-
Website
http://avc.com/ -
Original page
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/07/the-post-americ.html -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
Top Commenters
-
ShanaC
1217 comments · 71 points
-
daryn
213 comments · 14 points
-
kidmercury
827 comments · 103 points
-
howardlindzon
207 comments · 71 points
-
Charlie Crystle
203 comments · 35 points
-
-
Popular Threads
-
Getting Computer Science Into Middle School
1 day ago · 259 comments
-
End of Year Music Posts
22 hours ago · 39 comments
-
How To Get Me To Hang Up On You
3 days ago · 158 comments
-
Open APIs and Open Standards
4 days ago · 207 comments
-
Trading Deals, A Lost Art?
2 days ago · 78 comments
-
Getting Computer Science Into Middle School
When do you think he'll change his middle name from 'Hussein' to 'How can anyone believe a single word I say'?
Hussien and a last name of Obama
It will show the world that we are not intolerant and prove that we are the
melting pot of the world
We are now living in a world where people of all races, colors and names will be living and meeting side by side. I can only hope that people can get over their prejudices and start voting for candidates based on their positions, rather than their names or their false but heavily rumored religions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/us/politics/2...
http://wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=B81bL3
It could all go very well. It could just as easily go very, very wrong.
There are many similarities between current day China and Russia circa 1917. The gap between rich and poor is huge. The economy is moving from agrarian to industrial. Do the Chinese workers try to unionize?
If Tienanmen in 1989 was analogous to St Petersburg in 1905, then is China's 1917 coming?
What happens to the US economy if China has a class based civil war? (Besides me calling my broker and shorting WalMart)
that
But Zakaria suggests that getting people out of poverty and building a
middle class is the chinese government's biggest worry and effort
They don't want that to happen
I get back to the US
sorts for what the entire world could become over time
if you don't understand the most important event in recent history, you're not going to be able to accurately forecast where things are going. what's past is prologue.
people would be better off spending their time watching america: freedom to fascism. you can watch it for free on google video. then you'll see where things are really headed.
I would go beyond even that. I hope every college student dreaming about making an impact on the world reads it. Every entrepreneur, every banker, every non-for-profit employee.
Understanding where the world is today and where it is going will help everyone position their own work for far more success and impact.
I saw Fareed on Charlie Rose and he is an amazing presenter, I'm waiting for his book to be returned to the library.
However, you mention the 'greatest higher education system in the world', but the system is only as good as those who use it. It is my understanding that in the US, science, mathematics, and engineering knowledge/education is not being taken advantage of, and that companies are foreseeing a significant drought in the ability to recruit qualified people in these fields in the next 20 years.
Though this may not affect the web as much (myself a self educated programmer/entrepreneur), it could be disastrous to larger scale developments such as Biotech and Energy.
Relying on immigration policies becomes a challenge and numbers game that I suspect in the long term the US does not want to become dependent on. Best to breed the brains AND attract the finest from abroad which I think the US has historically done. Will the US be able to attract the best professors in order to maintain the 'best higher education system in the world'?
To get it all reduced into 20 minutes, here's Wright's TED Talk: http://is.gd/JUj
And if this sparks your interest, here's the link to Amazon: http://is.gd/JU5
moral progress, the virtue of selfishness (it leads to selflessness when fully pursued) the value of non-zero sum interactions ... lovely stuff, a rather broader view than analysis of world political processes ... it is analysis of the entire global dynamic
and it is perhaps beneficial to look at the obvious negative effects of zero-sum thinking in some of our structures and institutions, and see them as damaging .. trading, smart winner sells to dumb loser, not good .. diplomacy american style, my way or the highway, not good ...
the historical process that wright notes, and calls evolution, imply something that zakarias seems to be missing, he is far too linear ... the entire context is changing for what it means to be a human being on earth, and this is the driver of different values, far more than shifting polarities or power balances
good stuff, thanks
I love non-zero sum thinking!
zakaria makes little mention of where democracies are going ... and it does not take too much observation of an everchanging world to see a trend towards a lowest common denominator, towards totalitariansm in the democracy of the usa ... dept of homeland security, tsa, fisa, nsa, border walls, ... land of the monitored and home of the fearful ...
we have some fundamental problems that are larger in ambit than what the current government is being held responsible for ... we have no real opposition party, for one thing, no real rebels to the status quo ...
