That essay represents an extremely dangerous path of mixing up Hegelian philosophy, read as Nietche, with real world politics. Applying Hegelian Master/Slave dialectics, with all the implications of Nietche's later übermench concepts, to geopolitics is a dangerous practice which implications should be all to clear to the world after the two very European world wars that so clearly fed upon these kind of notions.
Try to follow Lee Harris metaphors closely and the dangers this path leads to comes clear.
He sets up the current world situation as world-historical in Hegelian sense - a situation that defies rationality, that defies analysis " it is impossible to evaluate them adequately, because the proper concepts for even describing the new situation have yet to be constructed". He describes how "The war with Iraq will constitute one of those momentous turning points of history in which one nation under the guidance of a strong-willed, self-confident leader undertakes to alter the fundamental state of the world."
Later he assigns to the situation the metaphor of the Gordian knot: "Here we have the heart of our historical impasse, and the only way out of it is to cut the Gordian knot."
The hero, the übermench to stay with the line of philosophy that he attaches himself to with his invoking of Hegel (and clearly, but only inclined, Nietche), needs to step forward and cut the knot with the mighty swords. The web of rationality that the knot represents cannot be solved and should thus be destroyed with the power of the sword again by the übermench that transcends above the limits of rationality and breaks all rules in his solving of the problem.
The action required is a "crossing of Rubicon" - it is the Cesar throwing the dices, crossing the river to Rome and overthrowing the senate. It is again the übermench, the "strong-willed, self-confident leader" who overthrow the rational system to impose his wisdom on the world.
The image of these metaphors is that of George Bush as the übermench, as Cesar crossing the Rubicon to overthrow the liberal world order, breaking the knot of rationality with power to impose his wisdom over the world.
Hegel, Nietche and Marx are all great philosophers - but whenever someone invokes them to call for the strong leader to step forward and cut through the world-historical situation with the power of their wisdom over the complexity of rationality one must not be seduced.
It was ideas like this, of the Hegelian world-historical events that would alter the state of the world, that made young people all over Europe celebrate the start of the first world war in the streets.
It was this line of philosophy that Lenin invoked though Marx and it was on the very same foundation of metaphors, Cesar crossing the Rubicon, the übermench, the great earth shattering world-historical events, that Hitler build his propaganda, his ideology and his world view on.
He to build on the notion of crossing the Rubicon in what would constitute one of those momentous turning points of history in which one nation under the guidance of a strong-willed, self-confident leader undertakes to alter the fundamental state of the world.
