The end of US hegemony?

There's no doubt about it, Junichiro Koizumi is back from the political dead, and suddenly looks like something more than the snake-oil salesman many took him to be when he came to office last year. The Japanese prime minister has claimed a leading role in easing tensions on the Korean peninsula and has set a new cabinet to work on economic and banking problems. Koizumi's newly assertive stance is even more interesting when you put him next to Gerhard Schröder and a Europe that is finding its feet. The German chancellor has his back to the wall on the economy, just as Koizumi does, but...