"The Post World War II" World
And this is a very very good thing.
First, it has never been an "American World."
Just ask Mao Zedong!
Etc...
But since 1945 it has been a world organized largely by the events and outcomes of WW2, where the victor was almost alone in being stronger *after* than before the conflict.
Fortunately (I believe, anyway) that victor was the USA, which despite all its dark history and faults, is at core committed to pluralism and social mobility and human rights.
And we are now witnessing decades of USA policy bearing fruit. Its NOT that the USA is declining -- its not. Rather its that other huge chunks of the human race and culture are adopting our core values and policies and systems. yes, its a messy and imperfect and sometimes sideways process. but pluralism and social mobility and human rights are taking hold all over the planet, replacing totalitrianism and feudalism and the like.
Recall, in 1945, the 19th century and early 20th century european powers were devastated. as was japan. as was russia, which also pliunged itself into grueling self-mutilation. likewise china. india was ripped apart by emerging from colonialism and internal ethnic racial and religious civil war.
Etc...
The Cold War was basically a nuclear standoff, again, where the strong USA prevailed (basically, again, due to fundamental strengths gained an asserted in WW2 and fundamental weaknesses in the USSR exacerbated by WW2 then ongoing military expenditures - imagine a world where the USSR, like todays China, focused on creating a burgeoning middle class!)
But the USA won WW2 and won the Cold War and now we are winning the post-WW2 and post-Cold War era.
This is fantastic news for the human race.
And we should take a moment to say a word of thanks to 20th century visionaries who helped keep the world moving in this direction like Winston Churchill, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Harry Truman, George Marshall, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbochav, Deng Xiaoping, Ronald Reagan and many many others.
The path is long and difficult and bound to be filled with tragedies as well as joys, but I for one am extremely hopeful that our kids an grandkids will live on a planet where the average human being is better off than any time in history -- better educated, healthier, wealthier, more free.
sorry - this now concludes this very longwinded and treacly comment
But I still think you'd enjoy the book
If we expect to maintain our lead in higher education, we've gotta fix what's been broken.
The great thing about corporations is they are subject to competition
Even the vast oil businesses that are run by the saudis and the russians face competition from ethanol, other biofuels, and newer forms of alt-energy
So competition keeps corporations honest, at least that's my hope and belief
unless one can change character, one cannot change the world
I guess the commitment by Great Britain to Iraq doesn't count for anything, or Australia, New Zealand, Poland, etc. Yes, the US has the most troops there, but those countries did contribute and participate.
Let's not forget Canada who is right beside us in Afghanistan right now along with NATO troops from other countries.
All of a sudden Columbia is an up and coming prosperous country - How did that happen? Let's not report on that success as Bush foriegn policy had a lot to do with that.
Enough with the labeling, enough with the ideology, let the facts be what they are good and bad.
FYI More children have been shot & killed in Chicago than US soldiers in Iraq so far this year. Over 200+ murders in Chicago. Right now the youth in Chicago would be safer living in Iraq than in Chicago - but let's not talk about that.
This has got to stop. Go ahead and support Obama (as your right to do so), but don't ignore facts.
Bush and Cheney have run the most isolated and unilateral foriegn policy in my lifetime and possibly in the modern history of the US
That is fact
1. Got Libya to renounce its ways and denounce terrorism - Repent for Pan AM 103, Berlin bombings
2. With the help of 5 other nations pursued North Korea to give up nuclear ambitions
3. Tripled $9 Billion to African nations to combat AIDS and Malaria
4. Was first World Leader to call Darfur a Genocide
5. Helped turn around Columbia
6. Left door open for Humanitarian cyclone aid to Burma
7. Sent warships money and military personnel to help during Tsunami (Indonesia now retains a positive view of the US even 2 years later).
8. Provide aid to China for Earthquake relief
9. Denounced China's Tibet policies
10. Freed Afghanistan where it was illegal for girls to attend school, and women to work. Women could not be outside without Burkha and male escort for any reason.
