Not since the Bush administration came into power has the land, which the world trusts to lead it in good and bad times, been so derided at.

From the abrogation of the Kyoto treaty banning greenhouse emissions to the president's 'masterpiece' over the Iraq fiasco, has the politics of unilateralism been perfected to a virtual art form?

Now look at this. It took Bush 72 hours to respond to cries for help from Asian nations affected by one of history's worst earthquake and tsunami waves.

And when he finally did, the death toll in the affected areas jumped like the volleys one commonly sees in a NBA match.

Contrast that with the speed and the urgency with which he met out the hurricane disasters in Florida before the November presidential elections - and one begins to truly wonder if this president shares the same sense of humanity as the rest of the world.

From a piddling pittance of a mere US$35 million pledged at the beginning of the crisis as opposed to the US$10.6billion given to its Florida victims; it signified how much or how little the US cared for the world.

It is not just money that is in question here. It is about the whole issue of human rights and human values that the US is known to make a great song and dance around the world.

It is known, now through reliable reporting that close to a million individuals in Britain are actively involved in all manners of fund raising for the tsunami victims. Those numbers and raised funds when taken as an aggregate contrasts not only starkly but disproportionately too, to Washington's commitments which with a US$12 trillion economy can surely do better.

And mind you, the UK is not even a world power like the US, is. Let alone, a gigantic economic powerhouse. In Europe, it is dwarfed by the likes of Germany to whom without the US may find itself playing lap dog if it steps out of tune with Berlin.

Lost prestige

But politics apart, a tragedy is a tragedy all the same regardless of what the politics of Indonesia or Thailand is, or how they agree or disagree with Washington.

Just like nobody ought to rationalise the crime of Sept 11 horrors, none in this instance should seek to justify that humanity, as a whole has not been inflicted.

In fact, judging from the international dimension of the Sept 11 tragedy nothing really takes it apart from the horrors of Dec 26.

They are both united in that most victims represent an entire cross-section of peoples from around the world. And both tragedies, sadly of all, have created orphans, widows and destitutes, which happening as it did is not about how the land actually lies in those affected states.

But instead of seeing it that way, the Bush administration now uses the tragedy as an opportunity to regain lost prestige and as a springboard to project American military clout.

Such a cavalier attitude reeks very much of the same opportunistic streak that took it to Iraq where under the guise of ridding a nation of a despotic tyrant, it showed its true colors by only protecting the oil ministries when insurgency roiled the nation.

The loss of American prestige is largely because of Washington's 'go it alone' policy and despite numerous exhortations to change course, it adamantly sticks to it.

Hawkish policies

It does not need a tragedy to correct that course, but instead that course can be righted if it corrects its hawkish policies. In fact, to speak the bare-knuckle truth, it really knows very little about Asia because since the end of World War II, the State Department has never bothered to orient itself to the East.

That perhaps is the crux of all the problems Washington continually runs into with Asia.

Creating a world in one's image is not what the natural progression of order is about. It is about diversity, understanding cultural nuances and accepting that the right to disagree is much about that mentioned natural progression. To not know that, is a peril one should disabuse away from.

A superpower that wishes prestige, respect and credibility should know that enough to show it enough.

Once that reality sinks in, the United States will be gratified to know that it is only a nation like the rest of the other states. It is not a cause.

Those words coming from a seminal figure like the former secretary of state, Dr Henry Kissinger, cannot be anymore succinct and prescient.

JAYA PRAKASH lectures in journalism at Calton Education Centre