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Not sure I follow you here. You're saying the Soviets were holding the US back from using more energy? Which "equilibrium of the globe" are you talking about?
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What I am saying is that I could not see the US in Afghanistan and Iraq(sorry for being premature) if the soviet Empire still existed. I see the demise of the soviet union as the most unsettling single event of the 20th century. Firstly, a new ungovernable area has been created ruled by drug barons and mafia, which is unleashing itself upon a region so corrupt politically that should there be a sniff of uranium up for grabs then it has already been sold.
Next the collapse of the USSR has encouraged a dangerous boldness by the US to adopt itself as the champion of the free world, the crusader of righteousness, and saviour of civilisation. In my opinion, it has pounced on a chance to assert itself in strategic positions to meet it's own ends.
I dont see the US challenging the Chinese with military threats when a US 'spy' plane came down in Chinese territory. However if that same plane had come down in Iraq and S.Hussain was holding the aircrew and plane for 'evaluation' then I wonder if the US administration would have reacted difeently. I use this example because the Chinese have been for years punishing their own people who expressed anti-establishment discourse and at the same time have been terrorising the inhabitants of Taiwan at arms length. This is the very regime that Mr.Bush is gunning after. Smacks of double standards to me.
We dont need a 'Star Wars' type Federation governing the world. What we need is a strong UN which can be left to decide on concencus what should be done about real global threats.
Closer to home, we have the English across the Irish Sea who are dumping millions of barrels of toxic discharge into our seas because it suits them. Who gives a damn about a tiny island of paddy spud pickers. Really I could'nt see it happening if Sellafield was located in Tijuana. For one the English goverment are so far up the US administrations backside that there brains co-exist in complete harmony.
Secondly the US would shut it down. Find some excuse and take them out.
My argument is far from eloquent and I have no doubt could be better voiced by a more learned debater, but the fact remains that their is an imbalance of power in the world and the US are exploiting it. It will reach a point some point in the future, where the next most powerful alliance or state will adopt alternative policy on the basis of economic or resourceful needs, which will in turn precede misery.