Crisis fails to topple US as world's top power: Study

LONDON: The United States was dealt a blow by the financial crisis but remains the world's main power and can maintain its influence if it works with allies to achieve its goals, a study said on Tuesday. A report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank in London said that despite taking an economic hit, the downturn has highlighted how other states look to Washington for their lead. "The vivid message of the financial crisis... was that America continued to be of vital importance to other countries, including its putative rivals as pre-eminent powers," the IISS said in its 2009 strategic survey. This is confirmed by the interest generated by US President Barack Obama's attempts to engage with countries such as Iran and Russia and extend a hand to Muslims in the Middle East, following his election in November 2008. "Virtually all (countries), from their different perspectives, wanted Washington to be less ineffectual in its international relations than it had been in the previous years," the report said. However, the IISS warns that Washington will increasingly have to rely on other countries to help achieve its aims - something Obama is already doing. America's economic clout has been reduced following the worst global economic downturn since the 1930s, but the IISS said the crisis also confirmed its status as a world leader.