Guest column - Jamie Metzl: 'The Russian message to West-leaning countries in the former Soviet world was clear: America cannot protect you. They were probably correct'

THE eighth of August, 2008, may some day be remembered as the first day of the post-American era. Or it could be remembered as another "Sputnik moment", when, as with the Soviet foray into outer space in 1957, the American people realised that the country had lost its footing and decided it was time for the United States to get its act together.

There was no mistaking the power and symbolism of the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympic Games on 8 August. That multimedia spectacular did far more than trace China's 5,000-year history; it was a statement that China is a major civilisation ...