The Rise of the Rest
It's true China is booming, Russia is growing more assertive, terrorism is a threat. But if America is losing the ability to dictate to this new world, it has not lost the ability to lead.
'The Post-American World'
Americans are glum at the moment. No, I mean really glum. In April, a new poll revealed that 81 percent of the American people believe that the country is on the "wrong track." In the 25 years that pollsters have asked this question, last month's response was by far the most negative. Other polls, asking similar questions, found levels of gloom that were even more alarming, often at 30- and 40-year highs. There are reasons to be pessimistic—a financial panic and looming recession, a seemingly endless war in Iraq, and the ongoing threat of terrorism. But the facts on the ground—unemployment numbers, foreclosure rates, deaths from terror attacks—are simply not dire enough to explain the present atmosphere of malaise.
American anxiety springs from something much deeper, a sense that large and disruptive forces are coursing through the world. In almost every industry, in every aspect of life, it feels like the patterns of the past are being scrambled. "Whirl is king, having driven out Zeus," wrote Aristophanes 2,400 years ago. And—for the first time in living memory—the United States does not seem to be leading the charge. Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people.
Look around. The world's tallest building is in Taipei, and will soon be in Dubai. Its largest publicly traded company is in Beijing. Its biggest refinery is being constructed in India. Its largest passenger airplane is built in Europe. The largest investment fund on the planet is in Abu Dhabi; the biggest movie industry is Bollywood, not Hollywood. Once quintessentially American icons have been usurped by the natives. The largest Ferris wheel is in Singapore. The largest casino is in Macao, which overtook Las Vegas in gambling revenues last year. America no longer dominates even its favorite sport, shopping. The Mall of America in Minnesota once boasted that it was the largest shopping mall in the world. Today it wouldn't make the top ten. In the most recent rankings, only two of the world's ten richest people are American. These lists are arbitrary and a bit silly, but consider that only ten years ago, the United States would have serenely topped almost every one of these categories.
These factoids reflect a seismic shift in power and attitudes. It is one that I sense when I travel around the world. In America, we are still debating the nature and extent of anti-Americanism. One side says that the problem is real and worrying and that we must woo the world back. The other says this is the inevitable price of power and that many of these countries are envious—and vaguely French—so we can safely ignore their griping. But while we argue over why they hate us, "they" have moved on, and are now far more interested in other, more dynamic parts of the globe. The world has shifted from anti-Americanism to post-Americanism.
I. The End of Pax Americana
During the 1980s, when I would visit India—where I grew up—most Indians were fascinated by the United States. Their interest, I have to confess, was not in the important power players in Washington or the great intellectuals in Cambridge.
People would often ask me about … Donald Trump. He was the very symbol of the United States—brassy, rich, and modern. He symbolized the feeling that if you wanted to find the biggest and largest anything, you had to look to America. Today, outside of entertainment figures, there is no comparable interest in American personalities. If you wonder why, read India's newspapers or watch its television. There are dozens of Indian businessmen who are now wealthier than the Donald. Indians are obsessed by their own vulgar real estate billionaires. And that newfound interest in their own story is being replicated across much of the world.
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Posted By: getzel @ 05/10/2008 5:57:53 PM
Comment: poor consumers in Mumbai, the other newsweek article, The Post-American World By Fareed Zakaria | NEWSWEEK
May 12, 2008 Issue
says India is the new world power.
2) On topics about which Daniels Gross lies knows nothing/zero: it is better not to write:
USE CELLULOSE TO MAKE ETHANOL, NOT CORN: STUPID.
3) Daniels Gross lies by omission:
We fund the war against the USA every day at the gas pump. Stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; The gas stations in Brazil can fill the tanks with ethanol, no gasoline.
Archer Daniel Midland made millions in the USA selling $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s;
That trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
Cellulose Ethanol energy independence in the USA, will balance the trade deficit, create full employment, bring down the price of fuel, break the monopoly on the pricing of fuel, balance the USA government budget, create less pollution, make the USA energy independent, and end the war because we will stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
With all the cars running on ethanol; the price of oil will collapse and the radical Moslem hordes will no longer have the funds we used to give them from gasoline sales to finance the war against us.
4) Daniels Gross lies by omission:
War ends We win: when we pass a law that makes the minimum price of gasoline at the pumps: $1.75/gallon; billion dollar/million barrel per day ethanol stills will not be built without protection from OPEC monopoly pricing rusting out our new stills: OPEC would lower crude prices to 10/bbl to rust out the stills. Stills being built now are a result of congressional ethanol fuel mandates for clean air purposes: The new stills have contracts to sell there output before the still can be built and financed to protect from monopoly OPEC lowering the crude prices to way lower than ethanol cost.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; Archer Daniel Midland made millions on $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s; that trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
5) Daniels Gross outright lies: Yes, All cars can run on ethanol.
I built a distillery and converted my GM car to 160 proof ethanol by 1982; and tried 25 years to get the USA off of gasoline.
6) Writers should post their certification on the subject they are writing on at the beginning of the article; that would leave the papers and news posts mostly blank pages.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel
Posted By: 1newsweek1 @ 05/10/2008 5:30:51 PM
Comment: Happy mother's day! But not in India. India is one of the worst place on earth to be a mother according to an American survey on women, children and health that was just released. The survey grouped the world into 3 catagories, "developed", "less developed" and "least developed". Both China and India were in the "less developed" group of 79 countries. India ranked 66, far worse ranking than China's. Child birth death and birth without trained medical assistance are both very high in India. What "super power" is that?
Posted By: getzel @ 05/10/2008 4:33:46 PM
Comment: poor consumers in Mumbai, the other newsweek article, The Post-American World By Fareed Zakaria | NEWSWEEK
May 12, 2008 Issue
says India is the new world power.
2) On topics about which Daniels Gross lies knows nothing/zero: it is better not to write:
USE CELLULOSE TO MAKE ETHANOL, NOT CORN: STUPID.
3) Daniels Gross lies by omission:
We fund the war against the USA every day at the gas pump. Stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; The gas stations in Brazil can fill the tanks with ethanol, no gasoline.
Archer Daniel Midland made millions in the USA selling $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s;
That trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
Cellulose Ethanol energy independence in the USA, will balance the trade deficit, create full employment, bring down the price of fuel, break the monopoly on the pricing of fuel, balance the USA government budget, create less pollution, make the USA energy independent, and end the war because we will stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
With all the cars running on ethanol; the price of oil will collapse and the radical Moslem hordes will no longer have the funds we used to give them from gasoline sales to finance the war against us.
4) Daniels Gross lies by omission:
War ends We win: when we pass a law that makes the minimum price of gasoline at the pumps: $1.75/gallon; billion dollar/million barrel per day ethanol stills will not be built without protection from OPEC monopoly pricing rusting out our new stills: OPEC would lower crude prices to 10/bbl to rust out the stills. Stills being built now are a result of congressional ethanol fuel mandates for clean air purposes: The new stills have contracts to sell there output before the still can be built and financed to protect from monopoly OPEC lowering the crude prices to way lower than ethanol cost.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; Archer Daniel Midland made millions on $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s; that trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
5) Daniels Gross outright lies: Yes, All cars can run on ethanol.
I built a distillery and converted my GM car to 160 proof ethanol by 1982; and tried 25 years to get the USA off of gasoline.
6) Writers should post their certification on the subject they are writing on at the beginning of the article; that would leave the papers and news posts mostly blank pages.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel