The Islamic Threat:
The main purpose of this section is to explain that the Islamic Threat is not truly as large as the Western governments and their media make it seem. Fareed addresses the question as to how large a threat they are, by giving a background on the Muslim countries and their behavior. He explains that their threat is no where close to the German threat during the Nazi regime, the Soviet threat or even Mao's effort to cause another war.
Before 9/11 almost all Muslim opposition groups such as Al Qaeda, were only considered to be minor annoyances and they roamed relatively freely, hitting very minor military targets. After the 9/11 attacks, governments almost everywhere took a very aggressive approach to destroying the terrorist networks in the west as well as the east. Now wherever we look, Iraq or anywhere else, the attacks have decreased dramatically due to crackdowns and a lack of support by the local people.
Most Sunni terrorist groups have switched from killing Christian invaders and the Jews, to killing Shiite Muslims. This internal fighting is further weakening the Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
What the author wanted us to understand is that the Western government need to stop wasting their time with documents and literature on Jihad and instead focus on the Muslim societies. By understanding the society and culture, they better understand the Muslims' actions and why certain acts are performed. If Western governments did that, they would realize that most Muslims are now drawn to the razzle-dazzle of Dubai and Tehran malls and posh boutiques, rather than the religious madrasas in Medina or Qom.
Even the terrorists are slowly realizing that their violent method of voicing their opinion is proving ineffective. It is taking successively shorter time to recover from a terrorist attack and going back to normal, whether it is the financial markets or the tourism industry. Even if we focus on specific nations as terrorist nations, we see that America outdoes them all in terms of military research, spending, and preparation, so no country stands the slightest chance against the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dubai_Montage.png (picture 2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tehran-Montage.png (picture 3)
My understanding of this is that Fareed wants us to open our minds and stop focusing on the nastiness that "might" occur, and instead focus on understanding each other. Respecting and learning about other cultures can connect us and relay our messages in a way that no violent method ever could. Freed wants us to focus on the positive, and realize that the days of military aggression and violence are over, and that this is the era of open communications and cultural relations.
The Three Forces: Politics, Economics, and Technology
In this section Fareed changes the argument to the political and the economical changes of the past century. Even though there has been many conflicts and wars throughout the world, the overall world economical growth was robust. For example Japan, a very traditional and close society, grew to become the second largest market in the world.
Fareed addresses the question as to how this growth happened in spite of wars and population growth. He believes, with which I strongly agree, that better technologies and the dissolution of central planning led to such massive growth. Better technology allowed for a faster rate of globalization and outsourcing which brought lower prices and jobs. A lack of central planning also led to open markets that lowered inflation in many developing countries.
He also wanted us to understand that even though countries like China, India, and Brazil have a much higher rate of growth than almost all the developed countries, they still have a long way to go. For example the GDP per capita in China is still about 15 times less that it is in the United States. There is no doubt that the size of their economy is very large, however they also have a very large population and there are still many poor people living in those countries.
At this high rate of growth, China and India will be right behind the United States in several decades, however their economy, institutions, and politics need to be modernized to make that final leap.
Fareed also put an emphasis on the expansion of communications that has connected the world. This gives us access to real time prices all over the world and conduct business faster and more efficiently. People do not need to go where the jobs are, but now jobs can move to where people are. This mobility brings the costs down significantly, which is then past on to the consumers. Companies can be managed from overseas and they can use many different countries as a part of a chain of production.
Fareed explains his point of view: "Since the 1980s, these three forces -- politics, economics, and technology--have pushed in the same direction to produce a more open, connected, exacting international environment. But they have also given countries everywhere fresh opportunities to start moving up the ladder of growth and prosperity."
http://www.indiadaily.org/images/india-growth-rbi_26.jpg
Nationalism and The Last Superpower
In this section Fareed focuses on the rise of nationalism as well as how America's days as a superpower are slowly coming to an end. In a globalized world, almost all matters spill overseas, whether they are terrorist problems, nuclear, or even a disease outbreak. However while all such matters may become globalized, political power stays firmly tethered to the nation state, and any meddling by other states can cause consequences. The rise of self pride among nations, especially successful ones, is apparent.
Due to a globalization, a young person in Tehran might be very familiar with Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton's scandal, or Brittany Spears' scandalous on stage performance, however, once Iran-Iraq war is mentioned they turn into a completely different person. The picture of them as victims surfaces as soon as events are mentioned such as American meddling, other Arab states funding, or Europeans supplying Iraq with chemical weapons. They raise the issue of the 1953 CIA coup that toppled a democratically elected Mossadegh Government, and say how could America care about our freedom now when 56 years ago they brought a dictator back only to secure their own interests.
When we read what happened during the second World War from Western literature, we only hear about the brave American and British soldiers who fended off the Germans and the Italians where in fact most of the war was fought on the Eastern front. Germany had over 70% of their soldiers fighting the Russians and they incurred heavy casualties. The Western front was considered only a sideshow compared to what was happening in the East. The following link is a video clip about the war in the Eastern Front.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nazi-parading-in-elysian-fields-paris-desert-1940.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rotterdam.jpg
George H. W. Bush always spoke of a "new world order," which to me is just that same old Western system he hoped to expand worldwide. Fareed's point of view is that Bush's idea must have stemmed from the post WWII experience with Japan and Germany, where both grew to become very accommodating to the U.S. and major economic and political powers.
The American and the British always refer to their invasions and war as freedom triumphs over evil. Fareed tells a great story: "An Indian friend explained to me, 'For Britain and America, World War II is a heroic struggle in which freedom triumphs over evil. For us, it was a battle to which Britain committed India and its armed forces without bothering to consult us. London told us to die for an idea of freedom that it was at that very moment brutally denied to us.'"
