortis NV, Deutsche Bank and UBS. As of this writing, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel for the U.S. and her Western allies.

In Citibank alone, 53,000 jobs evaporated overnight, while some 3,000,000 jobs are threatened in the impending collapse of the U.S. auto industry if no bailout is forthcoming from the government.

Exacerbating the crisis of confidence in the financial sector is the continued decline of the once almighty dollar. The strength of the dollar lies in the fact that it is the currency of choice in oil transactions. Central Banks all over the world have to stock up on dollars to pay for their oil expenditures. Once major oil producers decide to shift to other currencies, the dollar’s foundation will be threatened. Saddam Hussein of Iraq attempted to do this, and he paid dearly for it. His attempt to shift currency could be one of the major reasons for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. By trading oil in euro, Saddam pointed a dagger right at the heart of the U.S. economy. His move could have triggered a stampede away from the U.S. dollar.

But now, big world players are starting to set up their own oil bourses -- St. Petersburg in Russia, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, and Dalian in China, and Mumbai in India -- and are shifting to other currencies for oil transactions. There is also the shift by Venezuela, Iran, Sudan, Kuwait and Syria away from the declining U.S. dollar in trading their oil. Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Korea and Qatar are also seriously considering abandoning the U.S. dollar. These developments put the ubiquitous dollar in a precarious position. Whereas before, the U.S. merely has to print money in exchange for oil and other import requirements, relying on the fact that the U.S. dollar is the reserve currency of choice of the world, now, this exploitative setup is about to end.

The U.S. dollar has been falling in value against the euro and other major currencies since 2001. In 2009, the dollar continued on its downward spiral. With all those hundreds of billions of dollars of bailouts and stimulus packages slated for 2009, the U.S. will be forced either to print more money or go deeper in debt (since it cannot depend on the dwindling tax revenues pulled down by mounting unemployment and corporate bankruptcies). The U.S. has unwittingly placed itself in a catch 22 situation. It is like being forced to choose between a “seppuku” disembowelment or jumping into a quicksand. The “seppuku” in this case is the overuse of the printing machine to print the dollar bills it needs to bailout its sinking economy that can turn the U.S. into another Zimbabwe. The other option is to jump into the quicksand of debt that will bind the U.S. into a debt trap where there is practically no escape. Whether the U.S. chooses to print more dollars or go deeper in debt, the result will be the same – a free falling U.S. dollar.

In addition to the dollar decline, the production output of American industries is also shrinking. Countless U.S. manufacturers have shifted their operations to China and India where the cost of labor is much cheaper. Such migration of manufacturing results not only in the loss of national production capacity but also the loss of employment for millions of Americans.

The diminution of U.S. manufacturing capacity means increasing trade deficits with the rest of the world. The U.S. trade deficit amounted to U.S. $ 711 billion in 2007, according to the U.S. Commerce Department; the trade gap with China alone was more than $250 billion. The increase in the trade deficit, in turn, means a corresponding increase in the national debt. The U.S. has to borrow almost $2 billion a day to keep its country running. And China, surpassing Japan, is now America ’s largest creditor.

From the U.S. federal government down to the individual American credit card holder, America is neck-deep in debt with virtually zero savings. In a blink of an eye, the U.S. has turned from a creditor- to a debtor-nation.

The huge foreign debt is coupled with huge federal budget deficits. The federal deficits are exacerbated further by the billions of dollars dissipated in pursuit of America’s so-called “War on Tyranny” and ”War on Terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Combine this with excessive defense spending of more than half a trillion dollars annually and you have a specter of a financial meltdown similar to what befell the former Soviet Union.

The United States ’ repulsively arrogant unilateralist moves, especially in Iraq, alienated friends and foes alike. The alienation of major European allies, such as France and Germany, from the U.S. has seriously undermined the cohesiveness of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance. Russia took advantage of the weakened ties by driving a wedge between the so-called Old and New Europe using oil and gas as a weapon. The move has the potential of splitting NATO in the event of a major crisis.

In the looming disaster of peak oil, countries are desperately scrambling to secure oil resources for themselves to the exclusion of others. An exclusive consortium of oil and gas producers led by Russia are entering into long-term contracts with select consumers like China and India, to corner the last remaining major oil and gas reserves on the planet. With the growing scarcity of oil resources worldwide, the last remaining nations with large proven oil deposits are banding together to gain geopolitical leverage. They, in turn, enter into strategic partnerships with preferred consumer nations.

Key energy producers in this elite consortium that is led by Russia include Iran, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Angola, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. There is a strong possibility that other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members, such as Saudi Arabia, may opt to join. An indicator of this is the planned construction by Saudi Arabia of a huge oil reserve depot and petrochemical plant in China. Saudi Arabia has also entered into a long-term supply contract with China.

