×
App Icon
The Standard e-Paper
Home To Bold Columnists
★★★★ - on Play Store
Download Now

Like ancient Athens, US is arrogant, powerful, declining and in denial

Vocalize Pre-Player Loader

Audio By Vocalize

The Statue of Liberty looks out on the lower Manhattan skyline, January 2014. [AP photo

The United States behaves as if it is a 21st Century ancient Athens and Rome rolled into one.

It is arrogant, discriminatory, powerful, declining and in denial. Athens collapsed because, despite having brilliant philosophers like Thales, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, it also had tyrannically disdainful imperialists like Solon, Cleisthenes, and Pericles who believed that forcing others to be like Athens, or discriminating against them, was divine.

Premium Article

Get Full Access for Ksh299/Week.

Uncover the stories others won't tell. Subscribe now for exclusive access.
Continue Reading  →
What you get
  • Unlimited access to all premium content
  • Ad-free browsing experience
  • Mobile-optimised reading
  • Weekly newsletters & digests
Pay via
M - PESA
VISA
Airtel Money
Secure Payments Kenya's most trusted newsroom since 1902
By AFP 9 mins ago
Football
Spain aim for World Cup date with France by beating Belgium
By AFP 15 mins ago
Football
Hundreds welcome Salah's Egypt home after best World Cup run
By AFP 20 mins ago
Football
Mourinho begins Real Madrid culture 'mission'
By Ochieng Oyugi 27 mins ago
Golf
145 hard-hitters battle for honours at Windsor