[lit-ideas] Re: Thoughts?
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 07:40:03 +0900
It is part of the on-going creation of a multipolar world system in which
the USA will no longer occupy a commanding height over any other competitor.
It was five or so years ago that I heard the chief economist for the
American Chamber in Commerce in Hong Kong observe that if we looked at GRP
(Gross Regional Product) instead of GNP (Gross National Product), Northeast
Asia, Europe and North America were all the same size. People who study
petroleum consumption note that both China and India are on track to surpass
U.S. consumption--that will happen when billions of people want to drive
cars and an auto industry is still seen as the golden key to economic
development. One of the most impressive YouTubes I've ever seen shows that
there are now more K-12 students in the top 10% of China's schools than the
total number of K-12 students in the U.S.
Military power was supposed to be our ace in the hole; but while, yes, we
can destroy the planet, as Iraq and Afghanistan continue to demonstrate, our
ability to "project power" is limited. Thus, for example, when Putin decides
to show Georgia who's who in the neighborhood, his response to insistence
that he stop can be "You and what army?" to which at the moment we have at
the moment no good rebuttal.
Being aware of these things is one reason why I really, really want a
President in the White House who realizes how important alliances are--not
an aging fighter jock with a strong tendency to make half-cocked decisions
without consultation.
John
On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 4:08 AM, Julie Krueger <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> What do you see the ramifications of this being?
>
> Julie Krueger
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/30pipes.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&em
>
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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