Many believe that what happened to Europe is also going to happen to the United States. Globalization is in full gear and there are hundreds of millions of workers in India and China, who can do everything we do here, just as good for a fraction of the pay.The United States has lost many key industries to the developing countries, the government is in a lot of debt to the Asian central banks and most American people have completely stopped saving. In spite of all the above, the U.S. is still in better shape in terms of growth than Europe, but far behind Asia.
Fareed raises the question as to what the Americans should do to stay on point with the rest of the world. He believes that some Americans have become conscious of the changing world and are changing their habits. The businesses are aware that the annual revenue growth is 5 to 6 times higher abroad, and "they know they have to adapt to a post-American-world- or else lose out on it".
Unfortunately this outward orientation is not yet commonly viewed in American societies and they remain very internally focused. This isolation has left Americans unaware of what is going on outside their borders. Relative to other countries, Americans speak fewer languages, know very little about other cultures, and remain unconvinced that they need to address that issue, mostly because of their arrogance that the American way is the better and more advanced way. This has lead to an ever broadening gap between the elite and cosmopolitan on one side, and everyone else on the other.
Fareed explains, " The 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Survey showed a remarkable increase worldwide in positive views about free trade, markets, and democracy. Large majorities in countries from China and Germany to Bangladesh and Nigeria said that growing trade ties between countries were good. Of the forty-seven countries polled, however, the one that came in dead last in terms of support for free trade was the United States. In five years the survey has been done, no country has seen as great a drop-off as the United States."
By reading the above, we can sense Fareed's point of view regarding America. He believes that the rise of the rest is a consequence of American ideas and actions. For years the American diplomats and missionaries traveled abroad to encourage free and open market, and embrace new technologies. They encouraged them not to be afraid of change, exactly what Americans themselves failed to do. "Just as the rest of the world is opening up, America is closing down."
Nationalism and The Last Superpower
In this section Fareed focuses on the rise of nationalism as well as how America's days as a superpower are slowly coming to an end. In a globalized world, almost all matters spill overseas, whether they are terrorist problems, nuclear, or even a disease outbreak. However while all such matters may become globalized, political power stays firmly tethered to the nation state, and any meddling by other states can cause consequences. The rise of self pride among nations, especially successful ones, is apparent.
Due to a globalization, a young person in Tehran might be very familiar with Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton's scandal, or Brittany Spears' scandalous on stage performance, however, once Iran-Iraq war is mentioned they turn into a completely different person. The picture of them as victims surfaces as soon as events are mentioned such as American meddling, other Arab states funding, or Europeans supplying Iraq with chemical weapons. They raise the issue of the 1953 CIA coup that toppled a democratically elected Mossadegh Government, and say how could America care about our freedom now when 56 years ago they brought a dictator back only to secure their own interests.
When we read what happened during the second World War from Western literature, we only hear about the brave American and British soldiers who fended off the Germans and the Italians where in fact most of the war was fought on the Eastern front. Germany had over 70% of their soldiers fighting the Russians and they incurred heavy casualties. The Western front was considered only a sideshow compared to what was happening in the East. The following link is a video clip about the war in the Eastern Front.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nazi-parading-in-elysian-fields-paris-desert-1940.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rotterdam.jpg
The American and the British always refer to their invasions and war as freedom triumphs over evil. Fareed tells a great story: "An Indian friend explained to me, 'For Britain and America, World War II is a heroic struggle in which freedom triumphs over evil. For us, it was a battle to which Britain committed India and its armed forces without bothering to consult us. London told us to die for an idea of freedom that it was at that very moment brutally denied to us.'"
Many believe that what happened to Europe is also going to happen to the United States. Globalization is in full gear and there are hundreds of millions of workers in India and China, who can do everything we do here, just as good for a fraction of the pay.The United States has lost many key industries to the developing countries, the government is in a lot of debt to the Asian central banks and most American people have completely stopped saving. In spite of all the above, the U.S. is still in better shape in terms of growth than Europe, but far behind Asia.
Fareed raises the question as to what the Americans should do to stay on point with the rest of the world. He believes that some Americans have become conscious of the changing world and are changing their habits. The businesses are aware that the annual revenue growth is 5 to 6 times higher abroad, and "they know they have to adapt to a post-American-world- or else lose out on it".
Unfortunately this outward orientation is not yet commonly viewed in American societies and they remain very internally focused. This isolation has left Americans unaware of what is going on outside their borders. Relative to other countries, Americans speak fewer languages, know very little about other cultures, and remain unconvinced that they need to address that issue, mostly because of their arrogance that the American way is the better and more advanced way. This has lead to an ever broadening gap between the elite and cosmopolitan on one side, and everyone else on the other.
Fareed explains, " The 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Survey showed a remarkable increase worldwide in positive views about free trade, markets, and democracy. Large majorities in countries from China and Germany to Bangladesh and Nigeria said that growing trade ties between countries were good. Of the forty-seven countries polled, however, the one that came in dead last in terms of support for free trade was the United States. In five years the survey has been done, no country has seen as great a drop-off as the United States."
By reading the above, we can sense Fareed's point of view regarding America. He believes that the rise of the rest is a consequence of American ideas and actions. For years the American diplomats and missionaries traveled abroad to encourage free and open market, and embrace new technologies. They encouraged them not to be afraid of change, exactly what Americans themselves failed to do. "Just as the rest of the world is opening up, America is closing down."
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