A weakened United States could start retreating from the world stage without help from its allies abroad,an international strategic affairs think tank said on Tuesday. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said President Barack Obama would increasingly turn to others for help dealing with the world's problems in part because he has no alternative. "Domestically Obama may have campaigned on the theme 'yes we can'; internationally he may increasingly have to argue 'no we can't'," the institute said in its annual review of world affairs. The report said the US struggles against insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan had exposed the limits of the country's military muscle,while the near-collapse of the world financial markets had sapped the economic base on which that muscle relied. The report also claimed that the US had lost traction in its efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program and bring peace to the Middle East. "Clearly the US share of 'global power,' however measured,is in decline," the report said. But the report also praised the US president,saying that he recognized there was only so much America could do "to impose its views on others."