Aside from China and India, the other major consumer countries include Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Switzerland. Unfortunately for the U.S. and the United Kingdom, they are “locked out” from this exclusive club. Corollary to this is that it would bar the oil majors of America and England from tapping into the last few remaining oil and gas fields. Similarly, Japan and South Korea, (or perhaps even India ) may find themselves in the same leaking boat with the U.S. if they don’t play their diplomatic cards right. For the unfortunate ones who are locked out, artificially-induced peak oil will hit them first before the impact of genuine peak oil affect the rest of the planet.

The global economic and financial crisis that started in the U.S. housing sector has now spread and infected the rest of the world. While the U.S. government is throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into a black hole of insolvent financial institutions and collapsing corporate giants, China ’s response to the crisis is to gobble up strategic resources at fire sale prices and modernize infrastructure. The crucial difference between the U.S. and China is that the U.S. entered the crisis inundated with debt while China was awash with cash and serving as the biggest creditor of the U.S. When the dust finally settles, the U.S. may find itself crushed deeper in debt while China will emerge stronger than ever. America ’s comprehensive national power is rapidly being eroded by the ongoing crisis. China, on the other hand, is utilizing its huge foreign exchange reserves to win more friends and allies, buy key resources or lock out their supply, and further enhance the other major components of its own comprehensive national power (education, science and technology, research institutions, social welfare, health services, domestic markets, etc.) in the midst of such global crisis.

One may ask: Why is the U.S. being ostracized as an outcast by so many countries? A simple explanation would be American hubris and hypocrisy. While preaching human rights to Sudan and China, the U.S. supported the existence of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons in Cuba and Iraq respectively. Other secret “rendition” camps are scattered all over the world. America is vocal in criticizing China for polluting the environment, but refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. With the historic emergence of President Barack Obama, a ray of hope for positive change is shining in the American horizon. People all over the world wait with baited breath to see him succeed in attaining his campaign promises. One of Mr. Obama’s first acts as U.S. president was to order the closure of the infamous Guantanamo prison in Cuba. However, a few days after President Obama ordered the closing of Guantanamo, U.S. $60 million was approved for the expansion of the Bagram Air Base detention facility in Afghanistan. Some fear that this Afghan prison will serve as “Obama’s Guantanamo.”

The last remaining bastion of the U.S. as a superpower is a military machine and defense budget with no equal. The U.S. is spending some $528 billion annually for its defense. This huge war chest is more than 10 times that of China (U.S. $ 49.5 billion). According to the Newsweek Special Edition Issue for 2008, “the U.S. defense budget is bigger than 15 of the next biggest defense spenders in the world combined.”

But even this last bastion of superpower strength is now being seriously challenged asymmetrically. Within this gargantuan structure, there are soft spots that, when stricken, can cause the entire structure to collapse. These vulnerable spots are the Dim Mak points that are the subject of the chapters that follow.

Unrestricted Warfare

Unrestricted warfare, like asymmetric warfare, is a weapon of the weak to fight and defeat the strong. It is a form of fighting where anything goes: “a poke in the eye, a stab in the back, a kick in the groin.” Anything that will help the weak defeat the strong is brought into play. Nothing is prohibited. No target or weapon is off limits.

If ever a major war erupts between superpower America and weaker nations like China, Russia, or Iran, we can expect the weaker ones to resort to unrestricted warfare. It will not be confined to a mere shooting war. It will involve combat on land, sea, air, in outer space, cyberspace and even into the microbial realm. It will encompass attacks on a nation’s electric grids, computer networks, strategic resources, oil supply routes, logistic sea lanes, national currency, trade, banking and finance, stock exchange, basic services, and the nation’s social fabric. It will also include combat in the realms of media, the environment, diplomacy, culture, and the struggle for alliances.

Unrestricted warfare was conceptualized by two senior colonels of the People’s Liberation Army of China, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, in their famous book, Unrestricted Warfare published in 1999. Qiao’s famous quote on the subject is that "the first rule of unrestricted warfare is that there are no rules, with nothing forbidden." Usually, rules are laid down by the strong to dominate the weak. To level the playing field, the weak has to break the rules, avoid the enemy’s strength, and hit the strong side at its most vulnerable points.

Another Chinese theorist on modern warfare, Chang Mengxiong, compared China 's form of fighting to "a Chinese boxer with a keen knowledge of vital body points who can bring an opponent to his knees with a minimum of movements.” It is like key acupuncture points in ancient Chinese medicine. Puncture one vital point and the whole anatomy is affected. Acupuncture is normally used for healing. But some acupuncture points called Dim Mak, when hit in a specific way at certain times of the day can cause paralysis or instant death.

If America ever wages war against China, say, over Taiwan, then it should be prepared for the following Dim Mak points in its [national] anatomy to be the focus of attacks. Each one of these vital points can bring America to its knees with a minimum of effort:

* Vulnerability to Electro-information Attack

* Dependency on Foreign Oil

* U.S. Dollar Vulnerability

* Diplomatic Isolation

* Geographical Military Handicap

* Asymmetric Vulnerability

* Satellite-based Military Command and Control

* Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups

This is the prologue to the author's latest book, America's Dim Mak Points, published by Anvil.