11. 15 out of 18 Iraq benchmarks have now been met
12. From America.gov: Bush said with Congress' approval of the $770 million, the administration would be on track to spend $5 billion in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 to fight global hunger. Fiscal year 2009 begins October 1, 2008
Look, I am not a 100% Bush fan. I think he did a poor job of laying out the facts for WMD. But to provide a blanket statement calling him most unilateral and isolationist in a lifetime is an over statement.
I'm not saying he is perfect, but to brush it all with such broad strokes is unfair, and discounts facts that could be relevent in future administrations for good and bad.
So Bush was more isolationist than FDR pre WWII? We was more isolationist than Woodrow Wilson pre WWI? He was more isolationist than LBJ? who went in Vietnam Unilaterally?
BUT - LBJ did not go to Vietnam alone, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries joined us. The song "Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy is a tribute to the soldiers returning from Vietnam (an Irish band).
Example: That isolationist Bush tripled the aid to Africa from Clinton - Tripled it from $3 Billion to $9 Billion
That is fact
FARC is on the run Columbia is now pro-American and power of rebel forces have diminished greatly
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/02/be...
Saddam Hussein had Chemical Weapons (WMD). In fact he used WMD 15 times during his reign. he used it during the Iran / Iraq War, and he used it against his own people.
Here are the Location, Weapon Used, Date, Number of Casualties
- Haij Umran Mustard August 1983 fewer than 100 Iranian/Kurdish
- Panjwin Mustard October-November 1983 3,001 Iranian/Kurdish
- Majnoon Island Mustard February-March 1984 2,500 Iranians
- al-Basrah Tabun March 1984 50-100 Iranians
- Hawizah Marsh Mustard & Tabun March 1985 3,000 Iranians
- al-Faw Mustard & Tabun February 1986 8,000 to 10,000 Iranians
- Um ar-Rasas Mustard December 1986 1,000s Iranians
- al-Basrah Mustard & Tabun April 1987 5,000 Iranians
- Sumar/Mehran Mustard & nerve agent October 1987 3,000 Iranians
- Halabjah Mustard & nerve agent March 1988 7,000s Kurdish/Iranian
- al-Faw Mustard & nerve agent April 1988 1,000s Iranians
- Fish Lake Mustard & nerve agent May 1988 100s or 1,000s Iranians
- Majnoon Islands Mustard & nerve agent June 1988 100s or 1,000s Iranians
- South-central border Mustard & nerve agent July 1988 100s or 1,000s Iranians
- an-Najaf -Karbala area Nerve agent & CS March 1991 Shi’a casualties not known
But what is also interesting is that this blog and many other places are
pseudo ³power lunch tables² where indians and americans and many other
nationalities can come together to share ideas and build a global economy
fred
It's a great book
A ³must read²
Democracy in my view is not what all the world is moving towards. Admittedly, most of the Western cultures tend to get more and more democratic, but we must not forget that governance must be aligned with culture and tradition of a society. How society is governed must stem from the society's cultural and demographic aspects - at least in the modern world. One cannot readily - America is vocally but unsuccessfully trying to do that - introduce democracy in the Arab world for their mentality is quite different.
One size fits all is not a solution and democracy is conceived in the eyes of the modern world as such, which IMO is wrong.
Thank you
This an amazing book written by an very bright and smart man who loves america very much. Its about the best thing I've read all year
See what Obama reads: The Post American World
(It is the Muslim/Islamic view to destroy America)
Just more fear tactics
Obama knows it is all about religion. But he can not say that in the USA. His life has been all about religion. But he can not say this in the United states. It will be the countries that openly say they are all about Atheism, Islam, etc. that will have the passion of their people behind them. Christians are persecuted throughout the world because they are the only threat to China and all other countries but the USA won't tell about it. The USA has become the harlet for the world to use to gain wealth because it's leaders won't stand for anything. Thats right we are the slut of the world that other countries use. Enter Barack Obama the biggest user of them all. Right in our face using every personality at his disposal to get what he wants power and control. We will all feel very used when it is all said and done if you don't already feel this way. He has used the Christian Faith to get where he is because it is powerful. It will be a slow boil but eventually we are going to be the biggest losers. It will never feel so good to be so abused. Obama the ACORN THUG has " done" us all. Just smile and enjoy it.